Why free education should be a priority

Why free education should be a priority
By Editor
Saturday March 17, 2007 [02:00]

There is no doubt that Zambia’s education system has gone through a number of phases, most of them quite challenging. Whether we look at infrastructural development or human resource capacity within the education sector, it is very clear that this sector requires a major shakeup especially in terms of policy. With the recent unanimous proclamation by Parliament that education in Zambia should be made free up to high school level, we are motivated to offer our opinion on the same.

It is not our deliberate intention to present a long and boring narrative of the history of the education sector in Zambia. However, since the subject we are discussing is quite important, it is necessary that a historical perspective is provided.

According to information held by the government of Zambia, the history of education policies in Zambia can be traced to pre-independence times.

And we want to focus much of our attention on the question of the policy of free education. From the outset, let us understand that before independence in 1964, the education policy environment in Zambia allowed for the existence of a parallel system of education which was then justified on racial and other lines.

However, with independence in October 1964, the new Zambian government in the following year proclaimed a free education policy. And this was, among other objectives, to reverse the many years of injustice imposed on the Africans through education fees and other levies they could hardly afford which were imposed by the colonial authorities.

In fact, the education Act of 1966 legalised the changes from fee-paying or non fee-paying to scheduled or non-scheduled, in order to take care of equity issues that existed before the change of policy. For the government to support the free education policy, it went as far as abolishing the racial schools in 1966 with the aim of desegregating the education system further.

And since its introduction in 1964, the new education policy worked well, and there is anecdotal evidence that it advanced and accelerated educational development in the country. Through the policy, the government ensured that all the schools were well-stocked with education supplies which included exercise books, textbooks, pens, pencils, rulers, mathematical instruments, science kits, art, music, physical education and all other needed materials and equipment. Further, the government made it a point that teachers were deployed to all schools so that the teacher-to-pupil ratio was adequately proportional.

However, with time, the economic challenges of the 1980s left the then government of Dr Kenneth Kaunda with little option but to ask parents to start making a contribution to their children’s education. This policy shift was genuine.

With the new government of Frederick Chiluba in the 1990s, however, the policy shifted so radically that it made education look like a luxury. As the so-called cost-sharing and other structural adjustment policies became entrenched in the 1990s under the Chiluba administration, more and more children dropped out of school as their parents could no longer afford the fees as well as the school requisites.

Informed guessers tell us that as a result of this policy shift in the education sector, the number of children out of school in the country increased to over 700,000 towards the end of the 1990s. And this was happening without sustainable signs of government interventions. What is more interesting is that this policy of cost-sharing was also affecting pupils at primary level.

However, we witnessed a positive policy shift in 2002 when the government abolished user fees in primary schools. Although this decision was the correct one to make, we still think that making education free only up to primary school may not be sufficient, especially if we consider the importance of the role of education in human advancement.

This is why we are encouraged by the unanimous resolution by Parliament last Wednesday to make education free up to secondary or high school level. Our only hope is that this resolution will not end up as just one of Parliament’s records of Hansards. Our position is that this resolution should be taken up by the executive so that it can be transformed into policy.

We are aware of the consequences of such a policy especially in terms of expenditure. But we are equally aware of the long-term consequences of not providing an opportunity for young people to have unlimited access to education. If anything, there are good examples elsewhere that demonstrate the fact that free education at all levels is attainable and it actually yields positive results. If we turned our eyes to the island of Cuba, the picture becomes clear why free education at all levels should be a priority. In Cuba, education is free at all levels as there are no tuition fees paid by school or university students. Education expenditures continue to receive high priority in Cuba.

And there have been positive results arising from Cuba’s free education system. Since the revolution of 1959, Cuba has maintained high standards of educational development. In 1995, Cuba’s literacy rate stood at 96 per cent. This is incredible because it is almost a 100 per cent record. In a 1998 study conducted by UNESCO, it was reported that Cuban students showed a high level of educational achievement.

According to this UNESCO report, Cuban third and fourth graders scored 350 points, 100 points above the regional average in tests of basic language and mathematics skills. The report indicated that the test achievement of the lower half of students in Cuba was significantly higher than the test achievement of the upper half of students in other central and south American countries in the study group.

Clearly, we can make education to start benefiting our people, especially young people. It can even become more beneficial both to the individuals and the nation if it is made more accessible. And education can only be made more accessible if it is made free. And the more levels are included in the free education policy, the better for us. We should seriously look at making education free to more and more of our people.