Maravi

Regional imbalances in education

Regional imbalances in education
By Editor
Wednesday April 02, 2008 [04:00]

THE poor grade 12 results in Western and North Western provinces raise a lot of questions. Why should pupils in North Western and Western provinces record grade 12 pass rates of 33.5 per cent and 42.9 per cent respectively when other provinces in the country are recording pass rates of over 70 per cent? Is it because people from these provinces generally are not much gifted when it comes to school? Can these very low pass rates be attributed to genetic factors among the people of these two provinces?

The answer is a categorical no. The history of this country shows that this is not so; there is nothing wrong with the genetics of these people. At one time they actually used to boast of very high pass rates. Then the question is, what has happened to them now? Is it the food they are eating or lack of it? Is it the water from the Zambezi River they are drinking? Is it the cassava nshima they are eating that is making them dull? No. It is not any of these things. It is something else.

We must not forget that a lack of equal education opportunities lies at the base of the unjust social structures in Zambia. And we must do all we can so that education may be within the reach of all. And we must engage the government to ensure a fairer distribution of funds in its educational budgets.

The present situation in Zambia, especially Western and North Western provinces, calls for some radical changes. It calls for us as a nation to instil an attitude of genuine concern for the poor. We should do everything possible and participate in the transformation of present-day society and in the work of bettering the human condition.

Education is a major factor for social change. We think it is most important that we accept that our schools have an important role to play as active agents of national integration and social justice. Our education centres should be awakening an awareness that the whole community benefits from their services, and that the whole community should therefore join in providing the resources they need to carry out their tasks.

It shouldn't also be forgotten that Western and North Western provinces are the poorest regions of our country. And if they remain at the bottom of our national educational system, what hope is there for the children of these provinces in the Zambia of tomorrow which will be more complicated, more integrated in the global system and needing highly educated people?

Children are the most valuable citizens of these provinces and the greatest treasures of these regions. The children of Western and North Western provinces should be given a chance to be no longer tortured by the pangs of hunger or ravaged by disease or threatened with the scourge of ignorance.

The reward of our independence and development will and must be measured by the happiness and welfare of these children. The children who are dropping out of school because of poor results at grades seven, nine and twelve are testimony to an unfinished job.

There can be no keener revelation of our nation's soul than the way in which we are treating these poor children, especially poor children of Western and North Western provinces. The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children.
A society which values its future affords the highest priority to providing education for all its young people. The education of our youth, especially those in our poorest rural provinces, is a critical challenge facing our nation today.

Education is a right that must not be denied to our young people or we throw away their lives. Too many of our young people don't have the chance for a good education and this is a great injustice.

It is not possible for the poor people of Western and North Western provinces to provide quality education for their children when they can hardly feed them. the government must come in and seriously address this injustice that is being done to our young people in Western and North Western provinces. The government acts in the place of the parents in the provision of education for children.

These low grade 12 pass rates which Western and North Western provinces have continued to record over the years call for, and deserve, special attention. We call for the maximum discourse on this issue. This is so because it will be a great injustice to leave the children of these two provinces permanently lagging behind their brothers and sisters in other provinces. We say this because with the poor grade 12 results added to the many other disadvantages they already carry, they will not be able to compete with other young people in the Zambia of tomorrow.

They will not be able to enter university or other higher institutions of learning. This will mean they will permanently lag behind. This imbalance has to be corrected by any means necessary, including affirmative action. We need to see more government activity in the education sector in these areas. We also call upon non governmental organisations to do all they can to help our young people in Western and North Western provinces catch up with their colleagues in other regions of our country.

But to do so, we have to address this issue in an honest and open way, analysing and evaluating what caused this embarrassing imbalance and how we can get out of it. And of course the debate we are calling for should not be based on narrowed regionalism but should be based on a broad national agenda for education. This is an intolerable situation that cannot be left to chance. It requires an intelligent, principled and systematic approach.

Labels: EDUCATION, NEOLIBERALISM, NORTHWESTERN PROVINCE, WESTERN PROVINCE

posted by MrK @ 8:36 AM