Maravi

Musokotwane got it wrong

Musokotwane got it wrong
Written by Concerned lecturer
Friday, February 20, 2009 7:06:28 PM

Finance minister, Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane increased the allocation to the education sector by 24 per cent translating into K2.6 trillion this year. Some of the projects on which money would be used include recruitment of 5,000 teachers which will result in an improved pupil-teacher ratio, builds 2,500 classrooms, turning two colleges into university colleges, converting a rundown institution into a teacher college and procure teaching and learning materials.

What the minister did not tell us is the number of teachers who have been retired, transferred to other ministries or passed on in 2008. This information would have helped us analyse if the new teachers will go to improve the pupil- teacher ratio or will just replace those who have left the service.

Additionally, Central Statistical Office has indicated that Zambia’s population has risen to 12 million during the last count. In my view, the recruitment of teachers and building of classrooms is only responding to the rise in population and not necessary in improving the quality of education.

Dr Musokotwane further stated that Copperbelt Secondary Teachers’ Training College and Kwame Nkrumah Teachers’ College will be converted into university colleges this year at a cost of K5 billion. A positive move in the area of teacher education.

However, the minister should have stated that Nkrumah and COSETCO fall far short in terms of academic and infrastructure capacity to run as university colleges. Half of the lecturers in the said colleges do not meet the minimum masters degree academic requirements to lecture in a university. Transferring those with masters degrees from other colleges is only lowering the standards of those places where lecturers have come from.

The K5 billion should have been used to build a state-of-the art teacher training university college. Positions of lecturers and other related staff should have been advertised to attract qualified and motivated lecturers. This way, the minister would have saved millions of kwacha that would have gone into paying transporters of lecturers’ luggage. And some of the transferred lecturers are due to retire in less than three years; when will they prepare where to settle?

In order to improve the academic quality of all lecturers in Zamiba, the Director of Teacher Education, Ms Mubanga, should have embarked on a staff development project by ensuring that all current lecturers in teacher training colleges attain a minimum of masters degree either through a fast track programme with local universities or the nine months programmes abroad. This in turn would have increased professionalism and quality delivery in all teacher training colleges unlike the chaos the madam has caused and is still causing.

One notices that there is an emphasis on infrastructure, material and resource development in the budget. Needless to say, no money has been deliberately budgeted to improve the plight of the end users - teachers. Are we to believe, for example, that the new universities will have the teaching staff receive salaries as the five thousand teachers who will be recruited this year? Is the implication that the two university colleges will keep on closing prematurely as is often the case with the University of Zambia and Copperbelt University when it comes to staff emoluments?

What defeats reason is the prospect of spending K5 billion to convert the dilapidated Mulakupikwa Police Training College in Chinsali district into a teacher training college specialising in sciences? One wonders why so much money has to be spent on this college when NISTCOL-Chalimbana in Chongwe district for example, which has already built laboratories and trained staff cannot continue training science teachers.

The irony is that the college has not even been allowed to recruit first years in natural and social sciences. Are the minister and the powers that be waiting for the college infrastructure at the mentioned school to be run down and then be allocated K7 billion in 2010 for rehabilitation?

One question that needs a serious answer is: has the government increased funding to the education sector or was the minister being economical with the budget?

Labels: SITUMBEKO MUSOKOTWANE

posted by MrK @ 7:06 PM