School Reports - New Zambian Education Curriculum Framework

We are now well into the new school term and we are coming to terms with the new Zambian Education Curriculum Framework, the most significant educational reform for over a decade. It covers all levels of education from pre-school education to tertiary education; including child, adult and life-long learning. The main aim is to equip Zambians with skills, knowledge and values to contribute meaningfully to the development of society and the economy. Zambian education is about the holistic development of individuals to promote the social and economic good of the nation. The new framework was arrived at through a long process of consultation and participation by stake-holders. The previous system, not without some justification, was criticised as too theoretically based with little practical emphasis and was designed to produce an elite corps of graduates that did little for future entrepreneurs, the establishment of small businesses or to stimulate self-employment and job creation.

Other major changes are the importance of play in early-learning and the use of the vernacular languages for instruction in the early years; English now being used only after Primary Grade 4.

Junior Secondary Schools (Grades 8 & 9) now offer both an Academic and a Technical Career Pathway. The former technical subjects have been integrated to become Design and Technology; Book Keeping, Commerce and Office Practice now become Business Studies and Civics, History and Geography become Social Studies. In the academic stream Business Studies, English, IT, Science, Social Studies, Maths, RE and Zambian Languages are compulsory. Optional subjects include French, Chinese and Portuguese.

The Vocational and Technical options are Agriculture, Technology, Performing and Creative Arts, PE and Sport, Home Economics and Hospitality. Class contact time for both pathways will now be 32 hours 40 minutes.

Extra-curricular activities still include Clubs, Sports, Preventative Maintenance and Production Units.

At Senior Secondary (Grade 10-12) again both academic and technical streams are involved but only two options are permitted over the Compulsory Subjects. The options for the Academic Pathway are Social Sciences Natural Sciences and Business Studies

The Technical pathway offers the same as at Junior Secondary Level.

2013 Grade 7, 9 & 12 Examination Results

The Zambian Education System still uses National Examinations as a filter to prevent the next level being over subscribed. It has very little to do with overall ability that decides whether you progress to the next stage but the number of places available and the ability of the family to pay the school fees and other associated costs. In Primary Schools there are no ‘fees’ but a PTA levy is imposed.

Below are the results from 2013 Grade 7 Examinations; the figures were published in the Daily Mail. They are compared with the 2012 results:

GRADE 7 2012	GRADE 7 2013
304,429            Candidates	312,443            Candidates
284,603             Selected for G8	279,186             Selected for G8
19,826               Unselected	33,257               Unselected
93.49%             Pass Rate	89.36%              Progression Rate

The most obvious question from this table is what happens to the 33,257 pupils not selected for Grade 8? For most of these children, apart from a few ‘repeaters’ their schooling has now finished at G7 and they leave with no formal qualifications. This is why we are desperate to build another 1x3 classroom block to accommodate more Junior Secondary pupils at UCZ Mwandi Secondary School

The Results for the 2013 Grade 9 come from the Times of Zambia.

Candidates sitting at G9 in 2013	285,638
Candidates passing to G10	110,739
Candidates failing	174,899
Boys passing	57,327
Girls passing	33,412
Progression Rate	37.1%

The Western Province came third with a 43.73% progression rate. North Western came first with 63% and Southern last at 30.86% . Western too had an above average number of pupils with a full certificate. The national average was 54.84%. The other noteworthy but unsurprising feature was that the private sector performed best followed by the grant-aided schools (mainly Church and Mission Schools), then Community Schools and finally the Government schools performing below the mean. However, an encouraging feature was that the progression rate for girls at 37.51% was slightly higher than the boys at 36.72%

A review of the Grade 12 results appears in the Daily Mail of 6 February and again there has been criticism of poor performance and the functional illiteracy of many school leavers.

Candidates entered at G12 2013	106,956
Boys	61,021
Girls	45,935
Full Certificates	63,104
General Certificate of Education	39,926
Failed	1,779

63,104 pupils out of 104,809 sitting the 2013 Grade 12 examination obtained full school certificates a 2% increase on last year. 39,926 candidates obtained General Certificate of Education (GCE) a 1% increase on the previous year. The best performing schools were the grant-aided followed by the private sector and then the state schools.

Muchinga Province had the best pass rate at 69% with Western coming in second-last at 53%.

Food to the Hungry

There has been much focus recently in Scotland on the growing role of Foodbanks in distributing food to needy people struggling to feed themselves and their families. Here in Zambia too, there is a concern that rising food prices are threatening to put even essential foods out of the reach of the majority of Zambians.

43 percent of the Zambian population are classed as extremely poor and 60 percent are classed as poor. Almost 50% (48.5%) of Zambian children are undernourished. Recent price rises and fluctuations have brought a 25kg bag of mealie meal, the local staple food, to stand at K65 for Breakfast (refined meal) (US$13, E9 or GBP8) and K55(US$11, E8 or GBP7) for the coarser meal called 'Roller'. These are Mwandi Village prices. The global market is given the blame as there has been an increased demand for food from developing economies in Asia and South America. Food security is a world wide-issue.

Here in Zambia a number of factors have affected prices. Firstly was the removal of state subsidies on fuel and maize; natural and climatic factors such as unpredictable weather patterns led to a number of poor harvests recently, this resulted in poor nutrition with fewer people producing less. The consequent stunting and failure to thrive means that malnourished children and adults do not reach their full potential.

At UCZ Mwandi Mission Hospital  people are often sick because of bad nutrition. We are fortunate that we can help those with a body mass index of less than 18.5 with the Church of Scotland sponsored HIV Nutrition Programme. Around 50 clients per month are given nutritional supplements. In the first 9 months of 2013, 5444 clients attended our Outreach and Static Clinics. Of those 418 were enrolled on the Nutrition Programme working out at around 8%.

The Agricultural Programme tries to show that the food sector can be diversified by promoting fish farming, poultry and livestock and be less fixated on cash crops such as maize, wheat and cotton.

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection in reviewing 2013, stated that the high cost of living was mainly due to high food prices. As a faith based organisation, it stressed the need to see the poor access their basic needs and rights, such as the right to food. This is vital if there is to be improved living conditions and a reduction in poverty. It commended the prioritization of employment creation in the national budget and the harmonisation exercise that saw an increase in many of the poorer Government workers’ salaries.

So what does a family of 5 now need in Zambia for an average food basket, remembering that the price for Lusaka stood at K3470 (US$643) in January 2013?

In the month of December, the cost of basic food items and non-food essential items such as soap, washing detergents, water, electricity housing for a family of five in selected Districts stood at around K3500.This figure did not include additional costs such as education and transport, among other items.

BASIC NEEDS BASKET DECEMBER 2013

DISTRICT	PRICE
LUSAKA	K3539  =  US$655
SOLWEZI	K3040
LIVINGSTONE	K2709
KABWE	K2529
KITWE	K2318
LUANSHYA	K2317
KASAMA	K2308
MONZE	K2222
CHIPATA	K2197  =  US$407