Every district to have 7 new secondary schools with US aid
Government through the Ministry of Education Science and Technology says every district will have at least seven new secondary schools from the 200 that have been earmarked for construction from early next year.
Minister of Education Science and Technology Bright Msaka announced the development in Parliament when he presented a ministerial statement on the abolition of tuition fees and other funds in public secondaryschools.
He said the secondary schools will be built with aid from United States of America gG=overnment to the tune of around US$100 million.
“We have calculated that 200 secondary schools can reach up to that amount but this is not the exact amount.
“The exact amount will be [announced] by the Minister of Finance because he is the one doing all the financial arrangement on this,” Msaka said.
He said the construction of the schools will start early 2019 and is expected to be completed within a year.
“Having these 200 schools will mean that each district will at least have seven to eight secondary schools even though this will depend on how big the district is and how big the problem is in a district,” he said.
Msaka further said the ministry will make sure that no single contractor is given many schools to construct to ensure that project completes within the specified time.
Apart from constructing the new schools, Msaka said government plans to rehabilitate and upgrade existing community day secondary schools to fully fledged conventional secondary schools.
He said currently government is already working on rehabilitation and upgrading of 80 secondary schools across the country.
“After the construction and rehabilitation of the schools, students will be automatically going to secondary school without the process of selection,” he said.
Msaka added that the project is aimed at creating a next generation full of educated people who can take the responsibility of developing the nation.
Member of Parliament for Mangochi South Constituency Lillian Patel said the project is a welcome development because it comes at a time when there need for more space for secondary school goers.
“A lot of students pass Standard Eight examinations but they are not selected to secondary schools because of inadequate space,” Patel said.
“From the 200 schools, I request the minister to consider building one in my constituency because it has two community day secondary schools and students travel long distances to go to these schools,” she said.
Currently, there are 867 public secondary schools in the country out of which 733 are community day, 21 granted-aided and four government-aided.
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wish we can also have special school included in the pack, like one Deaf secondary school in each region to cater for deaf learner.
The government must also concentrate on the quality of education, not just the number of secondary schools available. Increasing resources, like modern textbooks, and access to computers would go along way towards this end. This should be a priority.
Oh, and improved wages for the teachers, including those in the CDSs – the mainstay of secondary school education in most most districts; and improved access to more advanced education for the educators, by like expanding Domasi.
Where will all the teachers come from for these secondaries? Let’s hope the schools are well funded for equipment, etc. and that there is quality teaching.
APM the quiet humble one. Kusebenza basi, work work work basi
pa Likoma district ma school amenewo tikuziwa samangidwa ose choncho tikuziwaso kuti muwakodolera kwanuko
That formula of 7 school per district isnt fair because creates inequity. The number of learners and population in a district should determine the number of schools. You can not give Neno 7 schools with a population of 200,000 and Kasungu 7 schools with 520,000. This is unfair. Or put district population in ranges and determine number of schools per range.
if you read properly you will see that this is explained in the article
This is a very rational thinking. I salute you
These are the guys who propagated and support quarter system in the name of fairness.
Are there no competent statisticians in the Ministry of Education and Finance ?
USA govt thanx but the contractors need to be checked. They will register companies now and share .