According to the Equality Fund for Educatoin 2021 report, school children from low-income families continue to face educational risks, including a low chance of receiving an education and low academic achievement. This may imply that the chances of advancing to a higher level are even slimmer. This excludes other socio-economic risks such as being an informal worker who is oppressed by income, teenage pregnancy and early marriages.
To mitigate this challenge, the Zambian government announced the Free Education policy focused on scrapping off school fees and other school requirements in all public schools from Early Childhood Education to Secondary Education. To this end, grants from the Government to public schools have been increased to meet the operational costs that were previously financed by the abolished fees. The funds will be paid directly to the bank account of each individual school, country-wide, to ensure that proper operational arrangements are made at school level.
VVOB Zambia believes that Free Education diminishes inequalities in every aspect, and we continue to partner with the Ministry of Education to prepare teachers and school leaders for increased number of learners in classrooms and potential future disruptions such as that of COVID-19. Further, VVOB through the Catch-Up program continues to provide remedial education programmes.