The principal aim of this writing is to explain the effects of three education policies that Zambia have had since independence. The Zambia education system have highly been driven by Education Reforms (1977), Focus on Learning (1992), and Educating Our Future (1996) policies.
The three main principals have motivated all recent changes in educational policies. First, in an independent country which subscribes to a democratic way of life, the national interest requires that there should be equality of educational opportunity for all and without regard to racial, tribal or religious affiliations; second, in a young country the system of education must foster a sense of nationhood and promote national unity without necessarily incurring educational uniformity and third, in a developing country, seriously deficiency of trained manpower and urgent objective of educational policy must be to sub-serve the needs of national development without, in the process, frustrating the full development of individual abilities and satisfactions. This assignment is going to discuss the effects of the three educational reforms undertaken in Zambia on the delivery of education today.
Education system and delivery today is as a result of changes in the past that have tried to create a system which is properly attuned and fully meets the aspiration of the Zambian people. Thus it is for that matter that all the three reforms that have been undertaken have had effects on the delivery of education in present Zambia. Fullan,(1991) noted that, it is just as helpful to schooling to block a harmful reform as it is to implement a beneficial reform. Thus liberalization of educational provision entails fundamental changes in power relations within the education sector. Under a liberalized educational system, the right of private organizations, individuals, religious bodies, and local communities to establish and control their own schools and other educational institutions is recognized and welcomed. Liberalization of educational provision allows those with resources to establish such institutions and to run them in accordance with their own principles subject, however, to stipulated rules and regulations. In delivering education today, liberalization has contributed to the expansion of educational opportunities to the learners while protecting the right of parents to send their children to educational institutions of their own choice, be they public, private, religious or communal.
However, though many people are at liberty to open their own schools, many private schools operate from places that are not conducive to learning and do not meet the minimum standards of operations of schools and employ teachers with dubious qualifications. The MoE has no legal foundation for the supervision and monitoring of private schools. It is therefore failing to control or manage the establishment and even more so, the standards of many private schools that have proliferated in the country. It has also failed to provide for an inspection system for these schools mostly because, until now, there has been no law or policy in place to reinforce, let alone guide supervision and monitoring. This situation will hopefully improve when the new Act becomes operational. The monitoring and evaluation ability of the Inspectorate Division is constrained most of all by inadequate funding, especially funding dedicated to inspectorate work. If the quest for quality education is to be seriously pursued, it is impossible for these activities to be sacrificed because of the financial limitations of the MoE.
According to the Ministry of Education, (1996) the National Policy on Education, Educating Our Future, which set the principles for the development of education in Zambia, stated that education in Zambia is intended to serve individual, social, and economic well- being, and to enhance the quality of life for all. Nothing that the long standing goal of education in Zambia has been that every child who enters school in Grade 1, should be able to complete Grade 9, the national policy on education proposes structural changes in the formal school system that aim to upgrade every primary school to complete basic school status and to offer the full range of basic education from Grade 1 to Grade 9. This has led to many schools being built, such that the results of the reforms demands the provision for the expansion of high school education, and pays special attention to establishing additional facilities for girls. In addition, the policy document proposes strategies for strengthening and expanding higher education and that “the Ministry will promote open learning, lifelong education, and a wide variety of mechanisms for continuing and distance education” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 80). One of the strategies in the National Policy on Education is to integrate the provision of continuing and distance education into the mainstream of the Ministry of Education planning processes.
The language of instruction post-1996 is still officially English, but with a directive from the Permanent Secretary to schools that this be an aspiration to be achieved by the end of Grade 4 at a pace that is appropriate to learning needs. Timothy (2009) clearly states that vernacular offers a critical perspective on the instrumental use of arts and creative practices Textbooks are still in English, but teachers are encouraged to use the local language whenever it benefits learning and understanding. This was a way of looking at the problem that had not been given any consideration in any of the policy dialogues up to that date. A child could conceivably learn to read and write in a familiar language, but within a school system where the medium of instruction is officially English, especially given the leeway that teachers are given to use a major vernacular language in lower grades if this facilitated learning. This satisfied both the educational and political points of view: pedagogical innovation is possible but within an ostensibly stable linguistic context. Such a solution might allow for the evolution of more overt change in the future when stakeholders had an opportunity to consider the issues in a less emotive atmosphere.
National progress depends critically on the ability to adapt and use scientific and technological developments and to generate new developments. If the ministry ignored the fast growing rate of technology and did not include it in the education policy, it would only mean that they would contribute to a slow and unimproved economy. however in all the educational reforms, the ministry of education considered the power of technology, today science and technology help develop processes of scientific thinking in children. By so doing the ministry is preparing young people to be innovative and creative as they align themselves with technology .The ministry of education, science, vocational training and early childhood aims at the developing scientific thought processes in children that can be approached from a number of starting points and does not require uniform content across the country. In this section, the ministry also insures that schools provide computer studies to every pupil such that every pupil who attains formal education is computer literate, according to Times of Zambia,(2014) Dr. John phiri, stated the ministry is aimed at producing computer literate citizens. The criterion has relevance of the material to the environment and to the possible later sphere of employment of the pupil. This will largely contribute to the economy in a way that as pupils complete their grade twelve even as they wait for their results there is a possibility that one would get a job because of a science and technology skill that they obtain.
Vocational training is another effect of the educational reforms that the ministry has recognized to be an important tool to the Zambian economy. Today the government through the ministry of education science and vocational training and early childhood has seen it fit to implement a policy that enables industrialization and employment at all levels, this was so after evaluating the fact that not everyone makes it to university or manages go to any college, in delivering education today the ministry has taken it upon themselves that they reduce on the number of school leavers roaming the streets by offering vocational training and it is for that reason that today the government through the ministry of education science and vocational training and early childhood in partnership with TEVETA try to offer certificates to those who attain a skill during high school. According to Times of Zambia (2014) Dr. john phiri, confirmed that learners that will take the vocational pathway will obtain trade certificate which will be awarded by TEVETA. The implementation of such a policy that supports vocational training stimulates the economy and high performances enterprises and demand for high skilled labor and highly creates opportunities for further technical education and training at a higher level in the virtuous circle of sustained industrial growth. Offering vocational training in delivering education in Zambia today means that the ministry will prepare learners from different socio-economic and academic backgrounds to gain employment and sustainable livelihoods in that a skilled workforce is a required basic requirement for driving the engine of industrial and economic growth, thus vocational training is one key to building this technical and entrepreneur workforce.
In conclusion the effects of the three reforms have proven to be vital in the delivery of education today. Educational reforms have had successes and failures whose effects have affected today’s delivery of education. In favor of these reforms, there has been most success in shaping the system at the rhetorical level, by changing the way education is delivered. And with the right people and the right proposals they have even been able to remake elements of the system at the level of formal structure, by changing curriculum guidelines. However these reformers have had a much more difficult time effecting significant change at the levels of classroom teaching and student learning upon delivery. Having said that, the delivery of Zambia’s education will always depend on the effects of the educational reforms introduced.
REFERENCES
Fullan, Michael G. (2001). The new meaning of educational change (3rd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
Times of Zambia (2014) Times of Zambia Newspapers: New educational curriculum; 29/01/14
Ministry of Education, (1996) Educating our future policy, institutional supplier limited,Lusaka.
Timothy (2009) Learning To Be (The Faure Report) Paris, UNESCO.
Ministry Of Education (1992) Focus On learning, Chapter 3. Lusaka Ministry Of Education.
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