OPERATION YOUNG VOTE (OYV)
Lotti
House, 6th Floor, Suite 21, Cairo Road P.O. Box 30153
LUSAKA
22nd June, 2015
PRESS RELEASE FOR
IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION
The
manner in which the Patriotic Front (PF) Government is handling the education
sector at tertiary level leaves a lot to be desired. It is now very clear that
the PF has no strategy on how to ensure that the institutions of higher
learning run effective and efficiently. This lack of strategy and foresight on
the effectiveness and efficiency of the institutions of higher learning
compromises the quality of graduates offloaded from these institutions which in
turn affects directly their performance and lives of citizens generally.
As
OYV, we are appalled at some insinuations by some senior PF Members claiming
that the educated are the people that have destroyed Zambia’s economy. Maybe
this explains why the PF has convincingly shown the world that education seems
not to be among its priorities.
The
happenings at the University of Zambia (UNZA) where lecturers and other staff
are on go slow and those at the Copperbelt University where the students have
given the PF Government a 48 hours ultimatum to pay the over 3000 students meal
and project allowances is indicative of some lack of strategy on the part of
Government especially that this is not occurring for the first time in this
regime. This is testimony of government’s misdirected priorities especially
that government is in the process of borrowing to buy motors vehicles. Students
who are mainly young people deserve better and not subjecting them to
situations of not paying them, pulling them to limits and wait until the
threaten to demonstrate or indeed demonstrate before they are paid. The backlog
of arrears at UNZA need government’s intervention in that all outstanding arrears
must be cleared before engaging whoever governments thinks would be
entrepreneurial enough to have UNZA begin to generate its own resources.
Whichever team may be brought in to manage UNZA would not perform as long as
the arrears/government debt burden on the institution is not settled.
We
are of the considered view that the manner in which the PF Government is
handling education at higher learning not only compromises the product in terms
of graduates but also has an adverse impact on the quality of future leaders,
technocrats, thereby putting Zambia’s future at a stake.
If
the future of this country is to be secured, education and indeed education at
all levels including higher learning must be at the heart of government. It
MUST BE PRIORITIZED. There must be serious investment in education as opposed
to the luxury of borrowing for consumption such as purchase of motor vehicle.
Guess
Nyirenda (Mr.)
Executive
Director
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