Govt pays school, exam fees for Namalunu pupils

—–The Chikankata District Social Welfare Office has disbursed K2, 184 towards examinations fees for the vulnerable pupils at Namalundu Secondary School in the district.

Chikankata District Social Welfare Officer, Francis Lukunga, confirmed the development in an interview with ZANIS today.

Mr Lukunga said a number of pupils at Namalundu Secondary School have been unable to pay for their school fees as well as examinations fees after the organization which used to pay for them eventually stopped remitting money since last year, resulting in accumulation of unpaid school fees.

“Currently, the students still owe the school and examinations fees. Fortunately enough, the head teacher allowed them to continue attending classes because most of them are in their final year,” he said.

He explained that at the moment the office has targeted examination classes by paying for their examination fees to ensure that they sit for their final examinations. The office hopes to pay their school fees as soon as it receives funding.

Mr Lukunga said examination fees for only I6 pupils have been catered for from the funding   received from the Government as this was just a remainder for the supplementary funding for the month of December in the 2013 financial year.

He said now that Chikankata is a district, the Government, through the Department of Social Welfare, in coordination with various non-governmental organizations and faith based organizations, will continue working together through the use of broad based community initiatives in empowering the vulnerable and less privileged individuals and households in the district.

He said this is being done in line with Government policy which places great importance on empowering vulnerable and economically incapacitated individuals and education has been identified as one of the most effective tools in the fight against poverty in the district and the country as a whole.

The welfare officer noted that despite the high levels of poverty in the district, low levels of funding have been undermining effective social welfare service delivery but pledged to continue working hard in providing support and assistance whenever possible.