Government committed to construct new secondary schools this year

Government committed to construct new secondary schools this year

Isoka, January 27, ZANIS ——–Minister of Education John Phiri says government will release K100 million as the first batch of the initial total sum of K500 million before the end of this month to go towards construction of 35 new secondary schools countrywide.

Dr Phiri said this when he visited the construction site of a new   Girls’ boarding technical  secondary School located  12 kilometers from Isoka administrative centre in Muchinga province.

He disclosed that the secondary school under construction will cost government about K48 million

The minister however, apologized  to  the citizens country- wide that the project of constructing 35 secondary school was  suppose  to start  last year but delayed  because  government  had  not  finished  the construction of old projects that were carried forward from as far as 2008.

Dr Phiri said he was confident that contractors will begin the 35 secondary school projects because the Ministry of Finance has released K100 million from the initial K500 million budgeted for infrastructure development.

He hoped that the delay in finishing projects within the stipulated time of three years will be a thing of the past with the increase of allocation from K339 million last year to K500 million this year.

The minister further explained that the trend of releasing one or two million kwacha to each contractor each year was wrong as it delayed the implementation of the projects.

He added that it was taking K12 million to each contractor every year for the project to be finished in three years the situation he said should come to an end.

And Dr Phiri has stressed that developmental project should not be used for political experience but to improve the leaving standard of the people.

“It should be a lesson that projects should not be used for political expedience to take you back into office. They are there to develop people’s livelihood. The previous government set a project of building schools in non catchment areas. The 103 projects were shared among the MMD leaders so that they can get back to power,” Dr Phiri said.

He said the vision of PF is to see every child get educated especially the girl child.

Meanwhile, Muchinga Provincial Education Officer (PEO) Jobbicks Kalumba said the construction of the girls boarding secondary school which will cater for 500 pupils is a plus to the province.

Mr Kalumba praised government for thinking of building a girls’ boarding school in Isoka

"We only have three girls boarding schools and these are Chinsali , Lwitikila and Mwenzo girls," said Mr Kalumba.

The Girls secondary school under construction in Isoka will cater for girls from Isoka, Nakonde and Mafinga districts.

COVEC Construction Company Site Manager, Xu Dong Qung said construction will resume once government releases the funds.

He added that the time frame for the project is three years adding that his company will also build 12 staff houses.

Dr Phiri who was accompanied by the deputy minister of Science and Vocational training Professor Nevelyn Wilombe commended the COVEC Construction Company for starting to construct the school using their own resources as they wait for funding from government.