Absentee, unqualified and uninspiring teachers — Zambian pupils get a raw deal
Rural villages are in desperate need of teachers who are prepared to serve and live in the community, where education standards are shockingly low
Lusaka — Sloppy spelling, frequent truancy and zero interest in education. And that’s just the teachers. When it comes to education, children in Zambia’s most far-flung villages are often sold short, lumbered with unqualified or absentee teachers who hamper their chances of escaping poverty for a better life. "When you compare the rural education on offer with urban — well, there is really a very big gap," said Kennedy Ng’andu, who runs a college that trains teachers to work in rural Zambia. "That was the springboard for our college," Mkushi College is part of a seven-nation initiative that aims to improve shoddy teaching standards and equip graduates with skills that go well beyond sums and spelling. Mkushi graduates can only take rural jobs and learn a multitude of practical skills, readying them to build toilets, paint classrooms, mentor parents — and even teach children, too. They will, in essence, be community builders. "Training teachers for rural areas is sorely needed. We si...
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