• NAQEZ is proposing introduction of Education Levy.
• All citizens with a TV set can be contributing a K5 monthly towards development of education in Zambia.
• With this levy in place, citizens will be helping Government to mobilize about K500 million annually.

National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQEZ) has called for introduction of a K5 monthly Television Levy for every citizen that owns a television set to support the development of education in the country.

Speaking at a press conference in Lusaka, Organisation Executive Director, Dr. Aaron Chansa, said with this levy in place, citizens will be helping Government to mobilize about K500 million on a yearly basis for desks, expansion of classroom spaces and implementation of the new curriculum which has not been funded in the 2024 national budget.

Dr. Chansa also urged government to improve funding to Early Childhood and Primary education in 2024, as the two sub-sectors are not well funded.

“Because of the new and ambitious education curriculum, and the fact that about 90% of budgetary funding to education goes to salaries of teaching staff, NAQEZ is proposing introduction of Education Levy.”

“All citizens with a TV set can be contributing a K5 monthly towards development of education in Zambia. With this levy in place, citizens will be helping Government to mobilize about K500, 000,000 annually for desks, expansion of classroom spaces and other pertinent issues. Without ‘plan B’, Government will fail to implement the new curriculum,” Dr. Chansa stated.

He further stressed the need for government to consider extending students loan to credible private higher learning institutions to accord poor Zambians in private Universities to also benefit from national resources.

Dr. Chansa also called on Government to increase funding to boarding schools or raise boarding fee from K1, 000 per term to K1, 500, because boarding schools are currently struggling to run, especially with rise in commodity prices.

Meanwhile, Dr. Chansa expressed concern over failure by the Teaching Service Commission to recruit the 3,500 new teachers with only 11 days remaining before 2023 comes to an end.
He said this has further affected the unhealthy teacher-pupil ratios that currently obtain in many schools across the country.
“With the Ministry losing more than 5,000 teachers every year, it was expected that new teachers would be employed in the first half of the year,” he stated.
He further expressed concern over failure by government to upgrade teachers in rightful salary scales and promote eligible teachers in substantive positions in 2023, a move which has acutely affected over 40, 000 teachers across the country.
“In order to calm down teachers over issues of upgrades and promotions, NAQEZ proposes that the Ministry of Education and the Teaching Service Commission should come up with a clear, practical and time bound strategy .Without this strategy, we fear that these two matters shall never be solved. As an organization, we are ready to provide input into this strategy,” he said.

On the other hand, Dr. Chansa commended Ministry of Finance for the timely disbursement of quarterly education grants throughout 2023 that have enabled 2 million vulnerable children to have access to free education.

“In terms of sending operational grants to schools, the Ministry of Finance has been effective throughout 2023.Though these grants have not been adequate for most primary and boarding schools, the timely manner with which Government has been releasing the said grants is highly commendable.”

“Because of the free education declaration by Government and reliable financial support to schools, more than 2 million vulnerable girls and boys have enrolled into public schools,” Dr. Chansa said.