• Stakeholders are aware that part of the CDF must be able to go to education.
• This fund is not working for education because of the bureaucracy that is obtaining around CDF.
• Government must attend to that.

National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQEZ) has observed that the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is not working for the education sector due to bureaucratic tendencies obtaining around it.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, NAQEZ Executive Director Aaron Chansa said government must attend to the bureaucratic tendencies surrounding the CDF, because part of it is supposed to go towards education.
Mr. Chansa explained that CDF is a major component in terms of education but that currently, the fund is not doing its work, hence the need for government to unlock it and be able to build more houses for teachers as well as create adequate classroom space.
“The other issue that we will need is for government to actually to attend to the bureaucratic tendencies of the CDF. We are aware that part of the CDF must be able to go to education, but because of the bureaucracy that is obtaining around CDF, this fund is not working for education.”
“We want that to be unblocked so that we can have more houses built under CDF for teachers, we can have more classroom space, we can also have more desks bought for learners. So CDF is a major component in terms of education but at the moment it’s not doing its work and we would want government to attend to that,” Mr. Chansa said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chansa called for specific allocations in the yellow book for construction of teachers’ houses just like government is building houses for police officers and soldiers, while addressing the shortage of about 2 million desks countrywide.
“The biggest challenge for now is accommodation for teachers, teachers do not have where to stay and we expect that just like government was building houses for police officers and soldiers, we need specific allocations in the yellow book for construction of teachers’ houses. We also need to expand classroom spaces because we have thousands of learners sitting on the floor due to lack of classroom spaces desks. We have a shortage of about 2 million desks that need to be attended to,” he stated.