Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) says the reduction of school fees for public schools and colleges without a corresponding increase in funding from government will result in schools and colleges not have enough money to procure the much-needed teaching and learning materials
Coalition Executive Director George Hamusunga says the situation will therefore affect learning outcomes.

Mr Hamusungu says It is as a result of low funding that some college managements and Parents Teachers Associations have resorted to overcharging parents in order to meet the operational costs.

Mr Habusunga has since requested government through the Minister of General Education to explain the current policy for financing the colleges of education.
He says management of learning institutions in the country is supposed to be cost sharing, adding that parents alone are not supposed to pay the full cost of running our colleges.
He questions that if the policy is cost sharing, why is government unable to pay its share of the cost of providing quality education in our colleges of education?

Mr Habusunga has since called upon the Minister of General Education to assure education stakeholders that government will meet the funding gap that will be caused by the reduction of fees at school and college levels.

“Failure to do so, the policy pronouncements will have adverse effects on the delivery of quality education in our schools and colleges.” He said
Mr Habusunga has since restated the appeal to the government to ensure that the 2020 Education and Skills Sector budget increases to at least 22% of the national budget in order to ensure that policy pronouncements on the reduction of school fees and college fees do not hurt the quality of our education.
He has further called upon government to share their immediate plan of how they intend to close the financing gap that will be caused by the reduction in fees at both school and college level.

He has however has commended the Ministry of General of Education for bringing to fruition the reduction of fees in public schools and Colleges.
The Ministers’ pronouncement to reduce fees in public colleges of education to K1,800 for boarders, K800 for non-boarders and K500 for the teaching practice is a positive move towards increasing access to higher education.
This is contained in a statement issued to Money FM News by coalition Executive Director Mr George Hamusunga.