* The school block comes with 120 desks, two modern toilets, a staffroom and will accommodate 240 learners
* The Council has set up to K120m in the 2022/23 financial year for additional classrooms in TA Kaphuka and T/A Kachere
By Blackson Mkupatira, MANA
Inadequate classrooms is one of the challenges that is contributing to school drop out in Dedza as well as most parts of the country, which prompted the District Council to budget for construction of at least two classroom blocks in its annual investment plans.
This is done in order to promote quality education across the district, as said by Lottie Makina, Dedza District Council acting director of planning and development, when he handed over a classroom block to communities at Chinkhumbe Primary School in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Kachindamoto to promote education in the district.
Makina said many schools across all the eight traditional authorities of the district do not have proper classrooms and desks, which is a very challenging situation, especially for girls — thus the school block comes with 120 desks, two modern toilets, a staffroom and will accommodate 240 learners.
He further said in the 2022/2023 financial year, the Council has set up to K120 million to construct additional classroom blocks in T/A Kaphuka and T/A Kachere.
Present at the handover was Member of Parliament for Dedza East Constituency, Patrick Bandawe who described the additional school block as a dream come true for his constituents.
“This is one of the oldest primary schools in T/A Kachindamoto and it has been in a dilapidated state for a long time,” he said. “I hope the coming of the new school block will ease the challenges learners were facing due to inadequate classrooms.”
One of the schools teachers, Casper Kanyemba said during rainy seasons many classes were being cancelled more often and this contributed to low pass rate and high school drop-out.
“We have about 1,179 students against six school blocks. So, all junior classes were learning outside, under a tree and as such, some were not paying attention in class and losing interest in school,” he said.
He added that he is optimistic the newly constructed classroom will motivate students to stay in school and complete their education.
The K43 million school block has been constructed with funding from World Bank, under the Governance to Enable Service Delivery.