Shutdown school without teachers, parents urge govt

PARENTS with children at Kabololwe Primary School in Luano where pupils are dropping out due to lack of teachers, have called on the Ministry of General Education to shut down the institution until staffing improves. Kamimbya Ward Councillor Isaac 7embo who confirmed this to the Daily Nation in interview yesterday, said the situation was worrying and needed urgent intervention by deploying Tualified teachers to the school as opposed to student teachers who were there on teaching practice. At present, there is only one teacher who is also the head teacher and teaches all grades, 1 to 7. He is now being assisted by the recently deployed three student teachers. “The district education authority has sent three student teachers on teaching practice to the school but this will not solve the problem since they are only here for a short period. :e need Tualified teachers engaged by the relevant ministry,” Mr. Tembo said. He claimed that the situation had resulted into some girls being married off at tender ages while boys had abandoned school and were involved in manganese mining. In order to mitigate the situation, a combined team of police officers from the Victim Support Unit and traditional leaders had embarked on a sensitisation campaign to get the pupils back to the school, Mr Tembo said. Mr Tembo has since appealed to the relevant authority to look into the matter with the seriousness it deserved.