Mkushi chief appeals for school

CHIEF Mulungwe of Mkushi has appealed to government to construct a secondary school in his chiefdom to increase access to education for children in the area.

Speaking at the celebrations to mark declaration of Open Defecation Free (ODF) in his chiefdom, Chief Mulungwe bemoned the lack of a secondary school describing it as the missing link to higher education for young people in his area.

The chief, who spoke through his representative Kalwa Ward development committee secretary Beniko Musonda, said the situation was a draw back in terms of education because children traveled long distances to access secondary education.

He said the chiefdom did not even have a school that went up to grade nine.

Last April, he invited the district education authority which agreed to his proposal to upgrade Katula Primary School to have grade eight and nine classes but that nothing tangible had been done so far, he said.

“This has made the number of drop outs to swell again. I am greatly worried by this development and lam asking government to assist in this matter,” Chief Mulungwe said.

He said that due to hardships encountered in accessing secondary education, some children had abandoning school and indulged in ilicit activities.

And Chief Mulungwe also appealed to Government to find an efficient and effective way of delivering subsidized inputs under Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) to farmers.

The chief said to date, many farmers in his chiefdom had still not redeemed their Inputs through the e- voucher system.

The chief said he wondered if that was the reason many farmers had opted to cultivate soya beans instead of the staple crop maize, adding that the situation posed danger to food security at household level and that most homes had already run out of food. He also called on government to consider erecting one or two health posts in the area to shorten the long distances people walked from Mulembo to access medical services at Mulungwe health post.

In response, Central Province Deputy Permanent Secretary Felix Mang’weto, who was representing his boss Benard Chomba, said the government would look into the issues raised.

And Mkushi District Commissioner Luka Mwamba informed the chief that two teachers will be deployed to Katula Primary School as soon as teachers houses were completed.