Zambia: Mayor Christopher Habeenzu has asked teachers to work hard and make their performance better. He called on the teachers in his district to help learners in improving their performance in school exams.
The Mayor has also asked District Education Board Secretary (DEB’s) Office to improve their supervision of the teachers. The teachers who are working in rural schools need better support for their progress in the field.
The Mayor believes that teachers need to work harder to improve their and their students’ performances. He asserted that students in rural schools must get the same quality of education as urban students.
He has shared that the people of the country have raised some concerns over the situation of the education facilities in the region. Lwimba ward councilor Vincent Mwachiyeya  has raised some concerns on the situation.
The Mayor has taken the opportunity to address the situation poor academic performance of pupils. He was addressing the situation during the 2024 first quarter full council meeting at Chongwe municipal council chamber.
“Teachers in these rural parts of Chongwe should not just focus on farming but should also work hard to ensure that children perform well academically because that is why government has deployed them to those schools. There should be no rural child and urban child when it comes to the quality of education,” Habeenzu said.
Habeenzu has further called on Ministry of Education to take the qualifications of the teachers into account. Further, he also talked about the efforts to further address the teacher-pupil ratio.
According to Mayor Christopher Habeenzu, the staffing levels in rural schools are being affected. The reason for the situation is from transfers that are requested by teachers being deployed to rural schools.
Chongwe District Education Board Secretary Joseph Chanda has advised parents and guardians to take an active role. They are urged to help the school going children to focus on schoolwork.
He also added that he is concerned that most parents and guardians hardly take interest in monitoring their children’s academic performance at home.
“It important to note that parents and guardians also play a very big role in contributing towards the academic performance of their children. This role should not be left on the teachers alone.”
“Let parents also supervise the children after school hours to ensure that they are focusing on schoolwork,” Mr Chanda said.