[Press Kit]

17

Some NGOs, CBOs and religious
groups provide direct assistance to
orphans and their families in the
form of food assistance, clothing
and school fees. Many more, however,
develop initiatives designed to
encourage independence and selfreliance. Frequently, NGOs assist
communities to develop community
schools as a means to provide education. A majority assists communities
to develop some sort of financial sustainability through income-generating
activities, including oil pressing,
raising chickens and gardening. The
money is often designated to pay for
school fees and uniforms for orphans.
Too often, however, the returns are
minimal in proportion to the efforts
and resources invested.
Educating orphaned children:
Volunteer community schools
Zambia does not provide free primary
education to children. With high
national poverty rates, parents and
guardians are finding it increasingly
difficult to pay for the school fees,
uniforms and books needed to send
their children to a government school.
A study in urban areas revealed
that 32 per cent of orphans are not
receiving formal schooling, compared
with 25 per cent of non-orphans; in
rural areas, the figures for children
not enrolled in school were a
staggering 68 per cent of orphans
compared with 48 per cent of
non-orphans.

Community schools condense the
seven-year government curriculum
into four years. In the past, children
who entered community schools
(never having attended a government
school) were older than their counterparts and the four-year curriculum
allowed them to finish the equivalent
grade seven at an age close to that
of children in government schools.
However, as larger numbers of families
are unable to afford government
schools, increasingly younger children
have begun to attend community
schools. In recent years, some of these
community schools have begun to
provide early childhood education,
catering to the needs of very young
orphans without caregivers, or to
those whose caregivers are either
too old or too young to give them adequate care.
Although the Zambia Community
Schools Secretariat tries to monitor
quality, the growing numbers of community schools make it difficult to
monitor them effectively, and quality
varies widely. The teachers are often
drawn from members of the community: NGOs provide teacher training,
frequently using a manual developed
by the Ministry of Education, NGOs,
UNICEF, teachers and curriculum
specialists. The manual provides
teaching methodology and outlines a
syllabus, including tips on teaching
the material. Model lessons are
included as well as techniques for
monitoring a student's progress.

Zambia does not
provide free primary
education to children.
With high national
poverty rates, parents
and guardians are
finding it increasingly
difficult to pay... to
send their children to
government school.