Csec faults Education Act
Civil Society Education Coalition (Csec) has described the Education Act of 2013 as a flop, faulting the government for failing to ensure that all children have access to education.
Csec Project Officer for ‘Act Together for Better Learning’, Eunice M’biya, said on Tuesday that factors such as poor infrastructure are fuelling the problem despite that the Act provides for free and compulsory education for all.
Mbale told members of school management committees, parents teacher associations and mother groups drawn from Mzuzu District that there is need to raise awareness about the Act.
“The Act stipulates compulsory education for all but some children are not going to school. This is so because they do not have learning materials.
“In some schools, the learning environment is bad and characterised by dilapidated structures. This forces some leaners to lose interest in learning. To make matters worse, some parents do not care about sending their children to school,” M’biya said.
However, Mzuzu District Education Manager, Amon Chavula, blamed community members for failing to introduce by-laws that would spell out penalties for guardians who fail to send children to school.
“We, as Mzuzu City Council, have introduced by-laws that will [positively] impact the education sector. The bylaws are at Capital Hill, awaiting amendments.
“In the same vein, if traditional leaders can introduce bylaws to their areas, cases of children failing to attend to school can be history. Compulsory education is failing because we do not have dos and don’ts in the Education Act 2013,” Chavula said.
The Education Act of 2013 is founded on 11 principles of access, quality, relevance, efficiency, equality, liberalisation, partnership, decentralisation, equity, transparency and accountability.
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