The Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) has reviewed the 2025 National Budget that was presented to Parliament by the Minister of Finance and National Planning Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane on Friday, 27th September 2024. Overall, we are pleased with the following education budget measures: –
- We are pleased that the government has completed construction of 151 secondary schools out of 317 that are being constructed cross the country. Our hope is that the construction of the remaining schools will be completed soon so that we can increase access to free secondary education.
- It is good that government is also constructing 480 early childhood education centres, earmarked for completion by the end of 2025 as Early Childhood Education is critical for the development of foundational skills.
- ZANEC is also happy that 812,598 desks have been procured, out of which 712,562, or 87 percent, were acquired using Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
- Government’s commitment towards addressing the challenge of accommodation in public universities is welcome and should be applauded. The planned construction of 58 hostel blocks across the eight public universities with a total bed capacity of 9,280 will go a long way in addressing the accommodation crisis in our public universities.
- It is pleasing that the government under TEVET has completed the construction of Mporokoso and Lundazi Trades Training institutes and the student hostels at Ukwimi and Chipata Trades; and for equipping them with state-of-the-art training equipment.
- ZANEC is pleased that K150 million has been allocated for the implementation of the new national education curriculum as the curriculum is progressive and will promote lifelong learning, entrepreneurship, and practical skills.
- ZANEC welcomes the increase in the allocation to the School Feeding Programme to K534.4 million in 2025 from K 7 million in 2024 as it will keep learners in school and improve learning outcomes.
To this effect, ZANEC would like to recommend the following measures going forward: –
- ZANEC notes with sadness that the allocation to the education sector has reduced from 15.4% in 2024 to 14.5% in 2025.
It is important as we have stated before that 20% of the total budget should be allocated to the education sector in line with the SADC and Cairo Protocols on Education.
- This will allow the country to make adequate investments in improving quality education for all. It will also aid in achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.
- The recruitment of 2,000 teachers in 2025 is welcome; however, we recommend that the recruitment takes place in the first quarter of 2025. Otherwise, the delayed recruitment and replacement of teachers has had a negative impact on the teacher/pupil ratio. For instance, the delayed recruitment of the 4,500 teachers that were planned for in 2024 is not good for the sector.
- Although the CDF allocations are welcome, government needs to address the bottlenecks that are leading to its underutilisation. Continuing increasing the CDF without addressing the capacity gaps is counterproductive.
For/ ZANEC
George Hamusunga
Executive Director
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