Chiefs bemoan poor education

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TWO NKAYI chiefs have blamed the district’s underdevelopment on lack of education facilities and reluctance by parents to send their children to school.

TWO NKAYI chiefs have blamed the district’s underdevelopment on lack of education facilities and reluctance by parents to send their children to school. BENSON DUBE OWN CORRESPONDENT

Chief Dakamela of Nkayi said most parents do not want to pay school fees, but instead attend all night vigils with tsikamutandas (witch hunters).

“Children drop out of school because parents do not pay school fees and the children end up losing interest in resuming studies even when fees are paid as they would be chased from school now and again,” the chief told Southern Eye on Friday.

“Parents go for tsikamutanda sessions with their children resulting in them not getting enough rest and failing to concentrate at school.

“The pass rate is not good in my area due to the facts l have mentioned and this can only be changed by a complete behavioural change by parents.”

Chief Sikhobokhobo said Nkayi had few secondary schools and children had no hope of going up to tertiary education.

“There are no secondary schools in my area and parents are not willing to pay fees for their children’s education,” he said.

“I always encourage parents to send their children to school so that our district matches others, because as long as we don’t send them to school, we will remain undeveloped.

“We want to compete with other districts, but we can’t do it without educated youths.”

Nkayi is a generally dry area and boreholes dry up easily while other sources of water are not reliable.

“We want tap water in Nkayi. It’s more than 30 years after independence and it’s high time we had tap water,” Chief Sikhobokhobo said.

The government gave chiefs tractors, but did not give them ploughs to enable them to assist villagers to plough their fields.

The two chiefs took a swipe at the government over its unfulfilled promises over the years resulting in the district performing poorly in terms of just about everything ranging from service delivery to development.