Government grants are starting to chip away at the problem -- and giving carpenters a much-needed boost, too.
In Lyson Banda's bustling carpentry shop, the scent of fresh wood blends with the steady hum of machinery. Banda, his hair covered in sawdust, wears a protective mask while skillfully cutting planks. Two helpers work alongside him, smoothing wood and assembling components. Together, they create a deafening workshop symphony. Countless unassembled desk pieces are scattered across the floor.
Banda is one of the hundreds of local carpenters across Zambia's 156 constituencies who were awarded contracts through the Constituency Development Fund -- a government-funded initiative designed to support developmental projects and activities at the local level -- to build new desks for the growing number of pupils in the country's public schools."Our initial goal was to enhance the learning environment.
While over a million desks have been manufactured so far, fulfilling the directive from the country's president that no child should sit on the floor remains a challenge, Syakalima adds. Thanks to the government's continued awareness campaign, an increasing number of children enroll in public schools each term.
The deficit of desks in Zambia, which Syakalima says is mainly due to budget constraints, was a problem long before the introduction of free education. In 2020, the average seat-to-learner ratio in Zambia was 0.3-to-1, indicating that only one seat was available for every three learners in a primary school, according to a report by the United Nations Children's Fund, known as UNICEF.
With enrollments expected to increase in 2024, the demand for desks at Kalingalinga is set to rise further. In his 2024 budget speech, Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane said that, in the past two years, the government resumed construction of 115 secondary schools that had been halted. Of these, 69 have been completed, and the remaining 46 are expected to be finished in 2025.There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.
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