2.1. Structure
2.2. Statistics
Primary education consists of a 7 year programme available to all children between the ages of 7 and 14. Education is free, although in practice parents have to find money for books etc, and, increasingly a "desk fee". The practice of repeating years is said to occur to a limited extent, mainly in grade 6. The school year runs from January to December.
At the end of Grade 7 there is a national examination which selects pupils to go on to secondary schooling. In 1991/92, 12.7% of pupils went on to conventional secondary schools (Grades 8-12), with a further 13.6% going on to basic school (Grades 8-9) (MOE, 1992: Appendix 8). Basic schools are attached to an existing primary school and are generally held to offer "an education that is of inferior quality" (MOE, 1992: 72). For the current structure of education in Zambia, see Appendix A.
The following statistics are from Focus on Learning (MOE, 1992). They refer to 1990, unless otherwise indicated.
|
Number of "complete" primary schools (grades 1-7) (1989) |
2,957 |
|
Number of "incomplete" primary schools (grades 1-4) (1989) |
501 |
|
Number of classes: |
36,542 |
|
Total pupil population: |
1,459,216 |
|
Average class size: |
39.9 |
|
Total number of 7-13 yr olds: |
1,643,853 |
|
Girls as percentage of enrolments (1989) |
48.3% |
|
Teachers in Primary Schools |
|
|
Trained |
29,950 |
|
Untrained |
5,241 |
|
Number of primary Teacher Training Colleges: |
10 |
Trained teachers are those that have successfully completed grade 12 (end of secondary school) plus two years Teacher Training College. The percentage of untrained teachers increased from 7.8% in 1986 to 14.9% in 1990.
Most primary schools in Lusaka and many in the urban Copperbelt run a triple shift system for years 1 to 4, and a double shift system for grades 5 to 7. Double shift systems mean that many children in Grades 1 to 4 are being taught less than 3 hours per day.
