Dr. Kelvin Mambwe Permanent Secretary-TS at the Ministry of Education today paid a courtesy call on Dr. Tuesday Bwalya Permanent Secretary for Muchinga province. The visit coincided with the commissioning of toilets and other facilities constructed by CAMFED at Nkula Primary School and Chinsali Special School.

Dr. Mambwe, who was in the company of other stakeholders including Healthy Learners, emphasized that education requires collaborative efforts to be truly effective. He highlighted several key areas for development, noting that health rooms play a critical role in keeping learners, particularly girls, in school.

“Education is important and needs collaborative efforts. Health rooms and the feeding program are essential. With 50,000 teachers recruited by the end of this year since the New Dawn Government took over, we must ensure that education is driven forward, especially for the girl child, to make the education system more responsive and effective,” Dr. Mambwe said.

He further praised the work being done by CAMFED and Healthy Learners, stating that their initiatives are vital in retaining girls in the education system. He also called for a long-term goal of ensuring that all schools are equipped with waterborne toilets.

In his remarks, Dr. Tuesday Bwalya echoed the sentiments on the importance of sanitation, stressing that proper facilities are a necessity alongside existing government programs.

“Every school deserves proper sanitation. On top of the free education and the school feeding program being implemented by government, learners should have proper sanitation at the school,” Dr. Bwalya said.

He added that his office is open to working closely with the Ministry of Education to ensure that all schools and learners have access to decent sanitation facilities, reinforcing the commitment to creating a conducive learning environment for all.