THE Ministry of General Education has implemented the World Bank (WB)’s US$60 million-funded Zambia Education Enhancement Project (ZEEP) to build Kapepula Day Secondary School in Kaputa district. Kaputa Member of Parliament (MP) Maxus Ng’onga said the project is one of the main activities taking shape in his constituency, and people are excited about the development. “In the education sector, another important activity is the new secondary school being built at Kapepula under the World Bank-funded school project.

“As a constituency, we have benefited from the fund, the school is not yet complete, but we hope that it will be one of the structures that will be done soon,” he said. Mr Ng’onga said Government, through the ministry, is keen to make sure that the area has access to quality education. He commended the World Bank for partnering with Government in ensuring rural parts of the country have access to quality education.

In 2016, the World Bank conducted a Public Expenditure Review (PER) of the education sector where it identified several challenges, including the shortage of classrooms, particularly at secondary school level, unavailability of textbooks to students and issues about the quality of teaching. In an effort to address the challenges, Government, through the Ministry and the World Bank Group, developed a sectorwide, medium-term programme called ZEEP. ZEEP seeks to help the ministry achieve sector priorities and broadly contribute to the Seventh National Development Plan (7NDP) objectives on human development.

ZEEP involves constructing a two-classroom block, one ablution block, and home economics and science laboratories under phase one. The structures under the second phase include erecting an administration block, teachers’ houses, one more ablution block, as well as water reticulation and power supply, among others.