By CHILA NAMAIKO –
THE Government has said most of the higher learning institutions among them University of Zambia (UNZA) and the Copperbelt Unity (CBU) will remain closed until the public health inspectors are satisfied with the level of sanitation to warrant the reopening period.
Other institutions that were closed include Mulungushi, Kwame Nkrumah, Chalimbana, Mukuba and Kapasa-Makasa universities which were scheduled to open last month.
Higher Education Minister Nkandu Luo said the focus on the rehabilitation works at the three universities was centred on rehabilitation of sewer systems, ablution blocks, mending of water leakages and improving water supply through reticulation.
Professor Luo said the inspectors were on the ground to ensure high standards of hygiene were maintained in the affected institutions which would be inspected routinely every fortnight.
“Mr Speaker, my ministry realises the important role that these institutions play in the economic dispensation of this country and it is this realisation that prompted my ministry to work closely with the
ministry of Health, ministry of Local Government and the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit in the office of the Vice President to ensure that existing sanitation conditions at these institutions were
worked on not only for the benefit of the students and public bit also to ensure health of our students and staff,” she said.
Prof Luo said this when she issued a ministerial statement to clarify to the House and the nation at large on the delayed opening of public institutions.
She said the closure was done because the institutions hosted cohort populations in concentrated areas that would have been placed at great risk had they opened at the height of the cholera epidemic.