EDUCATION Minister John Phiri has praised teachers and the Kapilonga local community of Isoka District for embracing creativity to enhance access to education.
The teachers and the local people of Kapilongo have built a play park for early learners in a remote village of Isoka District to encourage children to enroll at the centre.
Dr Phiri told ZANIS in Isoka soon after inspecting the early learning centre at Kapilonga that it was a role model of an early learning centre in a typical village in Zambia.
He praised members of staff for putting up a classic early learning centre and a play park made out of local raw materials.
“This is what the PF Government meant by saying children in rural areas should access pre-school education. See this master piece of a play park that has been put up by well coordinated community and teachers,” Dr Phiri said.
The minister said that out of a K5,000 donation given to the school by UNICEF to rehabilitate the classroom and put up play a park, the school management utilised the funds well for the benefit of the children.
And Isoka education board secretary Kelby Chizyuka disclosed that 80 pre-school children had been enrolled at Kapilonga early learning centre.
Ms Chizyuka also thanked the Government’s partners such as UNICEF for funding the rehabilitation of the classrooms in the district.
She said UNICEF had exhibited high potential in assisting the Government in the education sector.
Meanwhile, UNICEF consultant for Muchinga and Northern provinces Dennis Mukunta said his organisation was working on constructing 10 early learning centers in Isoka District.
Mr Mukunta said UNICEF had built lavatories for early learners, provided funds for the rehabilitation of classrooms, teaching aides, furniture for pupils and toys for pre-schools in the area. -ZANIS

Traditional leader urges subjects to work on roads

A SENIOR village headman in Chief Chipalo’s area in Luwingu District has appealed to his subjects to help rehabilitate roads which connect villages within his chiefdom instead of waiting for the Government to do so.
Senior headman Mucheleka said people should know that it was their duty to rehabilitate the small roads which connected one village to another while the Government was to rehabilitate and construct feeder and national roads.
The village headman was happy that most of the roads and other Government infrastructure were being rehabilitated countrywide.
He said people were happy with the rehabilitation of Chepeshi-Monongwa and Fikonkota- Chifwile roads which connect Chief Chipalo and Senior Shimumbi’s areas and some parts of Chilubi District.
Headman Mucheleka said once the roads were completed, movement would be easy as compared to the current situation where motorists shun such areas due to impassable roads.
He lamented that it was difficult to find vehicles to transport agricultural inputs to Senior Chief Shimumbi’s chiefdom and other areas because of the bad road network.
Headman Mucheleka urged the contractor to speed up the works on the roads.
“It is now our duty to make our small roads which connect village to village as opposed to waiting from the Government,” he said.
The senior village headman said the PF was a hard working Government although the President said it had useless members of Parliament.
He appealed to Zambians to desist from attacking the Government but consider offering constructive ideas aimed at fostering national development.
The traditional ruler also thanked the Government for bailing out the cash-strapped Luwingu District Council which had for years failed to pay its workers salaries and wages.
The workers are now getting monthly salaries and wages like those in other Government departments such teachers and nurses. -ZANIS

LWSC  embarks on K19m lavatory project

By MWANGALA LISELI –

LUSAKA Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) has embarked on a project to construct K19 million lavatories and sewer lines in Kalingalinga Township.
The project is aimed at reducing the number of pit latrines in the area as they pollute ground water which is supplied to many parts of Lusaka.
The three-year project is being funded by the Ministry of Local Government and
Housing and Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) under the World Bank.
LWSC public relation officer Damaseke Chibale said about 47,000 people, an equivalent of 8,700 houses, would be connected to the water and sewer lines in the capital city.
The project will be divided into three phases with the first one costing K2.5 million and targeting to cover up to 400 houses.
Mr Chibale said the project was also creating employment for youths of Kalingalinga Township in line with the Government’s policy of employment creation
He said 30 young people had so far been identified and were being trained in plumbing, bricklaying and gender streamlining.
Mr Chibale said the youth would be employed for the whole three-year period and would use their skills as a source of income after the project.

Bio-gas power plant earmarked for L/stone

By BRIAN HATYOKA –

LIVING Falls BioPower, an energy firm, has partnered with Energy and Environment Partnership (EEP) and Southern Water and Sewerage Company (SWASCO) to set up a bio-gas power plant in Livingstone to be turning waste into cooking energy and fertiliser at a cost of 180,000 euros.
The plant, which uses water weeds from SWASCO sewer ponds as raw materials for producing bio-gas energy, is targeting to reach about 50 households in Livingstone’s Dambwa Site and Service before the end of this year.
Living Falls BioPower business development director Thomas Krimmel said his entity invested 80,000 euros while EEP provided 100,000 to set up the plant.
Dr Krimmel, who is also Southern Bio-Power Limited partner and director, said his company wanted to provide cheap and cost-effective energy to about 50 communities and nearby hotels in the tourist capital.
He was speaking during the commissioning of the Biogas Plant project last week.
EEP is a programme which promotes renewable energy, energy efficiency and clean technology investments.
It is jointly funded by the governments of Finland, Austria and recently joined by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).
“We want to supply cheap and cost-effective energy nearby hotels and surrounding communities which are near the SWASCO sewer ponds,” Dr Krimmel said.
“Our target is to support between 30 and 50 households by the middle of this year under the pilot project, after which we will decide to connect more households and entities to the project.”
He said the contract with SWASCO was for seven years, and thereafter, the water utility form would decide whether to renew the contract or not.
And Livingstone Town Clerk Vivian Chikoti said her local authority was proud to host the project.
Ms Chikoti said the project was apparently the first of its kind in the world in terms of producing biogas from water weeds as well as in terms of people served with biogas as cooking energy and distributed through a gas pipe network with pre-paid gas meters.
SWASCO Board chairperson Annie Tischer said the water utility firm was proud to host the biogas plant.
Ms Tischer said SWASCO intended to extend a similar approach to other parts of Southern Province, in addition to Livingstone.
Natalia Mwaanga and Albertina Munakaampe, who are residents of Dambwa Site and Service near the SWASCO sewer ponds in Livingstone, said they had greatly benefited from the project.