. Dr Phiri

By SARAH TEMBO –
GOVERNMENT has launched a fast track teacher’s education programme at Daughter of Mary Immaculate (DMI) ST. Eugene University in a bid to help teachers upgrade their qualifications from diploma to degree levels.
Education Minister John Phiri said currently, Government was forced to send teachers with diplomas to senior secondary schools due to fewer teachers holding degrees.
“To commence the process of remedying the situation, Government in 2011 introduced the fast track teacher education upgrading programme,” he said.
Dr Phiri said during the launch of the programme that the current scenario was against Government policy.
“It has not been the policy to subject teachers meant to teach junior secondary school classes to teach senior classes nor for any teacher to teach at levels for which they are not trained.
“So, at the beginning of 2014, my ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with DMI ST. Eugene University to offer support in this area,” he said.
Dr Phiri said teachers without degrees lacked higher level scientific knowledge to teach at senior level.
Dr Phiri also said that Zambia had not done well in the area of mathematics, science and technology sphere which had a negative impact on the country.

Bill on church registration drafted

By NAKUBIANA MUMBUNA –
A DRAFT Bill that will deter Churches from registering with the Patent and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) is ready to be handed over to the Ministry of Justice.
Once implemented, churches would be required to register with Registrar of Societies at the recommendation of any church mother body, thereby, could be regulated.
Churches registered with PACRA, currently do not provide recommendation from any church mother body, making it difficult to supervise and regulate them.
PACRA spokesperson Vaida Bunda revealed that over 1,155 churches where currently registered with the organisation.
Ms Bunda said “PACRA was currently revising its Companies Act and is drafting a Bill that will among others exclude companies incorporated for purposes of engaging in religious activities such as churches.”
Registrar of Societies Kakoma Kanganja said once the Draft Bill is enacted into law, it would be easier to regulate churches in Zambia.
Mr Kanganja explained that it was a requirement for any church to provide a recommendation letter from a mother body before being registered with the registrar of societies but not PACRA.
He said that church mother bodies; Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia( EFZ),Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), Independent Churches of Zambia (ICOZ) and Apostolic Council of Zambia (ACZ), were currently pushing for the formation of a regulatory frame work that will enable them supervise churches.
EFZ Executive Director Revered Pukuta Mwanza said once the regulatory frame work was in place, mother bodies would have the power to provide spiritual supervision to churches registered under it.
“What will happen once the regulatory framework is in place is that each church will need to be registered under its own type such as all ecumenical churches registered under CCZ, as such, it shall have powers to provide spiritual supervision,” he said.
Rev Mwanza also revealed that the EFZ has developed a ministerial code of conduct which all evangelical churches in Zambia were required to adhere to.
The ministerial code of conduct sets out the minimums of behaviours and conduct of the Church leaders such as pastors, reverends, bishops, overseers and superintendents.
It is only with such developments some clergymen being embroiled in scandals would be curbed from further abusing their flock.

Early marriages send Samfya school girls packing

By MIRRIAM CHABALA –
OVER 20 girls have dropped out of Njipi Primary School in Samfya District after falling pregnant and others forced into early marriages.
Those that dropped out of school were in grades five to nine either after falling pregnant or were forced into early marriages by their parents.
Njipi Primary School headteacher Moses Chabala confirmed the development in an interview during the week and said the affected school girls dropped out of school between January and July this year.
Mr Chabala said some affected girls gave excuses of failing to raise the K5 required as Parents Teachers Association funds.
“We find these girls either pregnant or married off whenever we follow them to their respective homes since we live with them in the communities,” Mr Chabala said.
He expressed fear that the situation could force some sponsors like non-governmental organisations (NGOs) supporting some female pupils to withdraw their support.
“We have NGOs that are supporting some girls but if they start seeing this trend by girls dropping out of school because of pregnancies and early marriage related issues, they may be discouraged and withdraw their support,” he said.
Mr Chabala said the school management in collaboration with the PTA was currently holding meetings with members of the public to find a solution on how to curb early marriages and teenage pregnancies.
Samfya District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) Gideon Mwangula confirmed having received a report of girls dropping out of school as a result of pregnancies and early marriages and said education authorities were currently strategising the best way to mitigate the problem.

Brutalised ZNBC staffer nursing broken leg

By NAKUBIANA MUMBUNA –
A ZAMBIA National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) engineer is currently nursing a broken leg in the Italian Orthopaedic Hospital after five police officers allegedly brutalised him during student protests at the Copperbelt University (CBU) a fortnight ago.
Oswald Mulasu, who spoke from his hospital bed during an interview said he was dragged from his hostel room, beaten up by the officers and sustained a broken leg.
Copperbelt Police Chief Joyce Kasosa said the ZNBC employee should report the matter to the police so that investigations could be instituted.
Mr Mulasu, who was a fifth year telecommunications student, said the officers relentlessly beat him after breaking into his room.
“Can you imagine breaking into a room that is locked? After forcing themselves in, they then drugged me from the bed where I was sleeping and started beating me up.
“It was going to be different if they found me by the roadside where the students were protesting but they broke into my room,” he said.
CBU students, a fortnight ago protested over delayed projects and meal allowances.
He explained that the five police officers continued beating him despite him pleading with them to stop.
“I pleaded with them to stop beating me as they drugged me so that I could get something to cover my face as I am asthmatic but they never listened.
“With fear that I would chock from the teargas, I tried to elude them so that I could go and get something to cover my face, but then I slipped and sustained a broken leg,” Mr Mulasu said.
He explained that after sustaining a broken leg, he further pleaded with the police officers to ask for help from medical personnel within the university who would know how to handle him but that they resisted.
“My leg was broken to the extent that part of the bone was even protruding, and I was in pain. It was at this point that they lifted me to the police car after they refused to call medical personel,” he said.
Mr Mulasu who has worked for ZNBC for 10 years was referred to the Italian Orthopeadic Hospital by the Kitwe General Hospital.
And Ms Kasosa said: It all begins with reporting. He should report the matter to the police so that we start investigating.

‘Lunda, Luvale in good terms’

By CHATULA KAMPO –
THE Lunda-Lubanza Cultural Association has described the relationship between Senior Chief Ishindi of the Lunda people and Senior Chief Ndungu of the Luvales both of Zambezi District in North-Western Province as cordial.
Association chairperson Kenneth Kankinza said the two chiefs in the District had a cordial relationship contrary to the public distant perception.
“Chief Ndungu and Chief Ishindi are brothers, they have been living as one family and are enjoying a good relationship despite being in separate chiefdoms,” he said.
He said this in an interview last week at Mukanda-Kunda palace in Zambezi District North-Western Province.
Brig Gen Kankinza said the chiefs had never at any point fought for land boundaries and power in the district.
He said if there was any land disputes on boundaries and on which chief was greater than the other, it was among the people and not the two chiefs and their families.
He said Chief Ishindi was presiding over 54 chiefs all who are currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia and Angola
He said there were 24 chiefs in DRC, 28 in Angola and 12 in Zambia and that they all originated from Mwatayamvo Kingdom in Kola in the DRC

‘Women drink out of loneliness’

By SYLVIA MWEETWA –
A KABWE-based woman has justified recent statistics of Zambian women being drunkards to lack of love and care from their men.
Adora Phiri said beer drinking was a fulfillment of the love and care some women missed from their partners.
Mrs Phiri said she was prompted to carry out a research following a study which revealed that Zambian women were consuming alcohol on a highel level.
She said that it was prudent to conduct a follow up study to determine the cause of increased cases of women drinking beer than remaining with statistics on paper.
Mrs Phiri said that her study showed that most women drunk as a result of lack of love and care from their companions and hence decided to bury their loneliness into drinking.
She said the situation was compounded by the fact that most men have forgotten their responsibilities of caring for their wives.
“Only women who have relationships with God find comfort in the Word of God, going to church to fellowship with others helped in a way,” said Mrs Phiri.
She urged men not to be too busy for their partners and that they should always find time for their families.
Mrs Phiri appealed to women to start seeking God and pray at all times if they were to live a fulfilled life.
According to the findings by the World Health Organisation published in the Washington Post, Zambian women lead as hardest consumers of alcohol in the world.
The US-based newspaper, however, did not explain how and when the WHO compiled the data but stated that more than 41 per cent of women binge drink at least once a week.
Binge drinking refers to the consumption of alcohol more than the recommended level for adults – usually drinking more than four standard drinks at any one time.