By DIXON BWALYA –

IN those days only members of staff and school prefects were allowed access into the staff roof and in those days examination questions were sometimes written on the black board from a hand written question paper prepared by teachers.

Students would write their tests on Friday, the concerned teacher would then mark the test papers over the week-end and a review of the examination paper would take place on the following Monday.

And so it was that there were some two below average prefects who accessed the staff room were unfortunately the arithmetic subject teacher had carelessly left his question paper for that particular Friday and these underperforming prefects saw an opportunity to be on top of the class for a change and therefore they proceeded to copy answers for each question.

Now during the actual examination period the teacher wrote figures on the black board that were slightly different from what was in his hand written examination paper, for  instance, instead of say writing 25 he wrote 26 which of course altered the ultimate answer to the question.

The underperforming prefects scored 100 per cent until the review was done.
This misconception about the reasons people go to colleges or indeed universities has continued, widened and has become deep rooted, schools, colleges and universities have been designed to be centers for dissemination and acquiring of knowledge in one’s  chosen field of specialisation the objective is not to receive certificates.

The phenomenon of attempting to get certificates at whatever cost has led to increased costs in preventing leakages of examination papers whenever examinations are taking place. Those involved in leaking examination papers have recently had the audacity of even rioting when leaked examination papers turned out not to be genuine.

The intention of establishing colleges and universities as centers of education of excellence was in the realisation that half baked graduates were a waste of resources and a danger to themselves and society they are expected to serve.

Those involved in conducting interviews as a way of recruiting  prospective employees should place emphasis during the interviews on the mental content of each candidate of the subject matter at hand rather than the certificates one possesses.
The issue of failing to understand or appreciate reasons certain mechanisms are put in place as a way of monitoring or enforcing certain acts that take place in the environment we live has spread to the road sector.

The Road Transport and Safety Agency officers or indeed officers from the Traffic Police do not check that your safety belt has been fastened in order for you to pass through that particular road block.

Wearing safety belts whenever one is travelling is a safety precaution that may save your life in case of  a road traffic accident it is not intended to be a passport to facilitate passage through a road block neither is it meant to be primarily a mobile ATM for officers manning road blocks.
Weigh bridges on our roads have some roles to play in the management of our affairs. First of all weigh bridges can be used to ascertain the amount of cargo a particular truck has picked up from a processing plant or factory.

This is done through weighing the truck on entry into the plant or factory and the same truck is weighed again at the point of exit and the difference in the two weights will indicate the weight of the cargo picked up.

Secondly weigh bridges on highways such as the ones at Mpika on the Great North Road or at Kafulafuta on the Kapiri/Ndola Road or indeed the one at Kapiri Mposhi on the Great North Road are meant to protect the roads and prolong the life span of roads.

Civil roads engineers design road to carry imposed weights within specified weight limits and if these weight limits are constantly exceeded then the affected road will not last the expected life span meaning society through the appointed agents may spend more money on
 road maintenance and repair than would have been the case if the weight limits were strictly observed. Again this is the point that has been missed by some passenger bus operators who, just before the weigh bridge, ask some passengers to disembark from the bus only to be picked up after the weigh bridge while others rearrange the sitting in the bus to free the rear part of the bus supposedly to reduce the weight.

The vehicles ought to be weighed in exactly the same condition as they traverse on the roads and not to alter this arrangement just to ensure clearance at the weigh bridge because such adjustments in the weight of a vehicle do not reflect the true load being imposed on the roads and may lead to quick deterioration of roads thereby defeating the purpose of setting up weigh bridges on our roads.
It is a requirement that whenever one intends to erect a building in a particular locality such a person ought to seek approval from the relevant planning authority.

The primary objective of this requirement stems from the recognition that all constructed structures have an impact on third parties who may not have been directly involved in the design and construction process of the built product.

During the building plans scrutiny process the local authorities are mandated with the responsibility of ensuring that all relevant building regulations are complied with so as to protect not just the owner or developer of the building but the general public as well.

There has been lately a tendency by some developers to engage a consultant to prepare architectural drawings with sufficient details to meet the minimum required standards so as to receive planning approval from the local authority, once the approval from the local authorities has been secured the approved drawings are  abandoned and lower building specifications are adopted.

Part of the issues taken into account during the scrutiny process include fire protection construction methods incorporated the submitted built fabric, issues of health in terms of water supply, disposal of waste water and drainage of storm water are also taken into account.

The current tendency of constructing houses without creating fire compartments, for instance, is a recipe for fire disasters, this is where all walls are constructed only up to, may be, three courses above the ring beam creating a void above which would make the spreading of fire and damage to property very easy.

This is a planning approach which would not have been allowed by any serious planning authority as it is a fire hazard; builders however adopt this post approval construction technique at the pretext of saving the uninformed building developer some money.

Each design intention has a basic purpose to be fulfilled, passing an examination is not a guarantee that one has understood the various concepts on the subject matter one can pass with a distinction but still be empty in the head.

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