Education is a basic right that should be guaranteed.  But there are still many places where access to education is a privilege – even though education is vital for breaking the vicious circle of poverty and goes hand in hand with development.

Children who have been to school are more likely to grow into self-sufficient and healthy adults. There’s a strong link between a woman’s level of education and the survival and well-being of her children – the importance of education goes well beyond the benefits to the individual.

Education in Zambia

Only one in four adults in Zambia finish secondary school – and when children can go to school the average class size is 68.  Grinding poverty and the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic put sending children to school out of reach of families who are struggling to survive. 

SOS Schools in Zambia

At the SOS Children’s Village the children will go to our SOS Nursery School.  We are extending the local community school too. The  Damview Community Primary School is on the edge of the SOS Village and that is where the children will go after nursery school. We want all the children in the area to have a better chance in life: class sizes will be reduced and the children at the school will now have electricity and toilet blocks at last.

More than 3,000 community schools across Zambia provide an education for a quarter of primary school children in the country. Community schools specialise in reaching vulnerable children – just like SOS children.

At SOS Children we ensure that all the children in our care go to school. Where there are no schools, we build them. And then our facilities also give other local children the chance to learn and develop.  In Chipata, the adult literacy rate is only 48% compared to the national average of 68%.

With your help we can ensure that education is more easily accessible, and so boost the life chances of Zambian children.

“The government couldn’t reach here so the community are doing something for themselves, and we want to support their efforts”

– Florence Phiri, Director of SOS Children Zambia

SOS Children’s project activities

• Construct a nursery school as part of the new Children’s Village now being built in Chipata
• Add a six-classroom extension, and a toilet block, to the existing Damview Community Primary School (built by local parents)
• Consult with school staff to identify teacher training needs
• Supply teaching materials
• Provide Nursery and Primary School scholarships for children from vulnerable families in the neighbourhood
• Initiate an adult literacy programme involving the local community
• Increase the school’s capacity, and reduce class sizes (currently 50-80 pupils per class)
• Provide better hygiene and new sanitation facilities
• Reduce class sizes to improve the quality of teaching
• Support families who are in difficulty and help them make sure that their children are going to school.

Community schools in Zambia: reaching the most disadvantaged

The importance of community schools, built by local people in the absence of any government facilities, should not be underestimated.  By 2004, approximately 3,000 of these schools had been created; their total enrolment accounts for 25% of overall enrolment in basic education in Zambia. They have been particularly effective in reaching children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and other vulnerable, hard-to-reach groups.

According to the Ministry of Education, 13% of public school students are orphans but they account for almost one-third of community school enrolment. Other evidence shows that community school students are from poorer households – less than one-third of community school families, for example, live in permanent structures compared to 46% of public school families.