PEAS in Zambia

PEAS (Zambia) Ltd

Introduction

PEAS will establish and operate low-fee secondary schools in the highly populated compound areas where there is currently inadequate provision of affordable secondary education. Compounds are generally all planned settlements surrounding towns where the urban poor live.

PEAS schools will not be rural, as in Uganda, as the rural areas of Zambia are generally too sparsely populated to support sustainable secondary schools.

PEAS (Zambia) will initially be based in Ndola, the provincial capital of the Copperbelt where the first PEAS schools will be established.

Why Zambia?

Secondary education is not very accessible:

There is no USE, as in Uganda.

Government or private secondary schools are expensive. All of the free(-ish) ‘community schools’ set up by communities themselves, churches and NGOs are for primary level.

• Lower basic (grade 1-7)- almost free (a few hidden costs)
• Upper basic (grade 8-9) (Government- about £45 per year no lunch)
• High School (grade 10-12) (Government- about £80 per year no lunch)

PEAS schools will be ‘secondary schools’ catering for upper basic and high school (grade 8-12) (Grade 8-9 c£35 per year with lunch, Grade 10-12 c£40 per year with lunch)

• 50.55% completion of Grade 9 (2009)
• 30.2% enrolment in grade 10 (2009)
• 19.83% completion of Grade 12 (2009)

Also, there just aren’t many Secondary Schools. Hopefully, PEAS will build schools in and around compounds which don’t currently have High Schools (e.g Twapia and Kawama).

Kelvin, who, after compliting High School enrolled in the Built It training program. He now works as a skilled labourer. He says:

It is very hard to find a job without a grade 12 certificate. The only jobs that are available without a high school education are as a gardener, a security guard or a housekeeper. To work in construction or industry; to have any skilled job, you must have a grade 12 certificate.

It’s a young population:

• 70% of Zambians are young people- 2010
• Zambia has the 5th youngest population in the world- 2010
• It’s poor:
• 80% of Zambians live on less then $2 per day- 2010
• Zambia is ranked 164/187 on the Human Development Index (lower than average for a SSA country)

AIDS epidemic:

HIV prevalence is at 14%- 2008 (this is one of the highest rates in the world and 15-25 year olds are significantly and disproportionately affected by the pandemic).

15% of the population under the age of 15 are orphans (largely due to HIV). These orphans have access to primary education through the network of Community Schools which are free or have very negligible costs. However, secondary schools are usually inaccessible for orphans. It is more likely that orphaned children of secondary school age will be able to meet the fees of PEAS school though after school and holiday time piece work.

You can read about George Secondary School, the first PEAS school in Zambia, here.