Key Dates in the History of Zambian Education

Key Dates in the History of Zambian Education

o 1500s – Portuguese traders made contact with Zambian inhabitants o 1850s – David Livingstone Expeditions o 1889 – BSAC founded by Cecil Rhodes to exploit central African resources. BSAC = British South Africa Company. o 1897 – BSAC took possession of Northern Rhodesia. It did little for education, leaving this up to the missionaries. o 1890s = London Missionary Society and Church of Scotland Missionary Society sent missionaries to Rhodesia. They had eight mission stations before 1900. o Primitive Methodists established mission stations in the Zambezi Valley and in Namwala o 1905 – The bridge from Victoria Falls to Livingstone was completed, enabling the railway to push further north to the Copperbelt. o First Mission established by White Fathers o 1905 – Chikuni Mission established by the Catholics o 1906 – Macha Mission established o 1907 – Barotse National School founded as the result of a treaty between Chief Lewanika and the BSAC. o 1911 – Two territories (Eastern Rhodesia and North Western Rhodesia) were merged into one. o 1911-1921: British government encouraged settlement by white settlers in order to increase the tax base. o 1914 – First General Missionary Conference (inter-denominational). They asked BSAC for financial support but were rebuffed. o 1915 – London Missionary Society established a school for girls at Mbereshi. o 1918 – In an effort to improve the quality of mission schools, BSAC passed National Schools Proclamation. o 1900-1924: the number of students rose dramatically, standing at more than 100,000 pupils by 1924. o 1924 – BSAC relinquished control to the British Authorities, and the Rhodesias (North and South) became a British Protectorate and Crown Colony. o 1924 – Phelps-Stokes Commission met with the General Missionary Conference to discuss an educational program for the Rhodesias. It is said to have been based on education for American blacks and was largely utilitarian, emphasizing agriculture. o 1925-45: Policy statements from the Colonial Office related only to primary education. o 1935 – The number of mission schools had grown to 1990. By contrast, government schools in 1935 only number 51. Mission education dominated from 1924-1964. o 1925-1945: British grants for education were unevenly distributed in favor of white settlers. More money was spent on educating 1250 white students than 92,000 black students. o 1945 –65 black students were attending the only secondary-level school in the country for blacks, Munali Training Center. o Post-1945: The Colonial Office began to actively develop secondary schools. o 1960 – Only 16 mission secondary schools and 8 government schools in Northern Rhodesia. o 1946 – Education was heavily biased in favor of boys. On 3 girls were enrolled at the secondary level in all of Northern Rhodesia. The number increased to 287 by 1960 and 1379 by 1963. o Pre-1960: Education continued to be dominated by practical rather than academic knowledge. o 1948-1953: Increasing interaction between politics and education was evident. o 1953 - Federation of Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Malawi was established. ZNAC (Zambian African National Conference) was established at roughly the same time. Schools often played a role in the increasingly active political unrest from 1953 until independence. o 1960 – ZANC changes its name to UNIP. o 1963 – The Federation was dissolved. o 1964 – Octover 24^th. Zambian independence declared, with Kenneth Kaunda as president. o 1964 – Education system was in trouble: 75% of men and 93% of women had not completed more than four years of primary school. Only 1200 Zambian blacks had a secondary diploma, and the country had only 961 university graduates (all of them educated outside the country). Of 7200 Zambian teachers, only 600 had completed secondary school, and only 150 primary teachers nationwide with certificate to teach secondary school. But, there were more than 600,000 children of primary school age. o 1964-1980: Kaunda’s government stressed improving the education system and expanding the number of students to receive primary and secondary education. Enrollment increased from 378,417 in 1964 to 1,260,564 in 1980. The government relied heavily on expatriate teachers during this period. The BIC provide an excellent example of this situation. o 1969 – The percentage of secondary teacher who were expats stood at 90%. o 1971-1984: University of Zambia struggled to provide the hoped-for human resource capacity. Moreover, the ration of staff to student population was not financially sustainable. o 1972 – The Second National Development Plan. However, the teacher training could not keep up with expanded enrollment. o 1977 – Educational Reform: Proposals and Recommendations called for “universal basic education” (i.e., education through grade nine). o 1979 – Third Development Plan. Like the earlier plan, this effort was thwarted by expanding enrollment, too few trained teachers, inadequate facilities and materials. o 1984 – Yet another commission was established to examine education. The national and global economic crisis severely hampered efforts during the 1980s. “Universal basic education” was abandoned for “universal primary education,” which it was hoped could be achieved by 1995. o 1989 – Fourth National Development Plan. o 1991 – Chiluba voted into power, ending Zambia’s one-party system. o 1990s – Educational problems continued much as before with student-teacher ratio unacceptably high, financial resources low, too few books and teacher resources, and ever-increasing student enrollment. o 1992 – “Education for All” promoted by the government. o 1996 – “Educating Our Future” stressed six principles: 1. Liberalization 2. Decentralization 3. Equality (equal access for all) 4. Equity (gender, special needs, etc.) 5. Partnerships 6. Accountability o 2000 – Report indicated the following weaknesses: 1. Inadequate infrastructures and places 2. Inadequate human, financial, and material resources 3. Resistance to change 4. Fear of spending available finances 5. Lack of common educational consensus 6. Donor dependency o o