Management at Mwinilunga secondary school has joined many stakeholders in praising government for implementing the free education policy.
School head teacher, Francis Mubambe, said free education has created a platform for children, whose parents cannot afford school fees, to be enrolled in schools.
Mr Mubambe said pupil enrolment at Mwinilunga boarding secondary school has since increased from 448 to 702 boarders.
He explained that a high percentage of pupils enrolled at the school are girls.
“The population of the school has been dominated by the girl child looking at the high pregnancy rate in the district. This has encouraged many parents to bring girl children to the boarding school,” he said.
He told ZANIS in an interview today that 280 pupils at the school are being sponsored by the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) bursaries.
Meanwhile, Mr Mubambe has appealed to the government to urgently consider renovating the school infrastructure and staff houses which have been in a dilapidated state for a long time.
He also asked government to provide more desks for the learners.
“If there can be a deliberate policy to renovate government schools, that can be a great achievement for the government,” he said.
And school head girl, Gift Mufundisha, said the introduction of free education has given an opportunity to the under-privileged children in the district to be in school.
She said the policy has equally helped reduce the number of young people engaging in bad activities such as theft and substance abuse as they are being kept busy with school activities.
Another pupil, Rejoice Chiputa, said the free education policy has eased the burden of many parents whose responsibility now is only to provide the necessary school materials for their children.