The Government of Ireland has officially handed a Science and Computer Laboratory at St Patrick’s School in Mazabuka, about 140 km south of Zambia which was built at a cost of about €50,000.
The new building block was built with support from the Irish Government through Irish Aid in Zambia and provides a new computer laboratory equipped with computers provided by Camara (an Irish based NGO), two science laboratories and an additional classroom for tenth grade pupils.
Speaking during the event, Secretary General, David Cooney expressed happiness that “the completion of this building marks the final transition of a school which started in 1995 with 72 children learning under a tree with no chalk, desks, books or pencils, to a modern well equipped secondary school. The history of the school is a humbling story of quiet persistence and community collaboration, borne quite simply of a hunger for education.”
St Patrick’s started in 1995 as Ndeke Community School with 72 pupils but now has 832 pupils (456 girls and 376 boys), in grades 2 to 10.
Mr Cooney also expressed happiness that “Zambia’s education system had made remarkable progress and just as in many countries, has been undergoing wide-ranging reforms, including curriculum reform which introduces Information Communication and Technology Education as a subject. We can now safely say that St. Patrick’s meets the standards in terms of infrastructure,” he added.
He reiterated the Irish Governments commitment through its Policy for International Development: One World, One Future, to contribute to sustainable development and inclusive economic growth
Irish Aid in Zambia provides support to the Ministry of Education to implement the sector Strategic Plan, known as the National Implementation Framework. An annual amount of, € 6 million is disbursed directly to the Ministry of Education with further more than €2 million disbursed through local and Irish civil society organisations in Zambia annually.
This assistance is used to support priority areas such as; procurement of new teaching and learning materials, and trainings of school, district and provincial personnel on the new curriculum framework and advocacy work for equitable access to quality education in Zambia.
