**3. The evolution of Zambia's education System**

On gaining Independence in 1964 the new Zambian government had an extremely limited pool of educated labour. Out of a population of about four million only 110,000 had received six years of schooling and of these only fiftyeight percent had completed full primary school. Fourteen percent had passed the two-year junior secondary course as 961 had completed the Cambridge School Certificate [17]. In this setting, government realized that education was a major priority so that it could place its heavily marginalized people in positions of responsibility in the new state.

At the same time, the government lost no time in assuming almost total control of the education system through an Education Act in 1966. Subsequently, its Ministry of Education quickly expanded access to schooling so as to provide universal primary education for every Zambian, which had been a long-term ideal [18]. Given the challenge of creating a nation-state, government also saw schooling as a means towards national unity and prosperity for all. However, within that perspective, the President was concerned to develop a nation where there would be little division between 'haves' and 'have-nots' [19]. In its egalitarian concern, the Ministry of Education abolished school fees so that schooling would be open to all unlike what had been the case during colonialism.

#### **4. Equity and prosperity through modernization**

In pursuing this aim of promoting widespread education for prosperity and inclusion, government adopted what, at the time was seen to be the best or only route, which was seen to be that of modernization [20]. This theory had been popularized in the 1950s and 60s to explain the relative under-development of Latin America, Africa, and Asia. It equated their current stage of under-development to an earlier historical period of the developed nations. It thereby assumed that development was unilinear consisting of a sequence of stages. One of its earliest proponents was Walter Rostow who spoke of the traditional, pre-condition, and take off stages [21].

Among the pivotal preconditions for the so-called take off, Rostow identified the development of natural science and technology and the values that accompany them. This came to mean that academic schooling was seen to be a crucial ingredient. Through the school, children would learn the tools of becoming modern. A key element of this theory would be that the nation-state. Developing countries could pursue a path to their development even if they might helpfully seek advice and assistance from developed countries. Subsequent development of Rostow's thesis occurred with articulation in 1961 of what was called the human capital approach where education came to be seen as an important investment which would lead to national prosperity [22]. This theory emphasized development of urban modern industrial centres which would then spread employment and prosperity to the whole population.

With this international framework for development in view, Zambia invested heavily in schooling, patterned on the educational systems of Europe with the hope that it would lead to widespread prosperity at the national level. It was founded in an understanding that school had a direct impact on producing a developed nation which would mean widespread, if not full, employment of those educated. In the Zambian context, it meant that government introduced what was a conventionally academic approach to school and saw success in the state academic examinations as perhaps the best and fairest means to national development in so far as it offered equality of access to all though free schools.

As a result, between 1964 and 1970, the number of children in primary schools increased dramatically as it did also at secondary as well as teacher and university education [23]. This surge of enrollment continued as the economy was buoyant and appeared to promise widespread schooling and opportunity to all, which accorded well with the government's desire to create a nation of equals where even the poorest child in the far off regions of the country would not be marginalized but would have equal chance to succeed as those in the cities coming from well-to-do families. In these early years, where formal employment was abundant for schooled people at primary level and beyond, the system was widely welcomed and enabled many of the poor to move up the social ladder.

### **5. The centre did not hold**

Within a few years however this pattern of providing universal schooling and the opportunities that accompanied it began to show signs of break-down. By 1969, despite the promise of universal access to primary school, 33 percent of the seven-year old children were not in school and many of those who completed their primary schooling could not find places in secondary schools [24]. The ideal of universal primary schooling and wholesale employment in the formal sector were in question.

In subsequent years (1970-1975), the situation deteriorated with increasing numbers being excluded from the system at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels in part because the government could no longer afford to provide the kind of universal access which it had originally promised. This needs to be seen particularly in light of the adverse economic situation for Zambia in the 1970s when the price of its main market product—copper—fell dramatically. In the situation of a growing squeeze on revenue and an increasing limit of access to school, by 1975 only 49 percent of the 7-14 year olds were in school.
