Zambia's Poorest Progressively Left Behind: Well-Being Denied

*Brendan P. Carmody*

### **Abstract**

After Independence in 1964, the government of Zambia set out to fashion a national of equals. In this, the school was seen to be a key strategy along the lines of the modernisation route to development. Initially, this seemed to be well directed but within a short time it was evident that this mode of schooling was elitist, promoting division between 'haves' and 'have-nots.' Today, the country is greatly divided between those who are well-off and those who are not. This article traces the path to this outcome historically.

**Keywords:** Zambia, equity, school, modernization, marginalization, educational reform, equality of access, opportunity structure

#### **1. Introduction**

In the years following Independence in 1964, Zambia, like many African states, viewed education to be pivotal to its development as a nation. This belief in the power of school was partly grounded in what is known as the modernization approach which emphasizes investment in the formation of labour capital [1]. The political leaders were concerned with economic progress and the need to build an inclusive nation [2].

As this mode of national development has emerged, we find that in 2013 a Catholic secondary school in Lusaka's Matero township, a densely populated low-income section of the city, had approximately 10 percent of its students from the local district. This was because the local children did not reach the school's Grade VII qualifying grade [3]. As a result, the school, like many other private or semi-private schools, had a preponderance of its students from outside the immediate surroundings.

Matero Boys is grant-aided which means that it follows government direction and is also Church sponsored. It thus follows government practice of admitting those who reach a certain academic standard in the belief that this meritocratic way of proceeding is equitable and fair in avoiding marginalization and providing equal opportunity to all [4]. Yet, this mode of procedure appears to work against one of the Catholic school's prime purposes—inclusion of those at the margins. To better appreciate this paradoxical situation, we turn to a review of its setting.

#### **2. Context**

As a Catholic school, Matero boys is part of a long tradition that heralds social justice which includes concern for the poorest. The first Catholic missionaries

generally set up outposts where missionaries had outreach to the poor and were oftentimes accused of giving handouts [5]. Similarly, it is true that in later times such missionaries were branded as instruments of colonialism in so far as they are said to have cooperated with the British colonial state. A significant aspect of this emerged when, by adopting the school as a means of evangelization, the colonial government became more directive. At that point in the late 1920s, the Catholic school, as others, was faced with a dilemma. It could continue largely outside government jurisdiction as a church school or it could become part of the colonial state system.

Missionaries found themselves on both sides of this issue but with the visit of Monsignor Arthur Hinsley, the voice of Rome, Catholic missionaries were told to place their schools within the state framework [6]. For the most part, they did this even if sometimes reluctantly. In the long term, this proved to be a good means of outreach in so far as it promised people from the remotest areas escape from the village and the opportunity to find wage labour in the developing mines and towns. Attending school was a means for Northern Rhodesians (Zambians after 1964) to become what has been called the fortunate few [7]. What is evident is that the early missionaries directed their efforts at assisting the poor and, given the climate of the time, they could be seen to be weakly aware of the political implications of their activities one of which included the price of becoming part of the colonial state system.

After a Church Council called Vatican II ending in 1965, the Church adopted a more political approach with an emphasis on social justice [8]. It stressed individual human rights but extended this to what it called the common good where each person's participation in the general welfare is highlighted [9]. This ideal was elucidated principally in 1968 through a papal document called *Populorum Progressio* and formed a key aspect of the Latin American bishops' conference in Medellin in 1968 [10]. It meant that missionaries began to be conscious of the political dimension of their schools [11].

This took place in the years after 1965 when Zambia was striving to establish itself as a newly Independent state and, as already indicated, it placed a heavy emphasis on education and, under the leadership of President Kaunda, the ideal of equity was fore-grounded. One might conjecture that this meant support for the promotion of social justice and the ideal that everyone would share equitably in the new nation's development. In that respect, the poorest seemed to have equal opportunity. What was new within this viewpoint, from the point of view of the Catholic Church, was that liberation of the poorest assumed a social structural or political framework. While the old system of assisting individuals to gain uplift remained, the church began to focus on social structures and their capacity to promote or impede social justice. In this way of thinking it was argued that there was a need to contribute towards building a just social order [12]. More specifically, a document called *The Catholic School* notes:

*Since it is motivated by the Christian ideal, the Catholic school is particularly sensitive to the call from every part of the world for a more just society, and it tries to make its contribution towards it. It does not stop at the courageous teaching of the demands of justice even in the face of local opposition, but it tries to put these demands into practice in its own community in the daily life of the school [13].*

The same document affirmed that, first and foremost, the church offers its educational service to the poor and if the church turns its attention exclusively to those who are wealthier it would be contributing to their privileged position and would thereby favour the development of a society that is unjust.

In this context of commitment to the poorest as developed in terms of the common good, we have the Matero Boys situation where the local poorest are excluded, not because they are unable to pay as was true elsewhere [14], but

#### *Zambia's Poorest Progressively Left Behind: Well-Being Denied DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95570*

because they failed to meet government-set academic criteria for entry. One could argue that what Edward Berman spoke about, when he charged missionaries of subordinating their mission to government aims, had come to pass [15]. However, it could also be argued that this was not the case but that the church under the authority of the Zambian Ministry of Education which is now called Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education (MESVTEE) the merit-based educational system provides an avenue towards equity and social justice and thus avoids marginalization of the poorest [16].

What follows argues that this claim is false but was uncritically accepted as true by the Catholic Church and more widely. It is a historical approach illustrating how, despite government intentions to create a nation that would not marginalize, the Zambian school system became a pivotal instrument of progressively excluding large sectors of society from the fruits of economic development which meant decreasing access to formal employment and the well-being that it promised.

The discussion emerges from secondary sources--published work, books, journals, educational reports on reforms, adjustments to World Bank demands, undergirded by the author's long-time experience in the country as a teacher, administrator, and researcher. It engages with such issues as the ideal of justice, opportunity structure, upward mobility, class formation, educational reform, education as reproductive of the status quo as it develops the the notion of marginalization. This speaks of social groups especially the poor in rural areas and densely parts of towns or cities as well as subgroups whose voices were weakly heard—girls, orphans, and those with special needs. As will be seen, the process of marinalization gains momentum when in the mid 1970s a newfound social elite gain control of the education system and strive to ensure that access to school maintains and reproduces its privileged position as the majority are left out.
