Kansanshi Mining Plc has constructed and handed over more than 10 classrooms and 250 desks worth K2.35 million to the provincial administration in North-Western Province, with a call to keep the new facilities decongested.

The new schools, which have been constructed under the Kansanshi Education Quality Improvement (KanEQuip) Support Programme, were handed over to outgoing North-Western Province Permanent Secretary Ephraim Mateyo by Kansanshi Mining Plc Mine Manager Clayton Reeves.

Reeves explained that the new classrooms, five at Mushitala Primary School and five at Mbonge Primary School, with 25 desks in each classroom were designed to decongest the present enrolment and not to increase capacity.

“Increasing enrolment because of these new classrooms would defeat the very purpose for which they are being provided. The classrooms are aimed at decongesting the existing space. They should help the school to reduce the number of sessions that they run in a day, and thus, increase learning time in each session,” Reeves said.

“In our view, teacher-pupil contact time is now the most serious constraint facing the schools we support in their quest towards quality education. With increased contact time, teachers can carry out their work professionally with learners being taught through approaches that encourage learning through play, to innovate and be creative,” he added.

Reeves said there was an initiative that Kansanshi Mining Plc was running with the Ministry of General Education under which schools had agreed to achieve a pupil per class target of 40.

And the provincial administration through Mateyo thanked Kansanshi Mining Plc for its robust corporate social responsibility that had continued to positively impact lives in the province.

Mateyo, who received the newly-constructed classrooms and desks built for Mushitala and Mbonge schools in Solwezi, noted that Kansanshi Mining Plc had over the years embarked on an aggressive programme to build classrooms in various schools.

The Permanent Secretary pledged that his office would closely monitor the performance of the two schools.

“Should the results look ordinary, we will only conclude that you have failed to fully utilise the rare support you are being given today. We would like to unreservedly commend Kansanshi Mining Plc for this continued gesture. Today, these new classrooms at Mbonge and Mushitala are very special because they are coming as part of a comprehensive package aimed at contributing to the improvement of the quality of education,” Mateyo said.

– Story courtesy of SUMA SYSTEMS.