Zambia: An Overview of Formal Education

Abstract

Zambia attained its political independence from Britain in 1964. Before this period there were 75 years of colonial administration during which most of the provision of education was mainly in the hands of missionaries (Simposya, 2003). At independence there were already two education systems running parallel on racial lines: well-financed, for colonial masters, and poorly financed and basic for the natives (Simposya, 2003). After independence, the decade which followed (1964–74) is still considered by many researchers as a period of relative success in development of the country’s infrastructure, and also social-economic gains (Kelly, 1991; Carmody, 2004). It is within this period that Zambia realized formal education up to university level. In 1975, Zambia’s economic fortunes plummeted with the world decline in the price of copper, Zambia’s main export. The next 15 years saw negligible GDP growth, high rates of joblessness and the increasing inability of the state...