The education of the girl child is something that is very dear to the heart of all the RSCs in Zambia and when we look back at our history in the Region it is something that was very dear to our pioneer sisters. In 2013 we celebrated the Golden Jubilee of Roma Secondary School and the theme chosen for that occasion was Girl Child Empowerment through Quality Education.
This is not confined to just one of our schools but it is something that we try to accomplish in all our institutions. In an effort to achieve this Chikuni Girls’ Secondary School, with the help of donors, has undertaken a building project to construct a one by three classroom block in order to facilitate an increased number of pupils at senior level. This is a huge undertaking as it has involved applying to donors for funding and involving parents in the whole process.
Up to 1991 the school was part of Canisius Secondary School but that year it became an independent school with its own administration. Chikuni Girls’ School is the only all girls’ school in the catchment area and many girls walk about ten kilometres one way in order to access education. In all types of weather they can be seen making their way to school and happy to do it. The possibility of making the grade for boarding schools which are further away from home is a dream for some and a reality for others, so that puts the onus on Chikuni to provide the best education that it can for the pupils. Teachers and staff at the school are in “loco parentis” as the pupils spend most of their waking hours in school and all take this responsibility seriously and work tirelessly to help those in need.
The parents of the pupils and some well wishers have been extremely generous in their contribution towards the new building. Some parents who are builders have offered their services in the building of the classroom block and this has helped greatly as it has meant there is no need to engage a full time contractor. We dream, and that is good – dreams do not cost anything – and our dream is that in the future we can build an administration block, another one by three classroom block. We also see the need to rehabilitate a classroom into a science laboratory to facilitate the education of the increased numbers of pupils in science. This is where we want to be in the coming years so as to enable our pupils receive the best education possible, so that they will be in a position to offer to our nation a service and be responsible citizens in the Zambia of tomorrow.
