Since January 2013 VVOB has been supporting Community Schools (CS) and Teacher Resource Centres through the ECSITE Project. The project is being implemented by VVOB together with the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education (MESVTEE) as well as Zambia Open Community Schools (ZOCS) as an operational partner. The project is funded through the European Union in conjunction with the Belgian Development Cooperation.
On 18th September a small ceremony was held at the Curriculum Development Centre, during which the ECSITE Project handed over a wide range of educational materials and equipment to the Zonal Teacher Resource Centres and community schools through the Ministry of Education.
The materials handed over will build the capacity of Teacher Resource Centres to support community schools and other schools they serve. When consulted, most of the zonal centres requested equipment to improve the facilitation of training for teachers. The items provided to the schools were based on a sampling of CS needs. This indicated that the lack of books and teachers’ guides of the new curriculum is the highest concern of community school teachers.
The materials and equipment procured thus included books for grade 1 (pupils’ books and teachers’ guides for all 3 terms), the new curriculum framework, atlases, desktop computers, printers, projectors, UPS batteries, storage metal trunks, solar radios, amongst others.
Through the ECSITE project, the materials will be distributed to 48 Zonal Resource Centres and 750 community schools in the 2 targeted provinces. The DEBS (Districts Educational Board Secretary) will facilitate the handover in each district. The distribution exercise is set to start by mid-October.