Chiluzi upgraded to full primary school

Chiluzi Primary School in Traditional Authority (T/A) Kasumbu in Dedza is now a full primary (FP) courtesy of Nora Docherty Charitable Foundation of Scotland.

Head teacher Edward Ziwoya said the school  which started in 2001 with no school blocks, used to enrol only 400 pupils in standard One and Two but to date, it has 1 600 pupils from Standards One to Eight.

“The school blocks have boosted enrolment because no pupil would wish to learn in the open. Two, there are a lot of incentives from the foundation for both teachers and pupils,” said Ziwoya.

The foundation introduced a school feeding programme and gives pupils free uniforms every year to keep them in school. Other incentives such as bicycles, salary top up and decent houses, are given to teachers to maintain them at the school.

Ziwoya said before this approach, many children were dropping out to venture into businesses, search for jobs in South Africa and marry at early ages and the school had only four teachers yet now it enjoys services of 20 teachers.

Peter and Margaret Cummings, foundation owners, said apart from upgrading the school, the Foundation has also constructed a modern nursery school as a foundation for the children in the catchment communities before they join primary school.

Dedza District Education Manager (DEM) Monica Kapachika thanked the foundation for the project. n