By Staff Writer
Chieftainess Chungu of Yaba people in Lupososhi Town has urged parents and guardians in her chiefdom to ultilise government’s free education policy by taking their children to school.
Chieftainess Chungu said that with the free education policy in place, no child should fail to go to school.
“Previously some parents and guardians gave an excuse of lacking funds as reasons for not taking their children to school but later married them off, a situation she said should be a thing of the past, lack of money will now not be a reason why a parent cannot send their child to school because education is free from grade one to 12,” she said.
Chieftainess Chungu has since encouraged parents to find other means of finding school requirements such as uniforms and books, saying what government has done means a lot.
“I have come up with by laws in her chiefdom to prevent parents from marrying off their children at an early age and that the coming of the free education policy will strengthen her fight against child marriages, people in rural areas can still engage in farming activities so that they raise some money to buy some of the school requirements because school fee is what was the challenge for them,” she said.
According to the by-laws anyone found wanting is subjected to hard labour, locally called ‘Milima Chipuba’, the move she said has helped to fight child marriages in the chiefdoms.
