Eba Kandovazu
THE Minister of Education, Arts and Culture, Anna Nghipondoka today decentralised the functions of primary and secondary schools, community libraries, adult education, arts and culture programmes and school hostels to regional councils across the country.
Nghipondoka says the ministry staff members and trade unions have been consulted before signing the secondment letters of affected personnel. This means, 39 025 staff members, teaching and non-teaching, will no resort under regional councils, including buildings of 1947 schools, 237 hostels, 17 special libraries, 66 public libraries, 503 functional school libraries, 75 circuit offices, regional offices and Teachers’ Resources Centres. Extensive consultations were conducted with the regional councils to agree on reporting lines, management of staff, finance and assets, Nghipondoka stated.
According to her, consultations and inductions on the functions to be delegated were made with the affected staff and the regional councils from 15-19 November 2021, and approval was granted by the Office of the Prime Minister in January 2022 for the staff members to be seconded to the regional councils. The staff members to be seconded
are 187.
“After this launch our Ministry’s technical team will assist the individual regions with the finalization of the handover, the detailed operational issues around the functions, office space, assets, human resources and finances. Experience has taught us that clear communication channels and procedures are of critical importance for both the Ministry and the Regional Councils. As we strive for devolution in the whole decentralization process, I call for dedicated close collaboration and strengthening of relations among our entities,” she said at the launch
