What it's worth
Both boys and girls from two of the schools of the United Church of Zambia know the value of education, writes Chileshe Kalasa. They are equally determined to finish school and go on to further education to secure a healthy future.
Pupil at the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) Kafue Boys' School Mwikisa Nawa wants to study up to professor level as a lawyer. Most of the people who are in prison are innocent, he says. Meanwhile peer Clifford Mwaba will be in school for a long time so he can study medicine and help people. Madalitso Zulu intends to stay another seven years in school so that he can study to be a lawyer.
Though high, these ambitions are not unusual for boys, since for some time African countries have only promoted male education. The fact that the girls in UCZ's Chipembi Girls School choose careers equally as challenging is more surprising.
Boys in a street market in Zambia: Street vending is one of the alternatives for children who do not get an education.
Fourteen-year-old Lucy Tembo feels that she should finish her secondary education and do engineering because she knows she is good at science-related subjects and can compete with men. Although she has sacrificed being with her parents, she feels that education is very important to advance in life. If she were not in school today she might have had to work, or her parents might have tried to marry her off, she said.
Lubinda Lisimba, 16, feels she should spend another five years in school and do accounts at a university. Lukaba Mukonde believes she should have more years in school to study civil engineering because she likes designing. Precious Chipika, 16, has decided to spend another six years in school and become a lawyer.
Most policies on education in Zambia have been changed to suit both sexes. There has been an increase in female teachers so they can be role models to girls, a deliberate policy to have more females in higher education and an increase in the number of women that are in decision-making positions.
The effects are seen in the dedication and ambitions of girls at Chipembi, who aim for challenging careers, not previously common among women.
While only representative of pupils from urban areas, where there is better information flow and more people to act as role models, the high goals of both girls and boys at the UCZ schools show they understand Zambia's current economic difficulties and that education is one of the tools needed to secure a better future.