Zambia: ‘You Can’t Build Without a Foundation’ – MP’s Fight for Every Zambian Child #ADEA2025

Accra, Ghana — “Foundational learning, some time back – during my time – was well done,” said Honorable Harry Kamboni, Member of Parliament for Kalomo Central in Southern Zambia. “But as we went on, it was neglected.”

Kamboni said that as Zambia’s population grew, infrastructure and teacher numbers failed to keep pace, leading to overcrowded classrooms and widening learning gaps. “I visited a school in my constituency with about 1,500 students – and 700 of them were in catch-up classes,” he recalled. “These are learners who have moved through grades without mastering the basics – they can’t read, can’t write, can’t add.”

The Catch-Up programme, he said, is a lifeline for these students. Through interactive teaching, play-based learning, and the use of local languages, children from different grades are brought together to relearn foundational skills. “Catch-Up has given them a second chance,” he said. “For years, some couldn’t read or write, but now they’re showing innovation and creativity.”

“If you don’t have the means to start, you can’t start.”

Kamboni is one of Africa’s strongest parliamentary champions for foundational learning – the essential building blocks of education that determine whether a child thrives or falls behind. A former academic who spent 15 years teaching in Botswana, Kamboni now chairs Zambia’s Parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Technology and serves on the National Guidance and Gender Matters Committee.

Beyond his legislative role, he runs Mayake Primary School in Kalomo, where more than 200 children receive a quality education close to home.

From co-launching a policy briefing with fellow MPs to leading the country’s first parliamentary inquiry into foundational learning, Kamboni has driven education reform to the top of Zambia’s political agenda since joining the International Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd). Across Africa, his leadership echoes a movement focusing on reading, writing, and counting for every child, an important goal that could transform the continent’s future.

Across Africa, millions of children complete primary school, unable to read a simple sentence or solve basic math problems. Foundational learning goes beyond reading and arithmetic. It encompasses literacy, numeracy, and the social and emotional skills that prepare young people to solve problems, think critically, and adapt. These are not just classroom skills; they are life skills – the bedrock upon which future learning, opportunity, and economic development depend. Without them, children are less likely to advance in school, reach their potential, or contribute fully to their communities and nations.

Kamboni’s visit to Kalomo in southern Zambia marked a turning point in his advocacy.

“Sitting in that classroom changed how I looked at foundational learning,” he said. Upon returning to Parliament, he and his colleagues summoned the Ministry of Education to explain the situation, a move that led to the national budget for foundational learning doubling this year. “Even though 100% is still not much, it’s a step forward,” he said.

He added that the parliamentary push has also influenced curriculum reform, ensuring that foundational learning receives dedicated teaching materials and attention. “We made sure that foundational learning now has the textbooks it needs,” Kamboni said. Beyond policy, he has championed the idea of engaging every MP as an education advocate: “When you educate a member of parliament, you educate the whole constituency,” he said. “They go back and share that knowledge with communities and parents, making them partners in education.”

One of the most visible signs of this imbalance is overcrowding.

According to Kamboni, Zambia’s long-standing teacher shortage and insufficient learning infrastructure are the biggest barriers to children mastering foundational learning.

“The population kept growing, but the number of teachers, classroom blocks, and desks did not,” he said. “In some rural schools, you find only two qualified teachers handling pupils from Grade One to Grade Seven. The workload is just too much…” he said.

Overcrowding remains one of the most visible symptoms of this imbalance. He recalled visiting one school in his constituency where a single teacher was responsible for 99 students. “You can imagine the challenge,” he said. “The teacher wasn’t trained to handle such a big class. So while some learners benefit, others get left behind. That’s how we end up with hundreds needing catch-up support.”

The Catch-up support

Many children complete several years of primary education without mastering basic reading, writing, or numeracy skills. With each grade, the gap between what they know and what they should know continues to widen. Teachers are aware of these challenges, but often find it difficult to adjust lessons to each student’s level because of limited time, resources, and training. In response, the Zambian Ministry of Education established the Catch-Up programme, which follows the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) model.

The programme targets Grades 3 to 5 learners, offering one hour each day of interactive, ability-based lessons to build confidence and skills for struggling students. The Catch-Up programme allows teachers to tailor instruction based on literacy and numeracy levels rather than age or grade. The government expanded the initiative to more than 550 schools in the Eastern and Southern provinces after pilot school results showed significant improvements.

The programme pays special attention to Zambia’s linguistic diversity. There are 73 languages spoken across the country, and the use of seven major indigenous languages as mediums of instruction has made learning more engaging. Moreover, teachers are using locally produced learning materials, ensuring that the Catch-Up programme remains inclusive and contextually grounded while aligning with the national curriculum.

“Learners should see themselves in what they read.”

Since Zambia introduced free education, more than 2.3 million children have returned to school. However, classroom congestion has increased as well. However, Kamboni believes that access must come first. “We argued – is it better for a learner to be at home or at school?” he said. “When you are at school, you don’t just learn to read and write. You learn discipline, leadership, and how to live in society. So a child should be in class, even when conditions are difficult.”

Kamboni has pushed for stronger oversight and smarter budgeting using his position as the chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Technology. He said that Zambia has recently empowered parliamentary committees to review and adjust the national budget, a reform that has allowed MPs to channel more funding toward early learning. “For the first time, we can now call stakeholders, analyze allocations, and recommend changes,” he said. “That’s how we managed to double the budget for foundational learning this year.”

The committee was also been instrumental in ensuring that new textbooks are written locally and reflect Zambian culture and context. “We made sure foundational learning materials are authored by people who understand our environment,” Kamboni said. “Learners should see themselves in what they read.”

However, he said domestic financing must be accompanied by partnerships. “We’ve managed to cover some of the funding gaps left after donors like USAID reduced support,” he said, “but education takes the whole village. You can’t do it alone, not as a government, and not as a country.”

For Kamboni, sustaining this momentum requires engaging parliamentarians across Africa.

“Sometimes MPs are out of touch until they see the situation for themselves,” he said. “When I sat in that classroom and saw the magnitude of the challenge, it woke me up.”

Kamboni said his committee plans to conduct nationwide visits and exchange programmes to learn from other African nations that have made strong gains in early learning. “We want to visit countries like Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa to see what’s working and bring those lessons home,” he said. “When we write our reports, we combine insights from local communities, ministries, and regional experiences. That way, our recommendations are grounded in evidence.” “When MPs are involved, implementation becomes a true story,” he added. “We make sure what’s written in reports actually gets done.”

Kamboni singled out Rwanda as a standout example on the continent.

“Rwanda is investing a lot; they’ve achieved the 20% education budget target, and you can see the results,” he said. “Every primary school child has a laptop, and the Wi-Fi coverage is impressive. Their infrastructure, their approach, they’ve done very well, even better than some of their neighbours.” He added that Rwanda’s consistent investment in education, technology, and gender equality has made it a model worth emulating. “When you meet Rwandese students abroad, you can see how well they’ve been supported by their government,” he said.

Kamboni said his engagement with the International Parliamentary Network for Education and civil society helped sharpen his approach to driving change in Zambia’s education system. “If you don’t shake up Members of Parliament, you can’t really use them to bring change,” he said, explaining how the organization’s work encouraged lawmakers to see the realities of foundational learning challenges firsthand.

He said that after taking field visits to the Eastern and Southern provinces, Members of Parliament “saw what was happening” and realized that the challenges were no longer theoretical but “a reality.” The experience, he said, “changed our mindset and our approach” and inspired them “to hit the ground and see how much change we can bring.” He compared education without foundational learning to a building without a foundation that would inevitably collapse.

For Kamboni, strengthening foundational skills is essential for equipping citizens to innovate and build a stronger economy.

By Melody Chironda