KATETE District Commissioner, Raphael Phiri, has urged learners in the district to take advantage of the free education that the government is providing to secure their future.
Speaking when he graced the UNICEF supported district career exhibition fair held under the theme “sowing seeds for a bright future”, Mr Phiri said the free education that the government is implementing has ensured that everyone has an equal opportunity to better their lives.
“If you want a meaningful future, the first step is education, go to school, and you can never ever have a better government than this one which has put in place free education because paying for education was a serious hindrance for access to education.
“But, here we are today, there is no youth or any child not going to school because education is now free and we are talking about your future, it starts with education it starts with school,” he stressed.
Mr Phiri also indicated that learners could also take advantage of the skills development that the government was spearheading.
“In the event that you fail to pull through school, they have put in place skills training which will still give you a future,” he advised.
Eastern Province Senior Education Standards Officer for Guidance and Counselling, Thomas Mkandawire, highlighted some of the key ideas to succeed in life.
“What you need to do to succeed, the first one is being focused, then the second one is being disciplined,and the third one hard work. So when you embrace these three, no one will disturb you,” he said.
And UNICEF Digital Learning Assistant, Cephas Zulu, said children were at the center of the institution’s work.
“We want to make sure we reach every child out there and leave no one behind and this programme specifically is part of the activities that are centred on the integrated adolescent programme. So we are looking at adolescents between the ages of 10-19,” he said.
Mr Zulu also highlighted the value of skills development among the adolescents.
“Also one thing we are also trying to do with the young ones is the aspect of skills development. We want to make sure that someone has skills. We are not only depending on someone employing us but you need to have an actual skill that can market you out there and able to generate something and have a living out there,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jersey Day Secondary School Pupil, Mirriam Chama, appreciated the timely intervention and promised to perform better in school.
“On behalf of my fellow pupils, may I promise that we are going to take education seriously like never before, in order to make our lives and society better.
“Career exhibitions have proven to be good forums through which learners learn to make good career choices,” she said.
