SCT to benefit over 2000 people in Kaoma

—-Government says over 2, 000 people in Kaoma district of Western Province will benefit from the Social Cash Transfer by 2015.

Community Development, Mother and Child Health Minister, Emerine Kabanshi, who is also PF Luapula Constituency Member of Parliament, revealed this when she addressed 300 members from 26 women clubs in Mangango Constituency yesterday.

Ms Kabanshi said the PF government has prioritised its commitment to assisting the vulnerable people especially women in the rural parts of the country for everyone to have an equal share of the national cake.

She said the previous government failed to implement the Social Cash Transfer, saying it was making people lazy but the PF government scaled up the programme which is currently running in about 50 districts countrywide.

Ms Kabanshi said by 2015, the Social Cash Transfer will be fully rolled-out to all the 103 districts where over 2, 500 families will be catered for countrywide.

She said wherever the Social Cash Transfer programme has been implemented, vulnerable people have excelled in their businesses and are able to send their children to school.

And Ms Kabanshi has advised pupils at Kaoma Boarding Secondary School to refrain from sexual activities and concentrate on their education because teenage pregnancies and early marriages will jeopardize their progression in school.

She bemoaned the falling progression rate of many pupils at the institution, adding that government has prioritized the education and the health sectors as a sick nation is a dead nation.

Ms Kabanshi said sex outside marriage is forbidden and urged pupils at the school to completely abstain from sex which is mainly caused by peer pressure.

She said girl children should report anyone, regardless of their status in society, if they were forced into early marriages before completing their education, to the relevant security wings in the district.

Ms Kabanshi warned teachers at the institution to desist from having sex with their pupils, saying teachers were parents and as such any teacher who would be found flirting with a pupil will be instantly dismissed.

And speaking earlier, Kaoma District Education Board Secretary, Sendoi Mutumba, said pregnancy levels at the institution have tremendously reduced due to strict measures the school authorities have put in place.

Ms Mutumba said the school has only recorded one pregnancy this term, adding that all pupils were not allowed to move outside the school premises as even Church leaders have been requested to conduct services within the precincts of the institution.

Meanwhile, Mangango Day Secondary School head teacher, Muwema Kasweka, has appealed to government to construct a boarding house that will accommodate about 100 girl children who come from far-flung areas of Mangango that are currently renting houses near the school.

Mr Kashweka said this when Community Development, Mother and Child Health Minister, Emerine Kabanshi, paid a courtesy call on him at his office yesterday.

Mr Kasweka said the school has recorded three pregnancies this term because girl children were not fully supervised by the school authorities.

And Ms Kabanshi said government will look into the matter seriously so that girls at the institution are not sexually abused.

She said government has a robust programme of ensuring that all girls in the country excelled in school activities.