Regional heads and stakeholders in the education sector in the Zambezi Region shared interventions that will improve national results in the region.

They also identified bottlenecks that impeded the desired results.

Stakeholders identified a shortage of textbooks, hostels, and classrooms, while the placement of teachers according to their specialisation is also a factor of concern.

"Many times, most of our learners who are also going over in the next grade or maybe to tertiary institutions are those that are also passing on the basis of copying; are we sure it is quality people who are going to UNAM? Have we also ascertained that the training team of teachers that are coming from UNAM is very competent outside there? Maybe these are some of the matters that need to be addressed vehemently to ensure quality," said Mubonenwa Mubonenwa, principal of Mavuluma Combined School.

Richard Kambinda, manager at the Zambezi Vocational Training Centre, made a commitment to improve their support for technical schools in the region.

"We, from our side, will provide support to the 15 technical schools, and this will involve the movement of staff members to some schools that are technical schools and also hosting those schools at our centre so that those kids will be exposed to some of the equipment that at this stage cannot be afforded or accorded at the schools."

Other issues of concern were those of the two-trimester period, which some felt did not give enough time to improve students' performance for the final exams.

The long period schools have to wait for vacancies to be filled is another.

The Deputy Minister of Education, Arts, and Culture, Faustina Caley, said the issues raised were receiving the ministry's attention.

"N$40 million has been budgeted for textbooks, and funds will be transferred to regions starting in July 2023. Nonetheless, the regions have already started with the procurement process, and we hope that this process will be expedited with the speed and urgency it deserves because textbooks are a critical ingredient to the comprehension of subject content by learners."

She also encouraged schools to reach out to Namcol for any training needs and the use of study materials.