The Deputy Prime Minister, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, held a round-table meeting with education stakeholders at Katima Mulilo.

The roundtable was meant to discuss opportunities and possible solutions to the poor academic performance of last year's national examinations.

Nandi-Ndaitwah reminded the gathering of the importance of education as one of the enablers of development alongside agriculture, tourism, mining, and fishing.

She called upon all to be friends with education and find solutions to its challenges.

"It must be a responsibility for everyone in whatever they do, and at the end of the day, you should ask yourself, what contribution have I made to bring about sustainable development and shared prosperity?"

Zambezi Regional Education Director, Josty Kawana, pointed to a lack of classrooms in the region, which resulted in some schools introducing the platoon system; a lack of text books and stationary; insufficient teacher accommodations; as well as alcohol and drug abuse among some learners and teachers.

"These challenges that I have mentioned and many others, for example, the lack of parental support, are affecting education in various regions; however, the determining factor is our approach to these challenges."

Regina Ndopu-Lubinda, Chief Regional Officer, cited inadequate and lacking infrastructure, particularly in classrooms, science laboratories, and libraries.

"I believe we are moving with technology, and you still find that we are challenged by some teachers who are not competent enough to introduce technology to be able to catch up with the gaps that exist. We have some schools already doing e-learning with us. We have been taught under a tree that you can't set up a computer. That's a problem."

A member of the Education Forum for Zambezi, Alfred Ilukena, is worried about the unbecoming behavior of some learners.

"We have got horror stories of teachers who cannot even utter a word or two while they are being insulted by the learners they are supposed to assist and guide, and when you ask, we are told that teachers feel like they are powerless, and some times I maintain the fact that the democracy that we are referring to does not come without responsibilities; there are rights and responsibilities."

Ilukena stressed that leadership positions that are not filled in schools leave many questions as to who takes the lead and the blame.