Community commends Lilongwe District Council for constructing classroom block

By Chikondi Basikolo – Mana.

Community members of Nsinja South Constituency in Lilongwe have commended Lilongwe District Council (LLDC) for constructing a classroom block at Chiunjiza Primary School in the area.

They said it would go a long way in helping improve the quality of education.

Speaking during the official handover of the classroom block at the school, on Thursday, one of the community members, Loyce Mateyu said they are happy with the initiative that LLDC has done.

“Learners at this school face a lot of challenges because most of the classes are conducted under the trees and it is difficult for them to concentrate because they see a lot of things that disturb classes.”

“Both learners and teachers find problems during the cold season as they do not have a covered place, and the rainy season is even worse but  these classrooms will help our children and the teachers have a conducive learning and teaching environment,” she said.

Mateyu said they are eagerly waiting for more developments in the area and they would work hand in hand with the head teacher, teachers and school committee members to make sure that the classrooms are being taken care of and serve the intended purpose.

LLDC Chairperson, Luciano Botomani said as a Council, their wish was to have a well developed district and with the little resources they get, they would manage to reach as many communities as possible.

“The money that we are using in these projects is from District Development Fund (DDF) and this is helping us a lot in alleviating the challenges that communities face and this school block will help curb the challenges that the learners and teachers face during winter, summer and the rainy season,” he explained.

Botomani said that the classroom block has costed K 21 million.

District Commissioner (DC) for Lilongwe, Lawford Palani said most of the projects have been picked from the District Development Plan (DDP) and the purpose was to make sure that they implement all the projects planned.

He said that, “I am happy that using different funding of which one of them is the DDF, we are trying to put structures on the ground and I can testify that there is a great improvement as we are able to implement big projects like these.”

Palani said as a council, it was their wish and desire to continue implementing big projects that could be there for a long time and give a huge positive impact to communities.

“Mainly, the projects are being implemented in schools and hospitals because we were receiving a lot of demands in those sectors.”

“We are only implementing projects that people asked for and we are making sure to deliver the best because if they asked for that, it means they were indeed lacking and to minimize the challenges, we are providing durable services,” the DC said.

Member of Parliament for the area, Francis Belekanyama said what LLDC has done was commendable and would be remembered forever.

He said one of the challenges at the school was lack of infrastructure which led to low performance as learners were not concentrating.

Belekanyama added the construction of the classroom block would help a lot as many learners would be accommodated and this would act as a motivating factor to attend classes.

LLDC is implementing 11 projects in various Traditional Authorities in the district and so far, three projects have been completed and handed over to the beneficiaries.

Mana/cb/fm