CHIKANKATA SMILES AS ZESCO OFFICIALLY HANDS OVER CHASUNTA SCHOOL TO THE STATE

“I feel very privileged and excited to be the first Head Teacher at this school. This school is 100 percent perfect and conducive for learning for pupils of this community, especially since it is a boarding school,” Chasunta Secondary School Head Teacher, Mrs. Hildah Mweemba said. “This is a good gesture from ZESCO Limited, especially that a lot of pupils from far-flung areas will be coming here. We are ready to welcome the pupils when schools open and ready to offer them quality education. We will have no excuse to give as an administration.” The people of Chikankata district will have every reason to look back to 2023 with fond memories. On 25, March 2023, the district witnessed the official commissioning of the 750 Megawatts Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station by ZESCO Limited; a US$2 billion power project which has increased the nation’s installed power generating capacity by 38 percent. In the spirit of partnership and recognizing the support ZESCO Limited receives from the community and all its stakeholders, the Corporation, through its subsidiary Kafue Gorge Lower Power Development Corporation, on 28 November 2023 officially presented to the community of Chikankata district a new secondary school. Chasunta, a name coined by the local community and its traditional leadership, is a co-education boarding school with capacity to cater to 500 learners and comes complete with various equipped laboratories to aid teaching and learning has melted the hearts and minds of the local people in the district. And Government has lauded ZESCO for complementing its efforts to promote free education. “Creating more classroom space amid the free education agenda is a huge task which government can’t do alone. Allow me to commend ZESCO for its unwavering support towards the provision of infrastructure for education. I would like to urge other players in the corporate world to emulate ZESCO,” Education Minister, Douglas Syakalima said at the official handover ceremony of the school. Hon. Syakalima thanked ZESCO for delivering what he described as one of the best schools in the country. “Thank you ZESCO for this wonderful piece of infrastructure. I think this is among the best schools, but I think as ZESCO, you have now taken the bar too far, we will all have to emulate that you can have an air conditioner in a classroom.” Meanwhile, ZESCO Managing Director, Eng. Victor Benjamin Mapani disclosed that it was the Corporations policy to contribute to the enhancement of social infrastructure in the vicinity of its operations alongside the expansion of its operations. Eng Mapani added that the building of Chasunta Secondary School is a resolve by the Corporation to support the New Dawn Governments free education policy. “To support the government’s noble agenda of increasing access to education, ZESCO Limited through the Kafue Gorge Lower Power Development Corporation Limited, found it befitting to construct this school and staff houses to cater for the surrounding communities’ educational needs, an initiative stemming from our corporate social responsibility program,” he said. Eng. Mapani added that: “ZESCO cannot grow its business in isolation of the communities in which it operates, and therefore, its social investments are birthed from the Corporation’s corporate social responsibility program which among other activities seeks to support the provision of quality education in communities where its operations are domiciled.”