Challenges and Prospects of Education in Correctional Facilities in Zambia: A study of Selected Prisons

The study explored the challenges and prospects of education in correctional facilities in Zambia and examined its inclusiveness. Prisons Act, Chapter 97 of the Laws of Zambia states that every prisoner has the right to education and library facilities. Currently, most Prisoners are deprived of the right to education and library facilities. This means that there is lack of inclusive education in prison and yet the Zambian Law clearly mandates prison authorities to provide education to all prisoners. If this problem is not addressed, prisoners would continue to be marginalized in the face of well documented human rights opportunities.

The study was qualitative and used embedded case study approach with more than one unit of analysis; one correctional centre in Lusaka and two correctional facilities in Central province were used for both male and female inmates. The sample drawn using homogeneous purposive sampling involved 31 student prisoners; 3 senior officers from NGOs, 13 prison staff, 1 senior officer from Ministry of Home Affairs – 1 senior officer from MoGE and 1 from TEVETA giving the total of 44 respondents. Data was coded and categorized into themes. The findings indicated that education was not inclusive due to many challenges such as inadequate teaching, learning, and training materials and inadequate funding from government. There are prospects for education for prisoners, through government support in terms of funding though not adequate, the Prisons ACT chapter 97 mandating prisons to offer education, ECZ providing examinations, NGO and TEVETA support. The study revealed that prison education could be made more inclusive through collaborative support of Government and NGOs. The Ministry of Home Affairs should have clear policy guide lines on prison education. In view of the findings, the study recommended that government should increase budget allocation to prison education and implement prison education policy; Ministry of Education should take responsibility of prison education and collaborate with NGOs supporting prison education.