Changa Changa Community School was established in the year 2000 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers with the Community. The school was established mainly for vulnerable children. During the survey in the Compound of Changa Changa which is adjacent to St.Edmund’s High School in Mazabuka, it was discovered that there were sixty nine children between the age of nine (9) and fifteen (15) years who were not in school. Out of that number forty-two (42) children had never been to school before and the remaining twenty –seven (27) had attended school for short period.
Following our survey, a meeting with forty-seven (47) parents from Changa Changa Compound was held on 6th May 2000. At this meeting a committee of five men and five women was formed with a view to setting up a community school. A few days later the committee met and identified two potential teachers from within the community. Contacts were also made with UNICEF, Zambia Open Community School (ZOCS) , the Curriculum Development Centre and the local District Education Officer(DEBS). A month later the Headmaster of St.Edmund’s High School made two disused storerooms available to the Community and the Principal of St.Paul’s Training Centre donated some desks. A local benefactor also provided K 1,500,000.00 worth of text books. The parents from the Compound also took part in cleaning the storerooms and the surrounding.
The school was officially opened on 1st June 2000 with sixty-nine pupils in level one. In 2001 two classes were opened with eighty-three pupils. By 2005 the school had two hundred and fifty-three (253) both girls and boys. A four classroom was used to carter for that number. Due to the kind of children the school was getting, children were placed in levels.
· Gathering class( which is equivalent to pre-school class)
· Level 1. Which is a combination of grade one and two
· Level 2. Which is combination of grade three and four
· Level 3.Which is a combination of grade five and six
· Level 4. Which is equivalent to grade seven
By 2009 the number of children had increased up to 350 and accommodating these pupils in four classrooms was a problem. The school started seeking funds to construct a new school. The hope is that the new school will run accommodate pre-school, adult literacy classes and grade 1-9. 0n 22nd March 2010, the project of constructing a 2(1x3) classroom and VIP toilet commenced. We have just finished constructing the 6 classrooms and toilet as part of our first phase. But still the numbers of classroom are not enough to carter for the daily increase of children. Currently we have 420 children receiving education at our school.
Apart from offering quality for these vulnerable children, the school runs feeding programs which as proved to be a very good support to most of the children who come to school on an empty stomach. On the other hand, feeding the children has been a great motivation for them to attend classes frequently and they also pay special attention to their teachers. This is evidence from the good number of pupils who have qualified to Secondary and Basic Schools over the past years. The School provides free exercise books, pencil, pens and rules to the pupils.
