Hundreds camp at David Livingstone College for interviews

Part of the youths attending interviews waiting outside

Hundreds of Youths have camped at David Livingstone Teachers Training College for the three-days interview going on at the Institution located in Livingstone, Zambia’s tourist capital.

Youths from different parts of the country are camped at the College to seek enrolment during the interview that begun on Wednesday, August 28 and will run upto Friday the 30th.

Some students told Zambian Eye that there have been at the College since Tuesday evening saying the exercise has been slow.

“I am from Muchinga province, I arrived on Tuesday and was in the queue by 04:00hrs Wednesday but only managed to collect the form around 11:00 hours and submitted it around 16:00 hours.

I could not manage because at 17:00 hours they closed so I have

Catching a nap while waiting, one of the interviewees while the one is captured quenching her throat

Interview in session

been in the queue since 05:00 hours today,” explained one of the students who said he had been spending nights in the corridors.

He said he could not manage to get a mattress which the school was giving at K20 and had no option but to sleep in the cold. The aspiring student whose names have been withheld described the exercise as very challenging. He said one gets so exhausted before even attending the interviews.

“This is stressing as you can see, no sleep and you spend two days in the queue but I have no option,” he said.

Chola Simpasa

Another student talked to advised the management to restructure their interview arrangements so that interviewees don’t have to go through the tedious process of standing for two days.

“I live in Livingstone but I have been here for two days and just finished because I only got interviewed in one course. It has been so stressing cant wait to go home. These people should consider making arrangements where students have somewhere to sit and come different times rather than exposing people to this kind of arrangement,” she said.

When contacted for a comment College Principal Chola Simpasa said the College has attracted a huge number of aspiring students. He said the numbers recorded so far is unprecedented in the history of the College.

Simpasa attributed the high turn-up to the Ministry’s move to convert other Teachers College to Universities.

He however said there was no two ways about shortening the exercise as doing so would compromise the process.

He said the exercise involves screening the students by checking their papers to make sure they are valid and genuine.

The interviewees are then given forms to complete before they are interviewed he explained.

“So the process is not slow its only that the numbers have grown so much otherwise shorting the process would compromise the exercise,” said Simpasa.

He explained that the College expected to pick about 200 students.

The first day of the interview over 1,000 had gone through the first stage of obtaining forms and the number is expected to go over 2000.