By Staff Reporter, Lusaka
A 73-year-old Mulomba Mutakwa, a retired teacher, was last Wednesday among 13 GCE candidates who sat for history paper (I) at Kabwe School for Continuing Education.
A Septuagenarian is by far the oldest person in Zambia to sit for Grade 12 General Certificate of Education (GCE) examinations.
Mrs Mutakwa said she was very anxious but happy that she wrote the paper.
“It [examination] has motivated me and I am encouraged. I feel I can do it,” she said.
She said Pastor Simweemba, Director of Home Health Education Service (HHES) in Kabwe under the Seventh Day Adventist
(SDA), convinced her to sit for GCE examination.
“He felt this was going to help me to be well-informed,” said Mrs Mutakwa.
Mrs Mutakwa said she does a lot of work under HHES and this demands a lot of reading and exposure to current affairs.
She said she has interest in history as it would help her to understand the scriptures.
Mrs Mutakwa who is the mother of four and grandmother registered to sit for English, Religious Education and History at Kabwe School for Continuing Education in March this year.
However, she did not sit for English and Religious Education because she had a bereavement on the dates she was supposed to write the two subjects. She intends to sit for them next year.
Mrs Mutakwa told staff at Kabwe School for Continuing Education that she intends to enroll in university to undertake a course that would be of interest to her.
And Central Province Education Officer Jennipher Banda described Mrs Mutakwa as a courageous woman.
Ms Banda said Mrs Mutakwa stands as a shining example that “education knows no age”.
Ms Banda said Mrs Mutakwa stands as a shining example that “education knows no age”.
She said there is a big possibility Mrs Mutakwa is the oldest person in Central Province to have sat for Grade 12 GCE
examinations.
Her granddaughter, Lucy Mondoka, is humbled by her grandmother’s decision.
Ms Mondoka, a teacher at Kabwe School for Continuing Education said her grandmother is showing a good example that anyone can go to school at any age.
“This is a big step she took because at her age, she is supposed to be resting but she has decided to return to school,” Ms Mondoka said.
Ms Mondoka is inspired and she wants to improve her academic qualifications.
When she completed her primary school decades ago, Mrs Mutakwa proceeded to do her Junior Secondary Education.
The Septuagenarian went up to Form Two and proceeded to David Livingstone Teacher Training College for a two-year course.
She worked as a Primary School Teacher for 31 years.
Mrs Mutakwa retired in 1996 at Mine Primary School, one of the local schools in Kabwe.
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