GOVERNMENT SHOULD COME IN TO HELP POOR SCHOOLS

THE House of Representatives in Zanzibar has been told that Mtopepo Primary School has a classroom in which 200 pupils are crammed. Most of the pupils in this bizarre environment are seated on the floor due to a critical shortage of desks at the school. 

The Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Mr Ali Juma Shamuhuna, told the lawmakers is managed by three teachers -- one teacher doing the actual teaching, another prevailing over the conduct of the pupils and the third teacher being a disciplinarian. 

This is a strange educational system, to say the very least. A standard classroom in any school should have an average ration of 45 pupils to one teacher. What is happening at Mtopepo Primary School borders on the bizarre. It is incredible. 

The minister said that in some Zanzibar schools pupils study in two to three shifts or sessions to allow all students to have access to classrooms and study. He blamed the situation to the huge number of children and a critical shortage of teachers. 

It is imperative to mention here that the government has an obligation to ensure that poor schools get the kind of support they need. Mtopepo is not the only school whose pupils learn under shocking environmental conditions. 

Many more are on the Mainland. The National Assembly was told a few months ago that pupils at Kamukola and Ruzila primary schools in Kagera region learn in despicable, filthy conditions. They sit on stones in grass-thatched mud huts which become smelly and dank during the rainy seasons. 

The huts are also infested with insects, some of which bite. Certainly, this is not an ideal learning environment even for a primary school child. What boggles the mind furthermore is the nettling fact that the two schools are officially registered government entities. 

The number of needy schools, especially primary and secondary schools in this country can be shocking. Some schools operate for years on end without running tap water. Others have no pit latrines. And there are those that have heavily overcrowded classrooms. 

Some schools have only two teachers where 20 are needed. This may sound incredible, but it is even more astounding to find schools whose pupils take their lessons under the canopy of a mango tree. They answer to the call of nature behind bushes nearby. 

The government has a duty to protect children with or without financial capacity. After all, the Dakar Framework of Action, to which Tanzania is a signatory, asserts that resource constraints should not be an excuse for non-investment in the welfare of children.

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