Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government has announced its continued commitment to constructing new A-level secondary schools and upgrading existing ones as funding becomes available.
Deputy Minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government), Zainabu Katimba, said in the National Assembly yesterday that the government has been building new A-level schools and developing infrastructure in existing secondary schools to elevate their status to accommodate Form Five and Six students.
The deputy minister was responding to a question from Special Seats MP, Sophia Mwakagenda (CHADEMA) who asked whether the government recognised the importance of building more A-level secondary schools, similar to its efforts with primary and lower secondary schools, to address the increasing student population.
Ms Katimba explained that from 2020 to 2024, there has been a significant increase of 254 A-level secondary schools, rising from 401 to 655 schools.
Additionally, the number of students has grown from 109,540 (62,206 boys and 47,334 girls) to 207,696 (104,830 boys and 102,866 girls).
Katimba reiterated that the government’s strategy is to continue building new A-level secondary schools and upgrading existing ones as funding permits.
Ends Ministries to join forces to prevent land encroachment THE Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development will meet with the Ministries of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, and the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (TAMISEMI), to strategize on preventing livestock keepers from encroaching on all areas, including reserved land.
Deputy Minister of Lands, Housing, and Human Settlements Development, Geofrey Pinda, stated this in Parliament while responding to a supplementary question from Special Seats MP, Munira Khatibu (CCM).
Ms Khatibu had asked about the government’s plan to formalise land ownership in all villages nationwide to resolve land disputes.
The MP also questioned what strategy the government had to repossess large farms from investors who have not developed them.
In response, Mr Pinda said that the process of planning and formalising land ownership is ongoing and depends on the availability of funds.
He emphasised the intention is to rapidly survey land to prevent conflicts.
“I commend the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries for bringing livestock keepers together. My ministry will cooperate with the Ministries of Livestock, Agriculture, and TAMISEMI to have a unified approach to ensure livestock keepers do not spread out,” said Pinda.
Regarding the undeveloped farms, he stated that a team would be formed to investigate them and those found to be undeveloped would be reallocated to citizens.
In her basic question, Ms Munira wanted to know the government’s strategy for preventing land conflicts between livestock keepers and farmers. In response, Mr Pinda acknowledged the existence of overlapping land use conflicts between farmers and livestock keepers in many areas across the country.
He said that to address the issue, the government has continued to take various measures, such as establishing land use plans through the National Land Use Planning Commission.
Mr Pinda added that the government is continuing to educate the people to help them identify areas for livestock keepers and farmers in their respective areas, through local leaders, especially in areas where land use plans are not yet in place.
“I would like to remind the people to ensure they use land in accordance with the planned land use schemes to eliminate overlapping land uses, which has been a source of conflict between farmers and livestock keepers,” Pinda concluded.
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