AfricaPress-Tanzania: PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa yesterday commended the Parliament for complementing the government’s efforts to improve the education sector in the country.
The Premier made the remarks while laying a foundation stone for the Bunge Girls Secondary School, which is under construction in the country’s capital, Dodoma.
Mr Majaliwa said the new school built through Parliament’s initiatives is among schools that will benefit from the World Banks’s Supported Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQUIP).
The school which will be offering science subjects comes at the right time when the Bretton Woods institutions’ project comes into effect, the PM said.
On March 31, this year, the World Bank approved 500m US dollar (about 1.14tri/-) to boost the education sector in the country via SEQUIP, a project seeking to improve access and quality of Education in Tanzania.
SEQUIP aims at providing children in Tanzania with better, safer, and more accessible secondary education, in efforts to build the country’s human capital.
Members of Parliament led by House Speaker, Job Ndugai attended the official function to lay the foundation stone for the Bunge Girls Secondary School, whose construction has been made possible by the Tanzania Women Parliamentarians Group (TWPG) in collaboration with the office of the Speaker of the National Assembly.
The school was handed over to the government yesterday so that it can start enrolling students to pursue their Advanced Level Studies in the combinations of PCM, PCB, PGM and EGM.
The Prime Minister commended the initiative by the 11th Parliament for supporting girls’ education in the country, saying, the commissioning of the school would help in having more experts in future as the country transforms into an industrial economy.
“The completion of this project is yet another milestone as you can remember, in March the WB approved funds for improving secondary education in the country,” he noted.
Speaking at the occasion, the Chairperson of Tanzania Women Parliamentary Group (TWPG), Margreth Sitta, said that as of yesterday, about 1.5bn/- had been spent to construct about 17 buildings.
The buildings include the administration block, nine classes, three teachers’ offices, four hostels, and a school canteen that can accommodate about 600 students as well as a health centre, among others.
“The actual construction kicked off on January 20, 2020 after raising funds from stakeholders, an exercise that was engineered by TWPG in collaboration with various stakeholders.
Dodoma Regional Commissioner, Dr Binilith Mahenge said Bunge Girls High School was becoming the 19th school offering Advanced Level Education in Science subjects.
Generally, he said there were 26 secondary schools in the region offering A level education, meaning Bunge Girls High Schools was becoming the 27th school.
Both the Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Professor Joyce Ndalichako and her counterpart in the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government, Selemani Jafo paid tribute to the Parliament of Tanzania for identifying potentials in girls who can contribute immensely in the country’s development after graduating.
