TWO days after the new school year kicked off with a number of infrastructural challenges reported in some parts of the country, the government has promised swift intervention.
Speaking exclusively to the ‘africa-press’ over the phone on Friday, the Deputy Minister in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government), Mr Mwita Waitara, said they had learnt that some schools lacked enough classrooms and desks to accommodate fresh pupils due to enrollment surge.
He promised that the central government, in collaboration with local authorities, were working round-the-clock to ensure everything goes well, asking parents and guardians to be patient.
He attributed the emerging challenges to unanticipated record-breaking increase in the number of pupils being enrolled, in the wake of implementation of the fee-free education policy introduced by President John Magufuli way back in 2016.
The policy is fully financed by the government that provides more than 23bn/- per month, which is distributed directly to all government owned primary and secondary schools.
In the same vein, the deputy minister reminded local government leaders to cultivate the spirit of working on all directives issued by the ministry, including ensuring that there were enough classrooms, desks and other related infrastructure.
“Admission of pupils isn’t an overnight event; it’s a process that needs enough preparations in advance. From time to time, the ministry has been issuing directives to be implemented in all councils across the country,” he said.
The deputy minister was of a view that they had expectations that, everything would have been in place before opening of schools and that it was the duty of local government officials to work on the directives and guidelines that they had been receiving periodically.
However, he asked parents to be patient while the government was working hard to address the challenges that had emerged, pledging that they wouldn’t recur in future.
“Among other things, the ministry has been releasing the budget for such development projects to all councils on time with strong instructions that the money, plus some of their domestic collections should be spent wisely, otherwise they may start looking for whom to blame in case of any shortcomings that may arise,” noted the deputy minister.
Another challenge that a number of parents and guardians had encountered while registering their children was the requirement to possess birth certificates, with some schools reportedly refusing to admit pupils who lacked the document.
Responding, Mr Mwita said although the birth certificate was very important, school heads should consider other documents such as baptismal certificates and clinic cards which also bear the names of children.
The deputy minister reminded parents to collect their children’s birth certificates on time in order to avoid such challenges.
