Students from Mitambo primary school in the Madimba ward in Mtwara Municipal studied under bad and hard conditions such as under cashew nut trees and even under incomplete houses.
Jamii FM radio aired out their problems and their voice was heard on the 19 th of January, 2018 and eventually their problem was resolved by the government and other stakeholders by contributing in the building of their five classes and one teacher’s office.
After struggling for a long time under trees and in grass huts just to get an education even the sun burning them, they say after hard times comes easy, the situation was such for 229 students from Mitambo primary who were pushed to study under trees and in grass huts because they lacked classes to study in.
Today, the matter has remained history, after the government did all its efforts in that school to ensure the building of five rooms for classes to enable pupils of the school to be happy.
The struggles of studying outside it weren’t only a matter that was a challenge to the students but to the teachers and parents too.
The Mtwara district council has 67 primary schools that have been registered and among those schools, ten schools are facing the challenges of lacking buildings for classes.
Mitambo primary school was established in 2009, whereby in 2005 students first graduated their standard seven classes since its establishment.
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER MITAMBO PRIMARY SCHOOL WAS REPORTED.
On the 21 st of January 2019, the director of Mtwara council, QS Omary Kipanga, spoke with journalists about the construction of building for classes at Mitambo primary school which is in Madimba County which was said to have classes built-in grass huts.
Speaking with journalists, Kipanga said that the construction of those classes is three rooms which the government is supervising, and one room is being built by the efforts of the citizens together with the teacher’s house.
‘’Rooms are available and they are being built with bricks and three buildings have been roofed, but there is also construction of one classroom which is being built with the efforts of the citizens themselves and as for the council in our budget of 2017/2018, we have put up a budget for the construction of two classrooms and teacher’s houses, and until now three rooms are being used and the rest three are still under construction, ’’he said.
Along with those challenges, the director argued that there is another challenge is an insufficiency of teachers which is a problem facing the entire nation and not only his county. But the government is working on solving out that challenge.
‘’We are facing the challenge of insufficient teachers which is not only a problem in my municipal, but the whole country is facing this challenge, in my council I am lacking approximately 500 and something teachers, there are seven teachers,437 students, and seven classes and this is up to standard seven, ’he insisted.
On the side of secondary school, the director of the Mtwara council said that there is a lack of science teachers, and the number of teachers missing is 71 science teachers in his council.
‘’On the issue of the availability of arts teachers, we have absolutely no problem but we have a problem with lack of science teachers and we are lacking 71 science teachers in all schools, but we are still trying to ensure to get teachers who will provide exercises so that we can give priorities in science subjects, ’he said.
On 21, May 2019, one year later the government report discussed about the finishing of the construction of the school, and all this is because of the information which was being spread by Jamaa FM in their Facebook page, and this information is available athttp://moe.go.tz/sw/component/k2/item/2230-taarifa-kwa-umma-juu-ya-majengo-ya-shule-ya-msingi-mitambo.html and contained the following information:
There has been some information spreading on instagram that the buildings of Mitambo primary school which is located in Madimba County in Mtwara region, the Ministry of education, science and technology would like to inform you that those buildings are not the current buildings available in the school.
The school’s registration number isEM14873and has long-lasting classes that the government through its program pay in regard to the results of the intended region municipal. As it is in other schools in the country, the construction of classes and toilets is still progressing as per the records of the ministry.
The presence of this success to Jamii FM and other stakeholders continues to encourage them to voice out the challenges in the villages so that good services are provided in different sectors.
Source:Jamiifm