NYAMAGANA District yesterday launched guidelines to strengthen teaching and learning environment in primary and secondary schools.
The guidelines were launched at the national level by Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa last month.
The guidelines direct among others, how best to have competent leaders in the education sector from ward to regional level, existing challenges and possible solutions, as well as improving learning and teaching in order to meet the government’s targets.
The stakeholders said that areas which should be given much attention is to make sure that pupils have competent arithmetic, reading and writing skills before getting in class three.
“And if there is no genuine reason, all children who start kindergarten should reach and finish their form four studies. It is because the government invests a lot in the education sector, but no satisfactory outcomes at all.
“If you look at the number of those who get enrolled in kindergarten and those who score division one to three in form four examinations, it is quite different compared to what the government invests,” said Nyamagana District Primary Education Officer, Mr Mussa Lambwe.
He said that people had negative perception that poor productive outcomes were due to the presence of outdated curriculums, but the findings brought the opposite results, showing that the cause was poor implementation of such curriculum.
Mr Lambwe who admitted the presence of various challenges in the education sector, called for collaboration among all education stakeholders to address them.
For instance, he added, lack of school feeding programs is among the serious challenges whose solution will be brought through parents’ commitment.
The District Schools Quality Controller, Ms Simforose Kinanga supported the motion, saying that availability of meals encourage class attendance and increase students’ concentration.
She expressed gratitude to non-governmental organizations that show up to support nutrition issues in schools and encourage members of the public to support the move, for betterment of school children and the nation.
“We do admit that lack of meals is still a serious challenge. The parents gradually understand what this meal means to our children as they have started contributing for the programme,” she said.
Ms Kinanga stressed that meal provision will also help to fight pupils’ absenteeism and therefore let the government earn the anticipated outcomes in line with what it invests.
On the other side, she praised the community’s participation in the installation of school infrastructures, mostly construction of classrooms, a move that also fights absenteeism.
Launching the guidelines, Chama Cha Mapinduzi Secretary for Nyamagana District, Mr Geofrey Kapenga, stressed on team working spirit for thorough implementation of the guidelines.
