Manyinga in shortage of desks

MOST schools in Manyinga district are faced with a shortage of school desks for pupils, District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) Kenneth Solochi has disclosed.

Most schools do not have adequate desks to accommodate pupils thereby affecting their learning as well as the observance of social distance.

Mr Solochi said the school population had rapidly increased especially after the reopening of schools.

"The biggest challenge that we have is the inadequate of school desks in most of our schools in the district. It’s a challenge in that the observance of social distance in the wake of Covid19 is almost a non-starter," he said.

He also revealed that the pupil teacher ratio was another challenge the district was facing as number of pupils had drastically increased.

Mr Solochi said that currently the district has 17,764 pupils, comprising 9,033 boys and 8731 girls against 416 teachers.

He bemoaned a shortage of classroom and staff accommodation in most schools in the district.

Manyinga District Commissioner (DC), Geoffrey Malayiti, confirmed the biting challenges affecting the Ministry of Education in the district.

"And all the reports have been submitted to relevant authorities for possible action. As district administration, we are sure something will be done in a soonest possible time because education is the nation," he said.

Mr Malayiti, however, called on the corporate world and other stakeholders to come on board and supplement Government's efforts not just in the education sector but other sectors as well.