Govt committed to building more schools

THE government expects to narrow secondary school education gap from one region to another by encouraging construction of ward secondary schools.

DAILY NEWS Reporter, Dodoma

THE government expects to narrow secondary school education gap from one region to another by encouraging construction of ward secondary schools.

Answering Mr Juma Njwayo (Tandahimba-CCM), the Minister of Education and Vocational Training, Mrs Margareth Sitta, said for 2007 alone, 994 schools have been built at different wards.

“For instance, all regions lagging behind in secondary schools such as Singida, Mtwara, Lindi, Kigoma and Shinyanga regions have been given special favours in subsidy allocation,” she said. She said subsidy has also helped to speed ward secondary school construction in those regions.

“Education and development go together,” she said, noting that the government was taking the issue of education more seriously.

Earlier, the Deputy Minister, Mrs Mwantumu Mahiza, said Kilimanjaro Region was leading, as it has 298 secondary schools. “Among those schools, 205 are public schools, 82 are privately owned and 11 belonged to religious institutions,” the deputy minister said.

She said Shinyanga which is among the regions with few secondary schools, had more primary schools in the country. It has 1,099 schools. On the construction of High Secondary Schools, Mr Mwantumu said it was up to the regional authorities to determine the requirement of such level.

Source: Daily News