Kikwete endorses 8bn/- for recruitment of teachers

President Jakaya Kikwete has endorsed the spending of 8bn/- on the recruitment of degree holders and Form Six leavers who are not professional teachers to teach in new secondary schools countrywide.

By Bilal Abdul-Aziz, Morogoro

President Jakaya Kikwete has endorsed the spending of 8bn/- on the recruitment of degree holders and Form Six leavers who are not professional teachers to teach in new secondary schools countrywide.

Addressing a rally at Jamhuri Stadium here on Monday, Prime Minister Edward Lowassa said the President endorsed the release of the money earlier this month.

`A new school is not complete without furniture, stationeries, books, dormitories and teachers. President Kikwete endorsed this month 8bn/- for use in recruiting teachers,` he elaborated.

He said this was in partial implementation of the government-sanctioned emergency strategy designed to curb the shortage of teachers in the country.

Education and Vocational Training Minister Margaret Sitta announced a similar programme mid last year on the sidelines of the budget sessions in Dodoma.

She said the plan would be implemented as soon as possible because the nation was faced with an emergency and it needed teachers for new schools being built across the country.

At least 6,000 teachers are needed to get the school started and operate smoothly.

Lowassa�s remarks came on the first day of his five-day official tour of Morogoro Region which will see him inspect development projects in Morogoro (urban and rural), Mvomero, Kilosa, Kilombero and Ulanga districts.

He explained that, under a special temporary arrangement that would benefit from the funding, the government would recruit degree holders and Form Six leavers who are not professional teachers and train them for a few weeks or months before posting them to the new schools.

`I take this opportunity to officially announce that degree holders and Form Six leavers who are not teachers should come forward to help us contain the crisis. We will train and thereafter dispatch them to the newly built school to teach,` he said.

The Prime Minister stated further that the government would call back retired teachers who still can teach, adding: `The schools being built need teachers and we think that retired teachers can help in bridge the gap.`

Regional authorities across the country have been building classrooms and schools following the Prime Minister`s directive that all children who passed last year`s national Standard Seven examinations be enrolled for secondary school studies by mid next month.

In his address here on Monday, Lowassa also underlined the need for the authorities in Morogoro to turn their region into what he described as a national granary by producing enough food to feed the entire nation, as directed by President Kikwete.

`This is a challenge to all leaders in the region and the Sokoine University of Agriculture, the latter�s expertise and research activities benefiting the region more than has hitherto been the case. We want to see Morogoro stop being a sleeping economic giant and become a national leader in productive ventures,` noted Lowassa.

He emphasized the need to step up efforts to conserve the environment, ordering people living and carrying out human activities in the region�s uplands to vacate the areas by mid next month or risk being evicted.

Source: Guardian