Shortage of classrooms hits Tonota Sub-District
Pini Bothoko | Wednesday August 26, 2015 15:13
He said this when addressing the sub-district’s third session full council on Monday.
He disclosed that a total of 10,711 students were registered in the sub-district during term two of this academic year, but many of them did not have classrooms to learn in.
He said that currently the sub-district has a total of 312 classrooms against 345 streams leading to a shortfall of 34 classrooms.
“This is indeed a serious shortage which may end up leading to low academic results as pupils are not taught in a conducive environment,” he said.
He added that the sub-district is also faced with shortage of teachers’ quarters, as currently there are 200 teachers’ quarters against 379 teachers.
The chairman said that they are trying to address this situation though the government is still faced with financial problems.
“We have managed to complete an LA 2 house at Itireleng primary school in Foley village and we are currently constructing a two-roomed classroom block again at Foley and a three roomed one at Mabesekwa Primary School through Ipelegeng programme,” said Moalosi.
Reached for comment, Tonota Sub-District senior council secretary Terence Ntalabgwe confirmed the shortage of classrooms in the majority of their schools in the district.
Ntalabgwe revealed that hard hit schools are Mabesekwa and Borolong primary schools with seven classes attending lessons in the open.
He said that Borolong primary school has exceeded the maximum 22 stream, currently operating with a 29 stream and an enrollment of 957 students though it has only 22 classrooms.
“There is nothing we can do to resolve the situation at Borolong primary school looking at the population of the village and enrollment that the school registers every year,” said Ntalabgwe.
He said that the solution for the village is a second primary school that is in the District Development Plan (DDP) 8 awaiting funding from the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD).
He further explained that Mabesekwa primary school operates at 19 streams with an enrollment of 592 pupils and has only 12 classrooms.
He said that they are currently constructing 1x3 classroom blocks at Mabesekwa primary school through Ipelegeng to cater for the situation. “The blocks will not bring any change because only three classes will be catered for leaving four classes taught outside,” said Ntalabgwe.
He observed that Shashemooke and Mandunyane primary schools have not been spared the classroom shortage.
“Reception classes have been introduced at Mandunyane primary school thus making the situation of shortage of classrooms worse,” said Ntalabgwe. Ntalabgwe said that they have been experiencing high enrollment at Borolong, Shashemooke and Chadibe North because the villages are located a few kilometers from Francistown.