Schools shortage compromise quality of education

The Chronicle

By Prosper Ndlovu

13 February 2013

HUNDREDS of pupils in Bulawayo are forced to learn under crowded conditions amid reports that there is a serious shortage of classrooms at the city’s schools.

According to the council’s latest report, most schools have a bloated enrollment that makes it difficult to conduct lessons effectively.

Bulawayo has only 128 primary schools and 50 secondary schools.

Most schools are council-run while the remainder are either government or private schools.

The Director of Housing and Community Services, Mr Isaiah Magagula, said enrolment in some council schools was more than 2 000 pupils.

“Some schools have eclipsed the 2 000 enrolment mark. Enrolment figures for Tategulu and Mahlathini Primary schools in Cowdray Park is 2 283 and 2 091 respectively, Dumezweni Primary in Pumula South is 2 199 while Senzangakhona Primary in Emganwini is 2 164,” said Mr Magagula.

“This is worrying, as these schools are no longer manageable for effective learning. This calls for urgent construction of additional facilities to ease congestion in these schools”.

A majority of schools, both primary and secondary, have resorted to hot seating, as they cannot cope with the increasing enrolment. In some instances pupils in different grades share a single classroom.

The situation has been compounded by the introduction of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) classes which have seen most pupils under the programme conducting lessons in the open or under temporary sheds.

“Ngwalongwalo Primary in Pumula South is heavily congested. There are few classrooms and you find three different grades sharing one room. This is very bad especially during the rainy season as pupils will have nowhere to go,” said Councillor Siboniso Khumalo for Ward 27. Bulawayo provincial education director Mr Dan Moyo said the few classroom blocks could not accommodate the large numbers of pupils.

“Enrolment at both primary and secondary schools has increased this year. This is the same in schools in the eastern suburbs but the situation is worse in western suburbs where many schools have doubled the enrolment. This induces pressure on the lifespan of infrastructure which is overused.

“The learning is also affected because if pupils go to school in the afternoon it means they spend the whole day playing,” said Mr Moyo.

The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, concurred and said that the Government was aware of the shortage of schools in the country.

He said Bulawayo and Harare were the most affected.

“We are aware of the issue but the irony of it is that it is a demonstration of the improvement of the education system as more children are coming to school. The problem is that there have not been adequate schools in the country in the last decade,” said Minister Coltart.

“In some areas such as Cowdray Park, hot seating has tripled. The situation is the same in Harare. This year enrolment at most schools increased sharply. This needs millions of dollars to build new schools, but unfortunately there is no easy answer to that because Treasury has not made any allocations for that”.

The Minister said congestion at schools was partly responsible for the pupils’ poor performance.

“Hot seating is not good at all. Children come to school very late and do not have much time in school. The ideal teacher to pupil ratio for primary schools is supposed to be 1:40 and lower than that in secondary schools. But what we have now is that most classes exceed 40 pupils. This has a very negative effect on the quality of education,” said Minister Coltart.

He, however, could not give details of the enrolment patterns in the country, saying his ministry was working on compiling a report starting from 2009.

Meanwhile, Bulawayo councillors have also expressed concern over delays in payment of fees saying the trend was affecting the development of the schools.

Mr Magagula said although there had been improvements in payment of fees in the first and second term last year, the situation changed in the third term.

He said the city was owed more than $500 000 in unpaid fees for the present and last term.

Mr Magagula said some Grade Seven pupils that wrote their final examinations last year were still owing council.

Mr Magagula also said the Government owes about $19 525 in unpaid fees for pupils under the Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam).