Secondary and primary schools through their committees in Coast region have been directed to come up with initiatives to resolve the chronic problem of desks shortage in each institution.

Until now, 50 years after independence, many primary and secondary schools pupils in various corners of the country still sit on the ground when pursuing their studies.

Such a state of affairs has continued to spark heated debate among educational stakeholders, questioning government commitment to resolve the problem once and for all, considering that billions of shillings in public funds continue to be embezzled by dishonest government officials.

Private companies, including mobile phone and media companies have, in recent years, been in the forefront to donate desks to isolated schools in an attempt to reduce the severity of the problem.

As for Coast region, the situation is not an exception since some primary and secondary school pupils sit on the ground, creating an unfavorable learning and teaching environment.

The Regional Education Officer, Waliambora Nkya said during a one day Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) meeting held recently in Kibaha town that shortage of desks in schools in the region contributed to poor performance in national examinations.

Other recommendations were that each district council should give priority in building and rehabilitating classrooms as well as teachers’ houses.

Also, funds provided for purchasing books should be checked if they are properly used while looking for various donors to get more books and laboratory equipment, the official underlined.

Regional administrative officials had recommended that primary and secondary school officers work together in supervising and monitoring school teachers every now and then to make sure they are properly working at the schools.

School inspectors should be enabled by district council directors to inspect the schools and reports should be readied for action. Also, schools should be mobilised to provide food to pupils to enable them to be attentive in classes.

Earlier, in her report, she said that poor infrastructure, desks shortage, books shortage, non-accountability of some teachers and parents, as well as maladministration in some schools and absenteeism were among reasons for many schools in the region poorly performing in the national examinations.

The challenges were revealed in the report of a survey research conducted in different schools in the region, underlining that the region required a total of 6,274 classrooms but had so far 944 classrooms, a shortage of 2,330 classrooms in primary schools.

The region also needs 1,521 classrooms but so far it has put up 1,038 classrooms in secondary schools.

Primary schools had a shortage of 4,297 teachers houses out of the 5,797 required and a shortage of 1,913 teachers houses out of 2,345 required in secondary schools in the region.

Primary schools required 9,3628 desks but at the moment only 3,7418 had been supplied out of them while secondary school required 50112 desks but has so far 13453 desks.