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Dar braces for surge in Form One enrolment next year
2007-07-20 10:16:48
By Dominic Nkolimwa
Dar es Salaam City authorities are sourcing out funds to facilitate construction of about 900 classrooms to accommodate an expected large number of Form One students to be enrolled next January.
In an interview with The Guardian, Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Abbas Kandoro said the city of Dar es Salaam needed 900 classrooms for Form One students who would be enrolled in the forthcoming academic year.
``It is projected that the number of Form One students would overwhelmingly increase. That`s why we are sourcing out money to build more classrooms to match with the demand,`` he said.
``Construction of the classrooms would enable city-based secondary schools to absorb the overwhelming numbers of students,`` he added.
The RC said the number of pupils who sat for national examinations this year had increased, forcing the region to devise future plans on how to accommodate them.
Kandoro said the increase in the number of pupils in primary schools was a result of good execution of the ongoing Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP).
``In this programme many primary schools have been built, making the number of students in secondary schools to more than double,`` he said.
He said in Dar es Salaam alone about 62000 pupils were expecting to sit for national examinations this year.
``Last year about 46000 pupils sat for Standard Seven examinations, while this year things have changed,``he added.
The RC also called for concerted and deliberate efforts from the public and other education stakeholders in curbing the increasing demand of students.
``Our aim is to ensure that we meet the government target of enrolling students in secondary schools to about 75 per cent.
I had a meeting with my colleagues from the three municipalities of Kinondoni, Ilala and Temeke on how best we can realise the government move,`` he noted.
He said Dar es Salaam needed about 879 classrooms for students who are expecting to pass national exams.
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