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Govt allows AEI to use public buildings for distance learning
2008-04-29 10:53:15
By Amri Lugungulo, Kibaha
The government has allowed Adult Education Institute (AEI) to use public school buildings including secondary schools edifices for conducting Open Distance Learning (ODL), it has been learnt.
This is according to the government circular number ADGB/193/484/01/33 issued recently by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to the institute. It shows that the directive will cover facilities all over Tanzania Mainland.
The circular was distributed by the AEI coordinator of ODL, Leonard Katoba, during a five-day workshop on training to coordinators and facilitators that ended on Saturday in Kibaha.
The circular dated April 14, this year commended the institute for its efforts to carry on and improve education in the country especially the ODL, which would enable many pupils to pursue secondary education and beyond in the country through the programme.
The circular which was signed by the Chief Education Officer in the ministry, Ricky Mpama, said that the previous circular dated back in 2002, was issued due to the effects of the big number of youths registered to the programme in pursuing secondary education.
It said that some of the repercussions were that buildings became dilapidated at a high rate, misunderstandings between the coordinators of ODL and the school leadership and low performance of the Form Four candidates in the annual national exams were also evident.
The circular said that the problems were still persistent particularly considering that most of the schools in the urban areas had double sessions, and as a result most of them had classes all the time up to the evening.
``However, considering the importance of the programme, it has been allowed that the institute use public buildings, which have vacant rooms to conduct ODL classes,`` the circular said.
It added: ``Agreement should be between the school leadership and the coordinators to be nominated by the head of the ODL centre.``
Earlier, some of the workshop participants claimed that some headmasters were refusing their school buildings to be used by the institute even after the 2002 circular had been issued.
However, the Chairman of Tanzania Headmasters of Secondary Schools Association (Tahosa) in Coast Region, Atu Mwakitega called on the coordinators to abide by the rules to get into the school buildings for the classes instead of raiding.
The coordinators were urged to take copies of the circular allowing them to use the buildings to the headmasters in order to get permit accordingly.
The workshop which was prepared by the AEI drew 67 participants from different areas in the region. It was conducted between April 22 and 26, this year, in Kibaha township.
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