A joint evaluation of the impact of floods on outlays of educational institutions is being conducted, the government has stated.

Mohamed Mchengerwa, the Regional Administration and Local Governments state minister in the President’s Office (PO-RALG) touched on this exercise in the National Assembly yesterday, tabling budget estimates for fiscal 2024/25 pegged at 10.125trn/-.

Education, Science and Technology ministry officials along with PO-RALG are working on this initiative, aimed at equipping the government with correct information for decision-making on intervention required.

The issue is to ensure students in flood-affected areas get back to school soon enough and resume classes, ready to sit for their final examinations in various instances, he said.

A team of experts will conduct an evaluation on the effect of floods on educational infrastructure for the government to determine the scope of intervention to be conducted, he said.

Pupils and students in the flood-affected areas plus disaster-stricken places need to be back to school or provided with alternative means to catch up their studies and sit for examinations, he said.

The two ministries are similarly working on implementation of the new education and training policy and curriculum review, he said, affirming that upwards of 100 technical education training schools will be built in the next financial year, starting 26 schools, one in every region.

Prof Adolf Mkenda, the Education, Science and Technology minister, said that due to the ongoing rains a range of pupils and students are failing to attend classes, in which case the ministry expects to come with short, medium, and long term plans on the issue.

It will seek to figure out how best to address floods' impact on school attendance especially in Coast, Katavi, Morogoro regions as well as various areas in the northern and southern zones.

The short-term plan is to see how pupils where h schools have been washed away, damaged or submerged in floods keep on studying, with curriculum experts tasked with drawing up immediate solutions.

Eventually, what is needed is proper land use and management plans where regional and district authorities are more vigilant on issuing school construction permits in flood risk areas, he said.

 “The pupils will be delayed in resuming classes for one or two weeks as we work on logistical and safety issues,” he added.