9yrs basic education challenges to be tackled

KAYONZA - The recently introduced free 9 years basic education has led to challenges with respect to the student - teacher ratio in Kayonza. This was disclosed by the Vice Mayor in charge of Social Affairs, Annet Mutesi, while talking to The New Times at Rwinkwavu secondary school yesterday. She said that the student-teacher ratio has always been an issue and that with the newly introduced free 9 years basic education, an increment in enrollment has brought fresh concerns which need attention. “We enrolled many students but never increased the number of teachers. We are however looking at all avenues to arrest the situation,” she said. Desire Niyonsaba the headmaster of Rwinkwavu sector school said that there is need to recruit and motivate more teachers, to cater for the big number of students. “We have to divide the students into more classes…this will demand extra teachers. For us to address this challenge we need to pay incoming staff well and on time for the purposes of motivating them,” he said. Vedaste Habiyaremye a primary six class teacher said that he finds it difficult to teach a class with extra number of students. He said that under normal circumstances, a class comprises of 30 to 40 students only. “My class has 120 students. I can’t cater for all of them. Our new methods of teaching are learner centered, meaning that you involve learners a lot…you can’t do it adequately with such big numbers,” he said. Hubert Nabyera the Executive Secretary of the area however, said that plans are under way to avail more classes and teachers to the school. “It is true that we have very few teachers compared to students, but we are doing all we can to rectify the situation,” he said. Ends