NGOZI January 9th (ABP) – In Higiro village of Nyamugari zone in Marangara commune, a school that stands on either side of the road leading from Kiremba to Marangara, deserves urgent support. The 6th and 8th grades classrooms have lost their roof.
According to Ezéchiel Nshimirimana, the director of that school: “The two classrooms lost the roof due to torrential rain mixed with strong wing that fell on Sunday January 28th. It is really a difficult management because we don’t have no spare rooms”.
In order not to interrupt lessons, the director came up with a brilliant idea, the combination of teaching groups: “We had to combine the teaching groups to wait for another solution but avoiding closing the classes. We are waiting for the 3 classrooms under construction in the commune. But that won’t be a definitive solution because next year there will still be the 9th grade”.
Alongside this, plethora of learners in the early years has been reported. The first year has 213 pupils divided into two groups. This, of course, strongly affects the quality of education, he pointed out.
The other challenge concerns school benches. For more than 250 children, four pupils share a single school bench. Regarding teachers, the director Nshimirimana notes a lack of 5 qualified teachers, an accountant secretary and a principal. Here, the director combines the functions of director, secretary, responsible teacher and teacher of mathematics in class 8. Teaching materials also remain another problem. No textbooks for pupils, and no teacher’s guides.
The thorny problem remains that of latrines. Four latrines out of eight that the school had are not functional. Girls and boys have to share the same latrines with all the consequences on health, upbringing, and so forth.
The Communal Director of Education (DCE) of Marangara, Séverin Niyonzima, is also aware of those difficulties. He promises to solve the problem of school benches with the new supply of 250 benches by Marangara natives living elsewhere. He claims to have asked those natives to continue to support the school so that the problems encountered in the education sector can be solved.
In the meantime, Director Nshimirimana appeals to the development partners of Ngozi province in general and Marangara commune in particular, to bring their support so that children can study in a minimum of favorable conditions.