PUPIL TEACHER RATIO WORRIES COMMISSION

By NATION REPORTER THE Teaching Service Commission says it is concerned with the inequalities in the pupil teacher ratio for most rural schools.

Commission chairperson Stanley Mhango said the pupil teacher ratio was high in rural schools because most teachers were concentrated in urban schools.

He said despite the 2016 Ministry General Education statistics indicating that the current pupil teacher ratio for primary school is stands at 1:43 while the secondary one is standing 1:39, it was not a true reflection of what is obtaining on the ground.

‘’There is a lot inequalities especially with hard –to-reach schools in terms of pupil teacher ratio. You will find that for example Solwezi urban schools have lot teachers, he said.

He said the commission had a responsibility in line with the seventh national plan which talks of inclusiveness, by not leaving anyone behind.

‘’This means even learners in the rural parts of the country should be accorded an opportunity to have quality teachers because education is the best equaliser.

‘’If education is the best equaliser, children in these areas should not be further disadvantaged by pulling out all the teachers from the rural areas and bringing them in urban areas, he said.

He said all provincial education officers had been instructed to redistribute teachers to the needy areas in all the provinces.

He said there had been laxity on the people charged with the responsibility to manage the education sector just like any other sector.

‘’And when this exercise starts, we do not want to hear that ‘’I have been moved from point A to point B because it is political’’ no. Civil servants are not politicians, so if one say I have been because of politics it means that person is playing politics,” he said.

Mr Mhango was speaking when he paid a courtesy call on the provincial administration.

And provincial assistant secretary Mukwambuyu Katungu appealed to the government to equip and improve infrastructure in most schools in the province.

He further appealed to the government to connect schools in far-flung areas to electricity if the introduction ICT in schools could be implemented well.