SHORTAGE OF TEACHERS HITS LUANO

KABOLOLWE Primary School in Luano district is facing critical shortage of teachers, a situation which has left only one teacher to man the institution.

Kamimbya ward councillor Isaac Tembo disclosed this development to the Daily Nation in an interview.

Mr Tembo said the school was being manned by one teacher who was teaching all grades, a situation he described as unfortunate.

He said the situation was worrying because it will affect the pupils’ performance especially those in exasmination classes. Mr Tembo noted that if the situation was not checked, pupils will be demotivated and in the end stop reporting for classes

“As parents, we are really concerned about Kabololwe Primary School being understaffed to the level that one teacher is handling all classes from grade one up to seven. The relevant authority must correct the situation before it gets out of hand,” Mr. Tembo said.

Mr Tembo added that even the provincial education office was aware of the critical shortage of teachers at the school but nothing had been done to arrest the situation.

Mr. Tembo said the level of understaffing was alarming because there a lot of teachers who are trained but have not been recruited and so the need for government to do something to cushion the shortage. Mr. Tembo said the community in the area were contemplating that it was better the school be closed than having the head teacher run the institution alone whenever he went out pupils suffered.

Mr. Tembo has since appealed to government through the Ministry of General Education to intervene in the matter and sort out the issue.