Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa yesterday instructed government officials under the President’s Office-Regional Administration and Local Government authorities (PO-RALG) to ensure that no arbitrary contributions are levied on public school students.
This is one of the directives given by the Prime Minister as he was closing the seventh session of the 12th parliament in Dodoma where MPs will be allowed to leave the August House until September 13, 2022 when they are required to return.
Other directives he gave were about the ongoing operation of residential addresses as well as opportunities arising from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project for citizens and the nation as a whole.
The directive on education levies came in the wake of complaints from parents and lawmakers over rising contributions, especially for students who are joining primary schools and Form Five. Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Mussa Zungu on Wednesday while adjourning the House said there was a serious nuisance of contributions which hurt the people at a time when the levy could be paid by the councils.
He said that there is currently a trend of parents being forced to buy school uniforms at school, noting that a parent is forced to buy uniforms for Sh20, 000 in school instead of Sh5, 000 elsewhere.
On this, the premier reminded that the government through Education document No. 5 of 2015 and No. 6 of 2015 has provided specific instructions on the implementation of free basic education including the use of administrative funds that are provided by the treasury and transferred directly to the school accounts.
He said the funds were for teaching, learning, rehabilitation, internal exam administration, noting that 10 percent of the money should also be used to fund electricity, water and security services.
As a result he called on relevant authorities to monitor the use and availability of information and the use of such funds as well as to ensure that no informal contributions are levied on students.
“From now on make sure the joining instructions for the public school are verified and given the approval of the relevant regional administrative secretary in collaboration with the district education officers to end any arbitrary contributions,” he directed.
In terms of census preparation, Mr Majaliwa explained that the previous exercise of the issuance of resident addresses has reached 95 percent, with the government successfully collecting information to provide more than 12 million residential addresses.
He directed the institutions responsible for land and housing issues to come up with strategies to resolve land use disputes identified by the implementation of the operation.
He informed Parliament that preparations for the 2022 population and housing census had reached 87 percent, thus urging people to be ready for the August 23, 2022 exercise.
Regarding the LNG project, Mr Mjaliwa said the government would continue to ensure that it attracts an estimated $30 billion in foreign investment for the project.
“I urge the Ministry of Energy to ensure that it makes good use of this project’s presence to enhance the experience of the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) in gas operations as well as to facilitate access to processed natural gas for domestic use,” he said.
