via 1000s use tobacco barns as classrooms 29 December 2014
THOUSANDS of pupils are getting exposed to dangerous diseases by using tobacco barns and other inhuman facilities as classrooms, Education Minister Lazarus Dokora said Monday.
Addressing journalists in Harare, Dokora said the country needed more than 2,000 new schools countrywide to accommodate children for both primary and secondary education.
Currently there are more than 1,400 satellite schools across the country but conditions at those institutions remain dire with most producing pathetic results.
“We need about 2056 schools countrywide in order to accommodate children who want to attend primary and secondary education.
“And we have 1425 satellite schools in resettled farms but we are concerned as the children are using tobacco barns; that means at the same time they are also inhaling nicotine which is not healthy,” Dokora said.
In 2010, a pupil at Munhondo primary school in Mashonaland West died after a tobacco barn collapsed while they were attending a lesson.
Several pupils were injured and parents blamed government for neglecting schools in resettled areas.
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