Bukoba — KAGERA Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Albert Chalamila has tasked school owners to take necessary precautions in controlling immoral acts that are against the country’s cultural norms, morals and good practices in upbringing children.
He made the remarks following a report by Tanzania Fire and Rescue Force (TFRF), after conducting safety inspection on several schools in Kyerwa and Ngara districts and learnt of immoral acts in the institutions.
TFRF Assistant Inspector, Mr Peter Mmbare explained that during the inspection it was revealed that in some of the boarding schools, two students share the same bed, something that is against the country’s norms as it could lead to homosexuality.
Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Adolf Mkenda recently banned 16 supplementary books from being used in schools and education institutions citing immoral content that violates the country’s cultural norms, morals and good practices in upbringing children.
He warned schools with the stray books in their shelves, saying failure to remove them will attract disciplinary measures including risking the institution’s deregistration. Moreover, he said, teachers, parents, guardians and students must ensure they do not use the books and report to the relevant authorities, when they find them with their colleagues or in schools.
In the list, 13 books are titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Diary of a Wimpy Kid-Rodrick Rules, Diary of a Wimpy Kid-The Last Straw, Diary of a Wimpy Kid-Dog Days and Diary of a Wimpy Kid-The Ugly Truth, among others.
The government said any book content that is immoral, cultivating cruel, abuse, violence or immoral habits in schools is not allowed thus introducing children to educational materials or information that promote such conduct will not be tolerated
Mr Chalamila elaborated that more efforts were also needed to install modern fire-fighting equipment for emergency following recent fire accidents thatdestroyed some dormitories in the country resulting in the loss of lives and properties.
“We recently heard of fire accidents thatdestroyed some dormitories in the country resulting in the loss of lives and properties. So, we think school owners have to learn and install modern fire-fighting equipment for emergency,” he said.