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Bagamoyo pupils hardly benefit from...
2008-07-21 09:08:02
By Felister Peter
Not more than five primary schools out of 107 in Bagamoyo District have taken their pupils to visit the surrounding historical sites in the past five years.
The number of pupils who toured the spots does not exceed 200 out of approximately 800 pupils from each school.
Teachers blame parents for ignoring the historical locations and not motivating their children to visit them regarding their importance in increasing pupil`s knowledge and understanding of the country`s history.
This has been revealed by a recent survey conducted by this paper in Bagamoyo District.
The intention was to establish whether there were any deliberate efforts being made to enable pupils visit and acquire knowledge of Bagamoyo`s rich historical heritage.
Speaking to The Guardian, Bagamoyo District Academic Officer Mary Mlaa said there were no statistics of students who visited the historical locations.
She said her office would not push pupils to visit the sites as the decisions had to be made by teachers themselves.
She admitted that visiting historical sites increased the pupils’ understanding of the subject and might help them to keep memories compared to lectures.
The head teacher of Mwanamakuka Primary School in Bagamoyo, Deus Mally, blamed parents for not contributing entrance fees for the children`s tours simply because they did not have interest.
Mally said his school had organised a tour last year but only 80 pupils out of 800 pupils were able to pay entrance fees.
He said pupils in Bagamoyo were losing a lot because if they knew well the history of the sites in Bagamoyo, it might help them in future by getting self employment through working as tour guides.
Anna Kisoso, head teacher of Mbaruku Primary School, said most parents were not motivated and did not understand the importance of the surrounding historical sites.
Kisoso said as the pupils had been seeing the old buildings and other historical sites since they were born; they had developed a tendency of ignoring them.
She said teachers had been organizing tours to historical sites but parents were always reluctant to contribute for the trips.
She said her school has so far taken 86 pupils only to the ancient sites.
Kisoso said it was a pity that people born in Bagamoyo were not aware of the importance of the historical sites while tourists travelled all the way from Europe, America and other continents to visit the rich historical heritage.
Bagamoyo District Cultural Officer Ephata Mollel said Bagamoyo residents were not interested in visiting the historical sites.
The tendency has led to pupils seeing the old building as normal houses.
He also said poverty also contributes to parents` failure to afford the children`s tours.
When interviewed, some parents said most of them had more than three school children and it was difficult to raise money for all of them.
Mwantumu Athuman said she earned less than 2,000/- per day and had seven dependants, so she couldn’t afford to pay 400/- for a tour.
Abdallah Kassim, a standard five pupil at Mwanamakuka Primary School, said he once visited the historical sites on his own initiative after noticing that his teachers were not interested in taking them there.
Mohamed Rajab, from the same school said he had never visited the places although he was born in Bagamoyo.
He said his parents refused to give him 200/- for a tour last year, although his wish is to go to the British Overseas Management Administration (BOMA) building.
Lucas Kadelya, head of historical sites at Mji Mkongwe in Bagamoyo District, said the problem lay in lack of motivation for both parents and children.
He said they had set reasonable fees of 200/- for children and 1,000/-for adults. He said most of the visitors came from other regions and abroad.
Mji Mkongwe has ten historical sites, including the Mwanamakuka and Kaole cemeteries 1803 and 1889 respectively, slaves` hanging site, German boma, the first port built in 1895, the Caravanserai Building and a security block built in the 1850s.
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