The poor quality chalks that are putting them at risk of developing respiratory complications.
Rwandan teachers have raised concern over the poor quality chalks that are putting them at risk of developing respiratory complications.
This follows the recent change by the government of the procurement system of the chalk, with the Ministry of Education directly making purchases and distributing in schools.
Before the recent changes, the government would allocate a budget and schools were in charge of procuring their own chalk.
“The quality of the chalk we are getting supplied is low and therefore extremely dusty, and is causing teachers respiratory complications,” Andre Nsengiyumva, head teacher of Groupe Scholaire Nzove told Rwanda Today.
Some of the teachers we spoke to have now resorted to buying their own chalk out of pocket.
According to Mr Nsengiyumva, six out of 31 teachers at Groupe Scholaire Nzove currently buy chalk out of pocket.
The Ministry of Education through Rwanda Basic Education Board currently procures chalk from Rwanda G-MART, a local private company that manufactures school chalk.
Jessie Kalisa Umutoni, the managing director of G-Mart Ltd told Rwanda Today that the company is working with the Rwanda Standards Board to establish the cause of the matter.
Stringent procurement
“We are trying our level best to please our customers to make sure they get quality products. If we hear of any complaint from our clients, we work with the standards bureau to find out where the problem is coming from, whether it’s from raw materials or somewhere else and recalibrate,” Umutoni said.
“The chalk we produce causes no harm to the lives of users,” she argued. An imported box containing 100 chalks currently going for over Rwf5,000, while the locally-made chalks ranged between Rwf4,500 and Rwf5,000.
Dr Nelson Mbarushimana, the director-general of Rwanda Basic Education Board told Rwanda Today that the government will investigate the teachers’ complaints.
Costly maintenance
Teachers noted that the procurement process is stringent which makes it difficult for them to procure chalk elsewhere.
They allege the chalk is of poor quality and spoils blackboards. “With the effects of the poor quality of the chalks, I am currently paying Rwf50,000 for blackboard maintenance in our school every trimester.
In an effort to fix our blackboards, I am having to buy three boxes of the blackboards’ colour and paying the manpower required for painting them,” said Balthazar Gafuku, the headmaster of Groupe Scholaire Kibirizi in Nyanza district told Rwanda Today.
The Ministry of Education had not yet responded to our inquiry by the time of going to press.