Acacia Mining provides 2,000 desks to Shinyanga school

PIUS RUGONZIBWA in Kahama

SHINYANGA Region has announced to clear pending shortage of desks it was facing after receiving donations from various development partners and investors operating in the region.

Regional Commissioner (RC) Ms Zainab Telack announced the relief in Kahama District at the weekend shortly after she received 2,000 desks from the Acacia Bulyanhulu Goldmines Company Ltd (BGML).

The desks worth 248m/- will be distributed in all district councils of the region and together with other investors’ contributions, the region is now free of desks headache.

“On behalf of my colleagues in the regional secretariat we wish to thank BGML for the donation and other supports in the health sector by this support we have now managed to get rid of the desks problem we were facing before,” she said.

The RC said that until recently, Shinyanga Region had a shortage of 7,250 desks for both primary and secondary schools thanks to the Buzwagi Goldmines Company which contributed 4,000 desks, and Williamson Diamonds Ltd which donated 2,000.

She said the desks will be carefully transported and allocated to schools and directed for them to be allocated in special numbers for monitoring purposes.

Apart from commending the investors, Ms Telack said the companies have showcased their good spirit when it comes to giving back to the community they are working in asking for other investors to follow the suit.

However, the RC said there were so many other challenging scenarios still facing the region mentioning long distances between some schools as nightmare to the students. She cited one school in Kishapu District where students are forced to match 16 km to and from the school mostly arriving late and missing morning lessons every day.

“This school is in need of hostel so that the students could be accommodated and stay around for effective learning. I would ask you to support this area as well,” she remarked.

The BGML Organization Effectiveness and Community Relations Manager Mr Elias Kasitila said the donations of the desks were done in three phases citing the other two where the company had handed over 380 and 1,000 in May and July effectively thus making total 3,380 desks donated so far.

Mr Kasitila said the company will keep on contributing towards improvement of various social services in the region as well as supporting the neighboring communities in different economic aspects.