The quality and importance that a country, nation, or continent places on its education sector are a factor that can be used to determine the growth and exposure of such continent or country.
When talking about the education sector of any country, the measures put in place in making its educational property a sustainable one should also be a concern to the leaders and governments because the culture of maintenance and sustainability should be applied in all spheres of life.
Without sustainability and maintenance in whatever we do or have, then development would not be easy to achieve.
How much attention and energy are applied to taking care of and sustaining educational property in Africa, shows how valuable educational property is to the continent.
Do the African governments and leaders plan towards sustaining the educational property? do they see it as a necessity to maintain educational properties in the continent? These are some questions that have been asked and are still being asked to date.
The endowment of adequate facilities where education activities can be established and conducted, from kindergartens to large universities, is what should be in ace for the people.
Our focus in this write-up is on a particular region of Africa. We would explore what the East African region can do or has been doing regarding sustaining its educational property.
First, let us look at the meaning of educational property?
It means anything that is used in form of education or that is involved in the process of education. Especially the physical things.
It could be a school building, school bus, school campus, grounds, recreational areas, athletic field, or other property owned, used, or operated by any board of education or school board of trustees, or directors for the administration of any school.
For instance, in the East African region, which comprises these countries; Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, etc, there used to be structures of school buildings that have admirable looks. These buildings are believed to have been erected for decades long.
Today, the building which is part of the educational properties are dilapidating. What exactly led to this? lack of maintenance, therefore, they could not be sustained.
Apart from the school structures we see in primary, secondary, and higher institutions, many educational properties in East Africa have lost their value because of the lack of maintenance.
In Kenya, which is one of the Eastern African countries, its government, both past and present has always been involved in the education sector. Every year they allocate millions to the education sector, but one thing to consider is; they use these finances on sponsoring free education and awarding scholarships to its citizens.
The challenge here is that attention should be shared in the education sector, like organising free education and maintaining the educational property in the country.
How Can These Properties Be Sustained in East Africa?
There are many ways and means that governments and policymakers can explore if they want educational properties to be sustained.
Maintenance
Sustaining school properties like buildings, learning materials, infrastructure, and others need proper maintenance.
To carry out this maintenance, there should be strategies put in place. Like in infrastructure replacement and maintenance of school buildings, the government of these east African countries can decide to map out renovation plans.
They could agree on renovating school structures every five years, painting, planting flowers, giving each school a change of look and replacing school furniture every five years.
The same applies to the learning materials, and others. There should be proper documentation of these materials especially those in libraries, to know what goes out, who takes what, and when they are returned. With this, books and other educational materials are well-sustained for a longer period.
Additionally, in maintaining educational properties, they need to embark on constant updating in tandem with modern realities, for example, science laboratories and the like should be updated to meet the current needs of the students by getting new materials in use.
Financial/ Budget Allocation
Financial allocation specifically for sustaining educational properties should be mapped out in every country’s annual budget. Yes, there are allocations every year for the educational sectors, but these finances are mostly used to cater to other educational needs.
There is little or no money allocated for the maintenance and sustenance of educational properties.
Governments across the region need to increase budget allocation to the education sector, such that while new infrastructures are considered, old ones can be duly maintained.
For instance, in Uganda, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) had asked the government to increase budget allocation to the education sector so its standard of education could be upgraded.
Since 2020, the Ugandan Government had continued to reduce the education budget, and this had hurt the sector.
The country’s education budget for 2022/2023 is estimated to be at 8.6 percent, which is considered too small for such a sensitive sector, especially now that the country needs to erect more school buildings and add other educational infrastructure.
Expansion
Expansion is also part of the sustainable method.
Most schools are overcrowded, thereby putting pressure on existing properties and causing overcrowding.
For instance, an infrastructure modeled for 10 students is being used by 40 students because of the population.
If regular expansion can be considered, there will be less pressure on existing ones which will ensure their durability.
Planning
Expansion cannot work without adequate planning.
Because, when the government is well-armed and equipped with adequate data, it knows its projections and expectations so can effectively plan and achieve results.
In all of these, each of the East African countries must also have in place effective monitoring systems or mechanisms to ensure that monies allocated for maintenance are not diverted to other uses.
While this might seem little compared to other issues, it comes as very important because, over the years, African countries have never been bereft of coming up with ideas and policies, rather the challenge has been with implementation.
When effective monitoring mechanisms are in place and adequate maintenance, expansion, and renovations of educational properties are sustained, it will build a sense of hope for the region which will in turn have meaningful impacts on every other sector of their economy.
