by Ben Taylor

Form 6 exam results surprise
Form 6 (A-level) exam results for 2014 were released in July, showing record high pass rates. The pass rate for all candidates was 96%, up from 87% in 2013. Those who achieved the best passes – Division 1 – numbered 3,773, up ten-fold from 325 the previous year. 27% of candidates achieved Division 2 passes, up from 12%.

Representatives of the Tanzania Teachers Union (TTU) greeted the results with some scepticism. Ezekiah Oluoch, TTU Deputy Secretary General, called for the results to be investigated, arguing that the input was very different from the output. ‘I’m finding it very difficult to believe the results, majority of schools have no science laboratories, plus we are currently experiencing a shortage of over 5,000 science teachers for Form Five and Six level. We need to inquire a number of things, like the kind of standardisation used this year and the nature of the questions asked. Also was the marking system and grading “massaged”.’

The much-improved results are possibly linked to the introduction of a new grading system. The scores required for Grades A, B, etc. have been lowered. But students now need a better combination of grades in individual subjects in order to achieve Division 1, etc.

Previously, a score of 81% or higher on a particular exam was required to achieve Grade A in that subject, now a score of 75% is sufficient. In past years, a score of between 60% and 80% achieved a Grade B, while now a score between 50% and 75% achieves that grade. For an overall Division 1 pass, 9 points (Grade A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.) from three subjects used to be required.. This has now been reduced to a maximum of 7 points for Division 1. (The Citizen)

Low employability of university graduates
A survey of employers across East Africa has found widespread dis­satisfaction at the employability of university graduates. The study, by the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), polled employers in five countries.

In Tanzania, the study found that 61% of graduates lacked basic job market skills, compared to 63% in Uganda, 55% in Burundi, 52% in Rwanda and 51% in Kenya.

The report claims that the quality of university education has fallen as student numbers have risen, blaming the lack of adequate teaching staff. (The East African)

by Ben Taylor

Criticisms of form 4 exam results
The National Examinations Council of Tanzania (NECTA) released exam results for last year’s form 4 exams (O-levels), showing a 15% increase in the pass rate (58% of students who took their exams in November 2013 achieved a pass, up from 43% of those who took their exams in 2012).

However, education sector analysts described the new results as misleading. Elizabeth Missokia pointed out that the exams were graded under a new system that lowered the marks required in order to achieve a pass. “The government is fooling the public by claiming that results have improved,” she said.

The new grading system includes an A which previously ranged from 81-100 but can now be obtained if a student scores 75-100, the government also introduced a B+ which ranges from 64-74, B:50-59, and C:40­49. “If we could put these results into the previous year’s grading, I can say that no improvement has been attained,” noted Dr Mkumbo of the University of Dar es Salaam.

The government-owned Daily News called for “heads to roll” at the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. “A critical self examination is needed at the Ministry, especially the department responsible for secondary schools,” they said in an Editorial. “It borders on the criminal to keep poor children at school for four years just to have them get poor results.”

Rakesh Rajani, an activist who heads the Twaweza organisation, faulted the Continuous Assessment (CA) process, which contributes 30% of the candidate’s final marks. He argued that evidence shows that CA is most of the time not objective and usually highly inflated. “In two out of seven subjects you could be given 80% in your CA and get only 10% in your exams; and get absolutely zero in your other 5 subjects, and still pass,” he said.

The secretary general of Tanzania Association of Managers and Owners of Non-government Schools and Colleges (TAMONGSCO) Mr Benjamin Nkonya said that there is no way the country can take pride from the results.
“Truth is, the learning environment in most of the public schools is bad. There are no libraries, no books, no laboratories, teachers are demotivated, many of them incompetent. There is no way we can have good results in such a situation,” he said. (Daily News, The Citizen)

Teacher retention challenges
The government has admitted that despite considerable costs incurred in educating primary and secondary school teachers in the country, a good number of them are not practising their profession.
“Teachers have been a favoured group in various education aspects such as admission in universities and in securing loans from the Higher Education Students’ Loans Board (HESLB),” said Prof Eustella Bhalalusesa, Commissioner of Education in the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training.

Prof Bhalalusesa said a good number of the employed teachers do not stay at their stations for long. “They just report and go for other jobs,” she said, adding that the ministry has taken it as a challenge and was working on it.

The President of the Tanzania Teachers Union (TTU), Gratian Mkoba, argued that poor housing, low salaries, lack of social services and infrastructure are among the factors forcing many teachers to leave their job for greener pastures. He said trainee teachers get TSh 10,000 as a daily allowance, but when they graduate they receive less than TSh 10,000 per day or less than TSh 300,000 per month. “This frustrates them, making them quit their jobs in search of other activities or jobs”, he said. (The Guardian)

BAE radar “change” begins to reach schools
The majority of the text books purchased using the refund from the bungled radar purchase have been distributed to primary schools across the country.

British defence company, BAE Systems, paid Tanzania £29.5 million (TSh72.3 billion) after it sold an obsolete and overpriced military radar to the country, as part of a settlement reached with the UK Courts and Serious Fraud Office.

It was agreed that TSh59.7 billion would be used to purchase books, TSh12.2 billion to buy desks while TSh367.2 million was set to be used for monitoring and auditing. Over 85% of the text books have now been distributed, according to officials from the Prime Minister’s Office for Regional Administration and Local Government.

Cambridge charity supporting vulnerable children in Gairo district
Villagers from Gairo district in Morogoro region have a reason to smile after the Cambridge-based Campaign for Female Education (Camfed) introduced a new programme to support vulnerable children from poor families to access best education from primary to tertiary level.

The Director of Operations and Finance for Camfed Tanzania, Msaada Balula, said educating girls is the best way to help a community to alleviate poverty, noting that educating them is the most effective strategy to ensure the well-being of children and in the long run economic development.

Camfed’s ‘Comprehensive Bursary Support’ will cover all costs related to their secondary education from school fees to textbooks and other costs. According to Balula, the value of the support will depend on the need and poverty level of the supported children.

He said that since Camfed began operations in the country in 2005, a total of 21,592 students have been supported to access education and remain in school from primary to university level.

by Steve Lewis

“You can’t study if you’re hungry” is a new report by RESULTS UK, looking at how the Government of Tanzania is addressing challenges related to early childhood development. The report focuses on the impact of undernutrition on the education and learning of children.

Two UK MPs, Mark Williams and Cathy Jamieson, accompanied by RESULTS UK staff, took part in a fact finding delegation to assess how undernutrition and limited access to education were impacting the abilities to achieve their potential. The visit also looked closely at how UK aid is supporting Tanzania to make progress on these issues.

The report states that in Tanzania, 42% of children under five are chronically malnourished (stunted) whilst 5% are severely malnourished (wasted). Undernutrition can lead to permanent physical and cognitive damage that can impact a child’s performance in school. While Tanzania has experienced steady economic growth over the last few years, economic growth on its own is not sufficient to reduce undernutrition. The report recommends that the Tanzanian government, supported by donors like the UK, should invest directly in nutrition programmes to effectively achieve nutritional outcomes.

From meetings with Tanzanian MPs and Government officials there appears to be strong political leadership for addressing Tanzania’s nutrition challenges, although coordination among multiple ministries is a concern. The report urges that this high level political commitment is matched by better collaboration among agencies and an increase in resources to allow nutrition to become a priority throughout all ministries and districts. This is essential for ensuring that nutrition outcomes improve. In the long term, the governments of both the UK and Tanzania should advocate nutrition becoming a distinct priority in the post-2015 development framework.

In Tanzania, a lack of essential nutrients in the average child’s diet is one of the key determinants of undernutrition – it is not necessarily a lack of food, but a lack of nutritious and varied food. Lack of nutrients and vitamins can be mitigated through the fortification of staple foods such as flour and salt. The Tanzanian government has recognized the cost effectiveness of this method and has, with the help of the UK government, invested in fortifying flour. The report recommends Tanzania expands on this by fortifying other key staple foods, such as maize.

Tanzania has made very strong progress in getting children into primary school, and the net enrolment of children is now at 95%. However, many children are marginalised by ‘under the counter’ school fees and classes are often overcrowded because of the lack of trained teachers. The delegation visited a teacher-training college, which is supported by UK aid, and saw how important this was.

It is important that the UK government continues its support to teacher-training in Tanzania, supports teacher recruitment and works closely with the Government of Tanzania ensure that the teaching profession is valued, with salary and conditions to reflect this.

by Anne Samson

Primary school exam results
On 4 November, the National Examinations Council (NECTA) announced the Standard VII results. These showed that half of the pupils who sat this year’s primary school examinations had passed; this was an increase of 20% compared to last year. The pass marks for the core subjects were low: Mathematics 27%, English 33% and Sciences 46%. 427,606 out of 844,938 candidates scored above 100 out of 250. 13 pupils had their results nullified due to cheating, compared to 293 last year.

This was the second year of electronic marking. NECTA had sample papers to check for accuracy, which showed that the computer marking was more accurate than manual marking. Other benefits included 16 days of marking compared to 30 days and 300 staff were used in comparison to 4,000 in previous years. (Citizen)

O-level results
The 2012 Form IV exam results remain in the news as the report of the Prime Minister’s special commission is not yet in the public domain. The Citizen reported on 22 October that outdated questions, poor marking, inadequate time, lack of testing skills among those tasked to set exam questions and the removal of national Form Two exams in 2009 were among the key factors that caused the massive failure during the 2012 Form Four national exams. The next day MPs were calling for the release of the report, which had been handed to Prime Minister Pinda in June. Professor Sifuni Mchoma, who led the enquiry and has since been appointed Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, stated that the challenges facing education are due to “poor performance by workers at the Ministry of Education …. teachers’ problems and school curriculums”. (Daily News, Citizen)

In November, the Government announced that a new system of grading would be introduced for secondary school students. The final exam will count for 60% of the final result with 40% determined from continuous assessment or coursework. The changes were implemented with immediate effect on the day Form IV students started their exams. 15 marks out of the total 40 will be earned from the National Form Two Examinations and 10 marks in Form Three, with two terms each generating five marks. During the Form Four mock examinations, students can earn up to 10 marks, with the other five marks from the project, thus completing the 40 marks for course work.” (Citizen)

“Big Results Now”
The World Bank has promised to support the Tanzanian government in improving the quality of primary and secondary education through its “Big Results Now” initiative. The US $100 million “Programme for Results” will start in 2014 and run through to 2018. The funding will be used for training teachers, ranking schools according to performance and providing incentives to schools. (Daily News)

Other News
An initiative to improve education, sponsored by Samsung as part of its “Tanzania beyond Tomorrow” programme, will support children between the ages of 3 and 9 in learning Kiswahili. It is called Tichaa and engages children to learn the words of common objects.

In September, it was estimated that 10,000 teachers faced deportation from Tanzania as they were working illegally. (Citizen)

by Anne Samson
[All extracts from The Citizen except where noted]

Fallout from Form IV examinations
The re-marking of the Form IV examinations, conducted in May, resulted in a small improvement in the pass rate. The proportion of candidates classified in Divisions 1-4 rose from 35% to 44% (from 126,847 students to 159,747). The enquiry organised by Prime Minister Pinda into the poor examination performance is still to report its findings publicly.

The Tanzanian NGO Twaweza conducted a survey of 2,000 people after the Form IV results were released. The research revealed that 32% of respondents had not heard of the Form IV results, and that the absence of textbooks and teachers not attending classes was the cause of the poor results. Even if teachers did attend class, they handed out an assignment and left without teaching. It concluded that ‘the government and teach­ers were to blame’.

The Legal and Human Rights Centre 2012 report found that the quality of education was deteriorating and that there was ‘an acute shortage of teachers’.

The deputy minister for education has called for the re-introduction of corporal punishment. This has been criticised by Save the Children and the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance.

There is concern that some of the four hundred Division IV students who have places in overseas colleges may not be going to bona fide uni­versities. Those who failed the recent exams should have access to edu­cation to improve so as not to be caught out by institutions only inter­ested if they can pay. Ten thousand Form V places have not been filled as a consequence of the poor results. Only students achieving Division I to III can progress, with those getting Division IV being allowed a resit, and some schools have reportedly had to close.

Form VI Results
On 3 June it was announced that of the 51,611 candidates who sat the examination, 87.85% passed. Of these, 35,743 achieved between Division I and III to qualify for university entrance. The success was attributed to the ‘sheer determination, self-motivation and focus’ of the students to overcome the inadequacies of the facilities available to them.

Higher Education
The Higher Education Student Loans Board (HESLB) has blacklisted more than 68,000 graduates for defaulting on their loan repayments and forwarded their names to the Credit Reference Bureau. (24Tanzania.com)

The Vice Chancellor of Teofilo Ksanji University, Mbeya, was locked in his office during July as students demanded the ‘release of money meant for their practical training’ which was due to start after the completion of their examinations. The delay in the release of funds was apparently due to the late payment of the fees by the Higher Education Students’ Loan Board.

Education budget
The government announced in June that it had spent TSh76.4 billion on textbooks for primary and secondary schools as part of efforts to improve education. Capitation grants of more than TSh82 billion had also been disbursed, TSh60 billion for primary schools and TSh22 bil­lion for secondary schools.

In December 2012 there were 171,986 primary and 51,469 secondary school teachers of whom 27,693 (13,633 primary and 14,060 secondary) teachers were newly employed. Teachers were being sent to “far-flung areas” through various initiatives, but a shortage of science teachers remains. TSh20 billion has been set aside for teachers’ houses across 40 district councils.

Despite the issues surrounding education and expectations that there would be an increase in the education budget, a decrease of 4.8% was announced, with TSh690 billion being allocated compared to TSh724 billion last year.

Teacher education
To address the shortage of teachers, agreements will be entered into with other countries in the East African Community. Tanzania needs at least 26,000 science teachers but the universities only produce 2,200 teachers with degrees and diplomas each year.

The government will introduce training for head teachers and introduce a professional board for teachers.

A 3R (reading, writing and arithmetic) assessment will be introduced in grade 2 and teacher training to ensure students master basic skills in early grades. This is part of the Big Results Now initiative. (Daily News)

The Public Service Recruitment Secretariat discovered, after receiving a tip-off, that almost 700 applicants for public service jobs had sent in forged certificates during 2012/13.

Curriculum
MP James Mbatia (NCCR-Mageuzi) accused the government of not hav­ing a national curriculum in place for primary education. This has led to a heated debate amongst interested parties. A small survey in Kigoma Region by The Citizen revealed “a number of setbacks to primary school education foundation in the country”. The consensus appears to be that education has been affected by politics with the result that educators are not consulted about changes. The quality of textbooks was identified as a further issue.

Education materials
The Education Materials Approval Committee (EMAC) was disbanded in early June because of corrupt practices. It will be replaced with “another strong organ”. All textbooks approved by EMAC will be reviewed “to ensure any mistakes were corrected”. Mbatia is calling for “those responsible for the mess” to be prosecuted.

School inspectorate
A parliamentary committee has suggested that government introduce an independent education inspection agency charged with ensur­ing quality education in both primary and secondary schools, as the Education Inspection Department had “failed to effectively perform its duties” due to the lack of adequate financial resources. The committee suggested that TSh10 billion be set aside for inspection purposes in the next financial year. In 2011/12, 3,061 out of 7,200 targeted primary school were inspected (42.5%) and 935 out of 2,100 secondary schools (43.3%). The failure of the inspectorate was part of the cause of the 70% failure rate in education over the last ten years.

The ministry of education has suggested that schools be ranked using the Leaving School Examination results from primary and secondary and that a school incentive schemes be introduced to improve educa­tion.

by Anne Samson

The government is continuing with plans to improve the quality of education. Deputy Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Mr Philipo Mulugo, said at the launch of the Tanzania Beyond Tomorrow (TBT) Programme that ‘The government is committed to improving education and life skills in our community through technology so that people are better equipped to compete in the global labour market. ’The five-year TBT programme, in partnership with Camara International Organisation, is set to start in 2013 with Camara initially providing 30,000 computers at ‘affordable prices’. The aim is to equip teachers with capacity and knowledge in the use of computers. Fifty five schools in Dar es Salaam should see computers next year (Daily News).

The Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority is to sponsor 17 students at university this year as part of the government’s investment in information technology education (Citizen). Science education also dominates. The new Josiah Kibira University, Bukoba, ‘aims at supporting the government in mitigating the shortage of secondary school science teachers’ by training 400 teachers (Daily News). United African University of Tanzania is developing Electrical Engineering programmes and asks parents to encourage their children to ‘venture into science subjects’ (Daily News) Deputy Minister for Communication, Science and Technology, Mr January Makamba, noted that Tanzania needs a policy ‘that allows and recognises student’s talents and creativities to promote innovation’ (Guardian).

300 Mtwara and Lindi youths are to benefit from a project sponsored by VSO and the British oil and gas exploration company BG. The two-year project, involving VETA, will see 24 persons trained to build human resource capacity and create jobs in the area (Citizen). Uranium mining company Mantra Tanzania, waiting to receive its operating licence, has pledged to support education by sponsoring initiatives for students. It funded the recent Tanzania Schools Exhibition in Dar es Salaam (Daily News).

The Zanzibar government is to buy more desks for pupils while development partners help to build schools. Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Ms Mwanaidi Saleh, said ‘each district will have at least one modern school with a computer room, a library, and a laboratory’ (Daily News).

French – the Tanzania Institute of Adult Education will co-ordinate a project establishing French language resource centres throughout Tanzania as part of a project with the French Embassy. The aim is to improve the level of French and address the shortage of French teachers in the country. Fifteen French language inspectors received training in Reunion (Citizen).

At an award ceremony of honorary doctorates to Mr Godfrey Sabas Ngaleya and Bishop Mathias Rueben Ng’andu, Morogoro Regional Director, Mr Joel Bendera, acknowledged how far education has developed in Tanzania since Uhuru. He stated: ‘People may have their different views, including the demand for quality education, but the fact remains that this country has made tremendous strides. If we didn’t have the ward secondary schools, where would all those children who passed their primary examination be today?’ Mr Ngaleya’s 2005 book on entrepreneurship is to become a standard textbook in schools. (Daily News)

However, on 11 October Salma Maoulidi contributed a piece to the Daily News on how education today compared with the aim of the 1977 constitution to remove the class divide amongst Tanzanians. She concluded: ‘that there is no Minister, Principal Secretary, MP, RC or DC who sends their child to a ward school. If national leaders, who make and implement policy, don’t want to subscribe in deed to policies they pass, or swear to uphold, why should the common person be expected to stomach the same?’

In launching the new Annual Teachers Awards Ceremony,the chairman of the Education and Expedition Agency Association, Emmanuel Mjema, challenged the government ‘to provide direct financial incentives to teachers in public and private schools countrywide so as to help improve the country’s education standard.’ The first ceremony was on 25 November (Guardian).

A study by Haki Elimu and the University of Dar es Salaam entitled ‘Are students failing national examinations or are national examinations failing students?’ reported that ‘There is evidence that the curriculum is poorly implemented because the majority of teachers do not fully understand the requirements of the curriculum. The teaching and learning environments are also generally poor…..While the content of the curriculum seems to be competent based, the assessment procedures are not wholly based on this philosophy.’ Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Training, Mr Celestine Gesimba, rejected the findings, stating that the Institute of Education was better qualified to conduct the research as ‘they are the experts in this area [of curriculum]’ (Citizen).

At a conference to publicise the findings of the four year Pedagogy and Leadership Project, Education Commissioner in the Ministry of Education and Training, Ms Eustella Bhalalusse, encouraged those attending to use the findings to improve the quality of teaching English. The study,which involved the University of Dar es Salaam and which ran from 2009 to 2012, took place in four urban Primary schools in Manzese ward, Kinondoni District (Daily News).

Korogwe Council is to implement a programme of inspections to ensure that education is being delivered as it should be and to achieve a pass rate above 95%. The focus of the inspections will be discipline, ensuring teachers are at school teaching on time and that they are adhering to the curriculum (Citizen).

The government rejected a proposal by budget partners that they directly fund social-related projects. ‘Donors could not set priorities for Tanzania’ and monitoring such funding would prove difficult. However ‘government and donor parties agreed to enhance the dialogue on results.’ Budget support for 2012/3 is just under $500 million (Citizen).

by Anne Samson

Not achieving
The past few months have seen concerns raised about education in Tanzania and announcements by government and others on what is being done to improve the situation.

Anthony Tambwe (Daily News 8 July) was concerned about the state of education and the impact this will have on Tanzania’s involvement in the East African Federation. His concern reiterated those raised by Haki-Elimu during May, in particular about the number of young people not achieving. The underlying issue is felt to be the curriculum, which is ‘not effective enough to producing competent graduates in various capacities’.

Two days later, the UK Guardian reported the finding of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact that DfID’s aid programme in Tanzania was too focused on enrolment numbers and not enough on quality of learning. Other comments by Haki-Elimu on Youtube http://goo.gl/X4S9t. Taweza too, has put out a short video on the importance of teachers http://goo.gl/D3mvE.

Banned
The World Bank has banned deals with two wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Oxford University Press (OUP) – OUP East Africa Limited and OUP Tanzania. The three years’ ban follows OUP’s acknowledgement of ‘misconduct’ by its two subsidiaries in relation to two World Bank-financed education projects in East Africa. Various groups, including the Tanzania Teachers Union, have called for an investigation to identify who was involved.

The European Union and education
The EU signed agreements with Tanzania in July covering six areas of development work. Significantly, education does not feature. The one statement concerning education was that ‘Notable results in 2011 included the delivery of annual capitation grants of Tshs 25,000 per student to all government secondary schools’. (http://world.einnews.com/article/106205564, 20/7)

The importance of education continues to be recognised through various initiatives. National Microfinance Bank has announced a Financial Fitness Programme to encourage savings for education as part of their corporate social responsibility agenda (Daily News 21/5)

Briefly mentioned in the previous TA was somatanzania.org, an online portal to support education in Tanzania. This site has continued as a central contact for information on schools for Tanzanians and for people wanting to volunteer, including links to English support.

Foreign Assistance
A South Korean NGO, Good Neighbours Tanzania, has spent $60,000 on constructing a state-of-the-art community centre at Kijitonyama Kisiwani Primary School, in Dar es Salaam. It will be open to the general public as well as pupils of the school with the aim of re-invigorating a reading culture to improve learning – The Citizen.

The Koreans are also involved in opening a new university, the United African University of Tanzania. Its first 120 students start in January 2013 and will study Computer Engineering and Business Administration. The university has been founded by a church in Korea and expects the curriculum to broaden in 2015 – Daily News.

Germany is also involved in developing two existing universities with a focus on health care – The Citizen.

Taweza has proposed three ‘experiments’to improve learning outcomes, deliver capitation grants better and ‘testing local cash on delivery.’ The basic idea is to pay a set amount for every child achieving proficiency in early grade literacy and numeracy, in contrast with an input- based incentive such as the capitation grant. The idea has been developed in consultation with the Center for Global Development, the Jameel Poverty Action Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Tanzania government, local MPs and the Teachers’ Trade Union – Daily News.

Vice President Dr Mohammed Gharib Bilal launched the ‘Tanzania 21st Century Basic Education Structure in Mtwara’. The purpose of the USAID project is to develop primary education in Mtwara Region, using information and technology. Dr Bilal noted that statistics collated by the Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) indicate that ‘Tanzania’s education structure was the best compared to other countries’ structures’ and is among the top 15 countries performing well in mathematics. Tanzania was also the best in terms of education research. Dr Bilal asked edu­cation stakeholders to consider improving primary education tests ‘as most of the tests still posed setbacks towards better development of primary education.’ Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Dr Shukuru Kawambwa said the project would help in the implementation of phase III (2012-2016) MMEM based on the development of primary education.’

In July, Mtwara was again the focus of a new initiative, this one launched by Mrs Diane Corner, British High Commissioner to Tanzania. The project aims at providing employment opportunities for young people. Assisted by seven VSO professional volunteers, it will focus on raising standards in eight areas: English, food preparation, plumbing, welding, carpentry, motor vehicle main­tenance and electrical installation and maintenance. – The Citizen

People with money
The Deputy Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for Education, Khassim Majaliwa, announced that President Kikwete, in allowing ‘people with money’ to invest in education, will ensure that ‘education graduates are assured of employment’. About 13,000 teachers have been deployed in various secondary schools across the country and it is anticipated that about 85 per cent of the over 37,000 shortfall of teachers would be solved. The Government plans to ensure 1:1 ratio text book availability by 2013, science teaching is to be emphasised and accommodation for girls will be given priority – Daily News.

Compiled by Anne Samson

The quality of education
Government has published very little on education since the last edition of Tanzanian Affairs. However, opinion leaders and other commentators have provided some insight into what is happening – the publication of the Standard 7 and Form IV National Exams providing the catalyst and showing that Tanzanians are becoming more outspoken. The Guardian succinctly pointed out on 9 April that ‘rightly or wrongly, many observers argue that the quality of education and training at practically all levels is experiencing a slow but sure decline – that, particularly in public institutions of learning, the tendency now is to go for quantity rather than quality.’ Consultant Mosozi Nyirenda drew attention to the rapid change education has undergone over the past two decades. He called for stability rather than new policies every time a Minister is appointed. This contrasts to January editorials which called for a ‘major overhaul.’ University students, taking the initiative, sent Government a 90-page letter suggesting ways to reduce bureaucracy and improve the quality of university education (Guardian).

The growth of international and English medium schools has resulted in fewer parents sending their children to other countries. This suggests an improvement in the quality of education. The Deputy Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Mr Mulugo, said Government will ‘make sure that eligible pupils who complete primary school education proceed to secondary school’ and that Government will ‘expand vocational education colleges so as to enable many students to get skills and knowledge for self employment’ (Daily News). However, some concern exists over the standard of education that private institutions are providing (Guardian). Supporting this is Government’s announcement that all colleges which are not registered will be closed down (Citizen, 26 March 2012).

Prompted by the ‘nullification of 2011 national form four examination results for 3,303 students’, the outgoing Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Mr Shabaan, tabled plans for Zanzibar to establish its own examination board. According to NECTA this was due to ‘a number of bizarre incidents [which] were witnessed, including cases of blatant cheating by way of entering examination rooms armed with all manner of “missiles”.’ The conclusion was ‘little surprise in recent revelations that some primary school pupils “qualified” for secondary school enrolment when they were hardly literate or numerate’ (Daily News).

The revelation of illiteracy resulted in the Deputy Minister for Education and Vocational Training requesting the number of pupils in Dar es Salaam Primary Schools who cannot read or write (Guardian). In con¬trast, MP for Mwanga and Minister for Agriculture, Cooperatives and Food Security, Professor Maghembe, sponsored a visit for 857 primary teachers acknowledging their consistent improvement in Standard 7 national exams. 98% undertook the examination whilst 93% passed, placing the District first in regional and national tables (Citizen).

The Form IV pass rate was higher than previous years. However, according to Mr Mulugo, ‘the slight drop [in A level allocations – 31,658 in 2011 vs 36,366 in 2010] was caused by the fact that although the pass rate was better, students did not satisfy set standards’ (Citizen).

Government has been asked not to re-introduce Form II national exams as this would not benefit education. However, if they are to be introduced, they should be regionalised to assist teachers with identifying pupil progress (Citizen).

The School Calendar has been changed to enable teachers to help with the census later in the year: The new dates for 2012 are:
Term 1: 9 January – 30 March Term 2: 10 April – 22 June
Term 3: 9 July – 2 August Term 4: 10 September -14 December

Optical mark readers – The National Examinations Council (NECTA) announced that in June an experiment using Optical Mark Readers will be undertaken for Standard 7 examinations before they are used in the end of year examinations. The readers allow papers to be marked more quickly with less risk of human error, but require answers to be made on special paper and in a particular manner. Concerns are that there will be insufficient time to prepare pupils, that uneven desks could cause the answer papers to be damaged and that examinations will only be multiple choice. (Mwananchi)

Summary of other news items
President Kikwete requested the Masasi District Commissioner to conduct a house-to-house search identifying how many Standard 7 leavers have not reported to secondary school, following evidence that 35.6% of 12,843 registered students had not yet enrolled. Similar figures were registered in other districts (Citizen).

Eighty teachers in Singida District stormed Council Offices demanding their salaries which had not been paid for two months, apparently due to issues with employment forms. (Guardian and Sunday Citizen). Similar situations concerning 50 teachers in Mbozi District, Mbeya Region and Hai, Kilimanjaro Region were reported (hakielimu.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03; Daily News, 4 April).

Government’s decision to build one VETA college in each district has been lauded. The African Development Bank will support the first 28 (Guardian).

Mbeya Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) has begun the final phase for upgrading to University status (Daily News).

A new holistic Tanzanian educational website, somatanzania.org, was launched during March, although it currently has limited content (Citizen).