NEW EDUCATION POLICY FOR TANZANIA: FREE BASIC EDUCATION, BASIC EDUCATION COMPULSORY

By Nelson Kessy, 
THE GUARDIAN, TANZANIA. 

14th February 2015

Free basic education, from primary to O-Level ,Single textbook for every subject for all schools, Basic education now compulsory

President Jakaya Mrisho  Kikwete has  officially launched the New Education Policy of 2014 on 13th February, 2015, overhauling the education system, where basic education will now run from Standard One to Form Four and all schools shift to using a single textbook for each subject.

According to the policy, basic education shall be fee free, with single textbooks for all schools and shall provide quality education recognised across the region and the world.

 The government will collaborate with education stakeholders to modernize curricula at all levels and make sure that it meets education requirements, provide equipment, materials and tools needed for teaching and facilitating advancement of science and technology.

Launching the new policy yesterday at a city primary school in a high density suburb in Dar es Salaam, President Jakaya Kikwete said that education is the provision of service and not a business. 

“The policy also emphasises one textbook when teaching and facilitating in all schools in the country, instead of using many textbooks as we are using now. There will be only one textbook for all schools,” the president intoned.

“We can’t operate our schools with many textbooks whereby each school is using its preferred textbook. We need to have only one textbook for each subject that will be used by all schools in the country,” he declared.  

 He said that since education is a service and not a business, all private schools need to have affordable school fees on the basis of ‘unit per course’ and analyse its operation as well, instead of saying that our school fees is fixed at five million or six millions.

“We can’t only increase school fees amounts without knowing the services offered by the schools if they are related to the mentioned fees,” Kikwete said.

“The government planned for a long time about changing its education policy because it is difficult to reach development if your education system is not good,” the president affirmed, maintaining that there is no country in the world which has solved all education challenges, he said there are challenges which our neighboring countries face but we don’t face.

The next big thing the government is planning to do is to increase teachers’ allowances and improving their housing conditions.

Earlier, Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Said Meck Sadiki stated that the region has tried to accomplish the president’s directive of constructing laboratories, with 231 laboratories constructed in city secondary schools.

“Currently we have 412 secondary school laboratories and we are hoping that with these labs our students will acquire competitive education,” Sadiki told the gathering.

For his part, the Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Dr Shukuru Kawambwa stated that the new education policy seeks to provide economic, technological and social change in the country’s education sector. 

The policy was planned for a long time and it has outlined major areas that need more emphasis in collaboration with education stakeholders so as to improve education system in the country, the minister said.

 Meanwhile, education stakeholders have expressed concern that the new education system is not good compared to what exists. 

 Susan Lyimo, a legislator (Special Seats-CHADEMA) said that the policy is not competent because the government failed to prioritize teachers’ requirements.

“If curricula are developed by people who are not teachers, then given to a teacher who has not been properly trained on how to apply such curriculum, they will do as they wish since they were not involved,” she said. 

 Along in the same lines, NCCR –Mageuzi chairman James Mbatia said that there are many problems with the education system including, books, curriculum, stakeholders and leadership.

“To be sincere the policy which is said to be new it is out of date because it was surveyed for 2006 education requirements. The demands of 2006 are not the same as today’s demands,” he pointed out.   

 Christowaja Mtinda (Special Seats-CHADEMA) said that education has been mixed with a lot of other matters compared to what was the case in previous years.

 “Earlier, the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) said the curricular was not involving teachers as the main stakeholders in curriculum development. Due to that teachers are not familiar with the curricula so what they normally do is to teach what they know,” she said.

“We need to have one textbook that will be used with all schools according to class level…and others could be used as reference,” she said.

On October 26,  2014, the Tanzania Association of Managers and Owners of Non-Government Schools and Colleges (Tamongsco) expressed concern over the government’s decision to release a new education policy, saying it is an outdated document.

They argued that stakeholders started working on the policy back in 2006 when a countrywide survey was conducted and was submitted to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in 2009.

 Tamongsco Secretary General Benjamin Nkonya said if launched this year, the policy might not meet current needs.

“It will be outdated because the demands of education in 2006 are quite different from those of today,” he had emphasized.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN