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GÖTEBORGS UNIVERSITET School of Global StudiesCentre for African Studies
The abolishment of school fees in Tanzania
- A case study of the quality of education
Masters Thesis, Africa and International
Development Cooperation
Authors: Erik Björkdahl and Patrick Lundqvist
Supervisor: Erik Andersson
Spring, 2006
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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this thesis is to examine different educational actors’ view to what extent
the quality of education has been affected since the abolishment of the school fees in
primary school. The following questions have been formulated for this study:
- What have been the effects on the primary education after the abolishment of the
school fees?
- What are the different educational actor’s views about the quality of education in
Tanzania since the abolishment of the school fees?
- How will the conditions for implementing the PEDP be affected of the
abolishment of the school fees?
We have used a case study approach including statistical data, interviews, policies from
the Tanzanian Government and other published material. The interviews were made
during our stay in Tanzania, April 2006. Three interviews took place. The first interview
took place at the Swedish embassy with a senior program officer, the second with an
employee at Tanzania Teachers Union and the third with a primary school teacher in Dar
es Salaam.
The results present that in the year 2005 approximately 2.7 million more children were
enrolled compared to 2001. The Net Enrolment Ratio in 2001 was 66 percent comparedto 94.8 percent in 2005. The Pupil-Teacher Rate increased from 46:1 in 2001 to 59:1 in
2005. We found that the burden for the teachers increased during this period and that the
teachers’ status declined. This had to do with the abolishment of the school fees. There
were both negative and positive views regarding the quality of education. However, there
were more negative opinions. We also argue that the abolishment of the school fees
affected the conditions for implementing PEDP entirely. It seems to us that the quantity
have been given higher priority than quality. We also found that everybody we spoke to
was positive towards the decision to abolish the school fees in primary school in
Tanzania.
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ABBREVIATIONS
BEDC = Basic Education Development Committee
CCM = Chama Cha Mapinduzi
EFA = Education for All
ESDP = Education Sector Development Program
ESR = Education for Self-Reliance
ETP = Education and Training Policy
GER = Gross Enrolment Ratio
IMF = International Monetary Fund
MDG = Millennium Development Goals
MoEC = Ministry of Education and Culture
NER = Net Enrolment Ratio
NGO = Non-Governmental Organization
PEDP = Primary Education Development Plan
PTR = Pupil-Teacher Rate
SACMEQ = Southern & East. Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality
SAP = Structural adjustment program
Sida = Swedish International Development cooperation Agency
TANU = Tanganyika African National UnionTTU = Tanzania Teacher’s Union
UNESCO = United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNICEF = United Nations Children’s Fund
UPE = Universal Primary Education
URT = United Republic of Tanzania
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CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................... 1
1.2 BACKGROUND............................................................................................................ 21.3 PURPOSE AND DELIMITATIONS ................................................................................... 2
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK.............................................................................. 3
2.1 QUALITY OF THE TEACHERS ....................................................................................... 32.2 QUALITY OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS.............................................. 4
3. METHOD ...................................................................................................................... 6
3.1 VALUATION OF THE SOURCES..................................................................................... 8
4. PREVIOUS RESEARCH............................................................................................. 8
5. TANZANIA ................................................................................................................. 10
5.1 HISTORY .................................................................................................................. 10
6. EMPIRICAL CHAPTER........................................................................................... 13
6.1 CASE OF STATISTICS ................................................................................................ 136.2 CASE OF TANZANIA GOVERNMENT - EDUCATION AND TRAINING POLICY ............... 18
6.2.1 History and background of the policy.............................................................. 18 6.2.2 Main aims and objectives................................................................................. 20 6.2.3 System and structure of education and training .............................................. 20 6.2.4 Access and equity............................................................................................. 20 6.2.5 Management and administration ..................................................................... 21 6.2.6 Formal education and training........................................................................ 22 6.2.7 School curricula, examinations and certification............................................ 22
6.2.8 ESDP................................................................................................................ 23 6.2.9 PEDP ............................................................................................................... 23
6.3 CASE OF THE INTERVIEWS ........................................................................................ 246.4 CASE OF THE NGO HAKIELIMU AND THEIR VIEW ON PEDP .................................... 34
7. ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................. 38
8. CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................... 46
REFERENCES................................................................................................................ 49
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FIGURES AND TABLES
FIGURES
Figure 6.1 Standard I – VII Enrolment in Primary Schools, 1995 – 2005. s.13
Figure 6.2 Total Enrolment, Population and Enrolment Ratios (GER and NER) in Primary Schools, 1995 –
2005. s. 14
Figure 6.3 Budgetary Allocation to Education Sector by Education levels 1995/96 – 2004/05 s. 16
TABLES
Table 6.1 Primary Schools Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) by Sex and Gender Parity Index (GPI), 1995-2005.
s. 15
Table 6.2 Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), Results 1998 – 2004. s. 15
Table 6.3 Females Enrolment as Percentage of Total Enrolment by Grade and Level in Primary Education.
s. 16
Table 6.4 Pupil Teacher Ratio 1999-2004. s. 17
Table 6.5 PEDP Enrolment Related Targets 2002-2006. s. 17
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1. INTRODUCTION
Around the world today there are about 100 million children who do not have the
opportunity to attend primary school (Development Gateway 2004). In the year 1990
United Nations declared eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and these goals
are supposed to be fulfilled in the year 2015. The second MDG is “Achieve universal
primary education – Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in
difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and
complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality” (United Nations
Statistics Division 2006). The same year a conference was arranged in Jomtien, Thailand.
About 150 representatives from countries and organizations all over the world came
together and held the World Conference on Education for All. The main goals were touniversalize the primary education and decrease the illiteracy worldwide before the new
decade was entered (UNESCO 2001). In the year 2000, i.e. ten years later, the World
Education Forum was held in Dakar, Senegal. The forum was a follow up from the
Jomtien-conference. The forum members introduced the concept Dakar Framework for
Action and the main goal to achieve Education for All at year 2015. The co-ordination of
all international players was handed over to UNESCO (UNESCO 2000, p. 3).
In Sub-Saharan Africa it is estimated that only 60 percent of boys and 56 percent of girls
attend school. “It is education that will provide the next generation with the tools to fight
poverty and conquer disease” (UNICEF 2006). Consequently, with the low outcome of
educated people it is almost impossible to eradicate poverty. HIV/AIDS, malaria e.g. are
well-known diseases that have a negative relation to schooling.
User fees for primary education have been a part of the structural adjustment program
package that IMF and World Bank once introduced. Children going to school are one
step in the direction to fight poverty and to save lives. In the year 2000 the U.S. Congress
stated with a policy that projects and loans from organizations like IMF and World Bank,
which include the advocacy of user fees, should come to an end (Robert Weissman
2000).
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1.2 Background
In the end of 2001 the school fees of primary school were abolished by the Tanzanian
Government (UNESCO 2003). A policy was founded in 1995 to improve education and
training in Tanzania. This policy, the Education and Training Policy (ETP), was theguiding principle for the whole educational system (ESDP, April 2003). In 1999 the
Tanzanian Government introduced a first version of an Education Sector Development
Programme (ESDP). The previous policies and plans that had been formulated were now
to be implemented by the Tanzanian Government.
” It’s overall objective is to provide for increased gender-balanced and equitable access
to higher quality basic education with the following priorities: i) priority on basic
education; ii) improvement in secondary school opportunities; iii) demand-driven and
marketoriented post-secondary and higher education; and iv) institutional development
to improve sector management and to strengthen capacity to monitor progress.” (URT
2002, p. 11).
A constituent of the ESDP is the Primary Education Development Plan (PEDP). The
purpose with PEDP is to expand the enrolment and improve the quality. (ESDP, April
2003). Sweden has supported Tanzania with aid in more than 40 years and education has
been a priority area for Sida in the development cooperation with Tanzania (Sida 2006).
Anders Närman points out that: “There is an absolute relationship between a quantitativeexpansion and the ability to uphold quality. One obvious expression of this relationship is
the need for qualified teachers in the schools.” (Närman and Ewald. 2001, p. 325).
1.3 Purpose and delimitations
The purpose of this thesis is to examine different educational actors’ view to what extent
the quality of education has been affected since the abolishment of the school fees in
primary school. The following questions have been formulated for this study:
- What have been the effects on the primary education of the abolishment of the
school fees?
- What are the different educational actors’ views about the quality of education in
Tanzania since the abolishment of the school fees?
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- How will the conditions for implementing the PEDP be affected of the
abolishment of the school fees?
The main focus for our thesis will be on the primary school sector in Tanzania. This
study is not limited to a particular region or district, thus we have a view of Tanzania in
general.
How the abolishment of the school fees affects the international development cooperation
and its work will not be considered. Similarly we do not intend to discuss the abolishment
of school fees in the democracy aspect. Gender is a major issue itself and will therefore
not be entirely analyzed; however it will be taken under consideration. We think that the
concept of quality might differ between the actors. We also have decided to examine the
quality concept within the context of primary education in Tanzania.
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The theoretical framework will be based on discussion about the concept of quality of
education. It will be impossible for us to include all the different views of this subject in
our thesis. We have therefore chosen to present the views on quality of education that is
most relevant according to us. We have found a lot of research that emphasize the
importance of educated and satisfied teachers as well as good school environment.
Therefore the theoretical framework is divided into two parts, quality of the teachers and
quality of the environment in primary schools.
2.1 Quality of the teachers
Dr. Joan Freeman works at the Institute of Education at University of London and
received her doctorate in child psychology from the University of Manchester, United
Kingdom. Freeman has been writing numerous of books and scientific papers regarding
the area of the quality of education.
Freeman stresses the teacher’s role for high quality in education. Freeman accentuates the
importance of teachers for high quality in education for children to be able to join the
society. The goal should be a higher quality for all rather than a sense of equal
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opportunity for all. Freeman believes that a sense of equal opportunity for all is a vague
idea with no specified standards (Freeman 1992, p. 175).
Freeman points out that around the world teachers are questioning their profession due to
lack of respect. The consequence of this is that teacher’s ability to produce new ideas
starts to decrease and they feel that they approach the “back to basics”. Freeman stresses
that when teachers in the classroom get hold of professional competence it is a starting
point in educating children and improving their competence. Another factor that Freeman
mentions is the teacher salaries. Higher salaries are not always the right solution for
encouraging teachers to keep on working, but of course there are parts in the world where
teachers are poorly paid, the living condition can affect their satisfaction. The living
condition for teachers can vary but there are situations where they have to live in houses
with leaking roofs, dirty washrooms, tattered exercise books etc. (Freeman 1992, p. 176).
2.2 Quality of the environment in primary schools
The UN-organisation UNESCO introduced the EFA 2000 Assessment in order to enable
countries to introduce their own EFA goals. The purpose with EFA is to make sure that
countries can offer basic education (UNESCO 2006).
In the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005 (Colclough et al 2005a, p. 29) put forth two
key elements that define the concept of quality of education:1. The importance that the students are being able to improve their cognitive
development.
2. The importance that the students are being able to improve their creative and
emotional development.
There have been studies at micro level in development countries that emphasize the
relation between cognitive achievement and school expenditure, teacher education and
school facilities (Colclough et al. 2005b, p. 2). A good medium for student achievement
is a high-level of teacher subject knowledge (Darling-Hammond 2000 cited Colclough et
al 2005a, p.112).
Per Settergren has worked both as a teacher and a school inspector in Stockholm,
Sweden. In Settergrens book “Bättre Skola” a definition of quality in school is put
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together from teacher and principal opinions. That is good characteristics that exist in the
school activity, intended for the pupils and their parents (Settergren 2003, p. 16). We
want to highlight these characteristics as our main guideline in our thesis. The following
characteristics are not in any order of precedence priority:
• Security and comfort
• The ethical foundations of the curriculum
• Pupils influence and responsibility
• Dialogue
• Stimulation of the intellect, imagination and emotion
Security and comfort is a prerequisite and the starting point for a successful school. A
school without security and comfort will in the future not be able to succeed with other
missions. An open and trustful relation between children and adults, pupils and staff in
school is necessary to achieve this. Therefore the teacher’s social competence has a great
significance to create a harmonious working environment (Settergren 2003, p. 17).
The pupils should be fostered according to the ethical foundations of the curriculum.
This is important, so that the pupils respect the teacher and each other. As the teachers are
raw models for their pupils, their behavior has importance in fostering process. The
teacher’s way of greeting their pupils could for example be a part in fostering. The
content of the subject should include the ethical foundation, and that is the componentsthat education is based on (Settergren 2003, p. 18).
Pupils influence and responsibility is another important characteristic. The pupils will
feel more comfortable if they have more influence and given responsibility in their
schoolwork (Settergren 2003, p. 18).
Dialogue with the pupils is the best way to make them participate and also enable them to
gain greater knowledge. The context is often better understood in the dialogue (Settergren
2003, p. 19).
Stimulation of the intellect, imagination and emotion is an important characteristic
that the school must provide for the pupils. If not, the pupils will have a hard time to be
able to develop their capacity to solve difficult assignments. Enthusiastic and
knowledgeable teachers, increases the possibility for transferring the interest to the
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Our questions in the interview guide are based on our theory, where we aimed at
formulating questions related to the indicators in the theory. In our theory we have five
indicators regarding the classroom situation that we associate with the quality of
education. For every indicator we have included about three or four questions.
We started the interviews with simple questions like for example “What is your position
at your work?” The reason for this is to create a comfortable atmosphere for the
respondent and for ourselves during the interview. After these questions we used “grand-
tour”-questions, which are questions where the respondent can be able to evolve the
answers and express them selves freely. We also used follow up questions in order to
receive more extensive answers. In the end we sometimes used direct questions when we
felt that some information relating to our thesis was missing.
The different sources could contribute with different parts of information that eventually
put the puzzle together (Esaiasson et al. 2005, p. 253). In our view, by interviewing the
relevant people we have attained more up to date information. Furthermore, there is a
possibility to receive information that has not been published. Interviewing several actors
in different positions and organizations will enhance the possibility to get more valid
results.
Both primary and secondary sources have been used (Björk 2003, p. 231). For the
primary sources, we have interviewed a program officer at Sida, a primary school teacher
and the head of education and training department at TTU. The interviews took place
during our three weeks visit in Tanzania in April 2006. Secondary sources have been
used and this includes information from the Internet, academic literature, newspaper,
journal articles etc.
An important tool we used during the interviews was a tape recorder. This helped us to
once again go back and find important information (Esaiasson et al. 2005, p. 294). During
the interview we also took notes which we soon afterwards put together while we still
had the information up to date. This will increase the reliability of the thesis.
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3.1 Valuation of the sources
The authors Freeman and Settergren in our theoretical framework both have
comprehensive experience from the field of education. Freeman holds a doctor degree in
child psychology and has many years of experience as a teacher. Settergren is a teacher and has worked as a school inspector for many years. We want to stress that there is a lot
of literature and researches regarding quality of education that have not been covered.
Therefore there is a possibility that important theories have not been reflected.
Regarding the interviews there is always a risk for misunderstandings, not at least when a
foreign language is used. The interview with the teacher and the employee at TTU is
likely to be more critical to the Governments ways of treating teachers compared to
someone who is independent. Therefore it is possible that they enhance some parts more
than others. The interview with the employee at Sida could also have some obligations in
his role as a donor. The Tanzanian NGO, HakiElimu, has the capacity as an NGO to be
critical towards the Government.
When it comes to sources from the Internet one should know that anyone can present
information in anyway they want. Therefore we carefully have examined the sources.
4. PREVIOUS RESEARCHThere are numerous studies carried out regarding the quality of education and the effects
of school fees. Since we are concentrating on Tanzania in general, it is interesting to get a
perspective with a closer look on researches done at a district level.
Beniamin Knutsson is a student at Växjö University in Sweden and did his master’s
degree in Peace and Development at School of Social Sciences. The topic for his thesis is
“Education for All or Enrolment for All?” Knutsson did his research in the Geita district
in Tanzania during the spring 2005 and his aim with the thesis was to see what
implementation efforts with EFA could achieve in a Tanzanian context. His specific
objective is “to examine how a substantial quantitative expansion of pupil enrolment
affects primary school education in qualitative terms.” In Knutssons conclusion in
general there have been several changes being done in a positive way but the negative
approach is more noticeable. The positive improvements that have been done is for
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example building of new classrooms, more ownership in the communities, more
availability of books, more children attending to schools and the drop-out rate is moving
down. The PEDP has been criticized among the respondents and the way it has been
used. The lack of infrastructure is one main problem of the increasing number of children
in schools. Knutsson also mention that there is an imbalance regarding the recruitment of
teachers from the geographic point of view. Teachers in village schools obtain other
problems relating to the increase of enrolment. In technical and practical subjects like
science, there is a lack of material resources that comes with the enrolment. There has
also been an increase of repetitions in Std. 1-4. Knutsson points out in the main
conclusion that “Geita is still far from the global EFA target of UPE with good quality,
but they are close to Enrolment for all but hardly to Education for all”.
Ms. Dinah Richard Mmbaga carried out a PhD dissertation titled, “The Inclusive
Classroom in Tanzania – Dream or Reality?” at Stockholm University and Institute of
International Education. The case study was done during a four year period between 1996
and 1999. Mmbaga did her study research in Kazimkazi primary school at Same District,
Kilimanjaro Region. The study was about challenges to basic education in Tanzania and
about learning, especially about the relationships between teachers and pupils in the
classroom and if the relationships created in the classroom enhanced or constrained
effective learning. The views of teachers, parents and children were studied as well as the
macro context. The results show that policies and organizational structures are very
important for creating good conditions for learning. The curriculum in primary school
was not in line with the local reality. The teaching in the school was far from satisfying
perhaps due to the pressure of large classes and to complete syllabuses in time to the final
exams. According to the results, the children in school were given different labels and the
ones referred to as “problem children” were often given less attention. The author suggest
that some criteria must be fulfilled if effective learning is going to take place; Better
communication between teachers and parents. Before reforms and changes are introduced
thorough preparation is needed in order to make sure that all parties are aware of their
new roles. The reality of the local community must be taken into account when the
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curriculum is appointed. Mmbaga ends the conclusion with the words “Indeed, inclusion
is no more a dream. However, it is far from becoming a reality” (Mmbaga 2002, p. 201).
With our study we want to contribute to the research on education in Tanzania. Neither of
the authors named above has been discussing the abolishment of school fees in the way
we intend to do. Before presenting our empirical material, a short presentation of
Tanzania will follow.
5. TANZANIA
Tanzania is situated in eastern Africa bordering the Indian Ocean and its neighbor
countries are Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia,
Malawi and Mozambique. Tanzania is divided into 26 regions and the capital city is
Dodoma but Dar es Salaam is still a central and an important city for ministries and other
offices. The population is estimated to 37.5 million people. The age structure of the
population is; 0 to 14 years 43.7 %, 15 to 64 years 53.6 % and 65 and above 2.6 %.
Swahili and English is the official languages and literacy among the population regarding
male is 85.9 % and female 70.7 % (CIA 2006).
5.1 History
Tanganyika and Zanzibar became a union in 1964 and formed the United Republic of
Tanzania. From the year 1945 Tanganyika belonged to United Nations Trusteeship under
British rule and became independent in 1961. The development of TANU (Tanganyika
African National Union) became the first party in the 1950s and in 1960s they won the
political trust of the people. A year after independence, “Mwalimu” Julius Kambarage
Nyerere became the first prime minister in Tanganyika (Tanzania Government, 2006).
Julius Kambarage Nyerere was born in 1922. “Mwalimu” Nyerere started his career as a
teacher and later on he became a politician and founder member of the TANU. He was
also the founder member and chairman of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). CCM was a
fusion of TANU and Afro-Shiraz Party of Zanzibar which was formed in 1977. The word
“Mwalimu” is the Swahili word for teacher. Nyerere went to Makerere University in
Uganda and received a Teacher Diploma and he also received a Master of Arts degree at
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Edinburgh University in Scotland. The respect of Nyerere is the reason why he today is
honored as the “Mwalimu” and as the father of the nation. Between 1964 and 1985
“Mwalimu” Nyerere held the post as the president for the Republic of Tanzania (South
Centre 2006).
The time Nyerere became president in 1964, Tanzania had major problems and he had a
tough assignment to get his country back on track, which was in deep crisis and was one
of the poorest countries in the world. His strategy was to introduce socialism and
communal life. This socialism was a mixture of agriculture, villigization (“Ujamaa”) and
large-scale nationalization. The word “Ujamaa” became an important strategy for
Nyerere. “Ujamaa” is the Kiswahili word for family hood and Nyerere wanted his people
to live and work in a co-operative way so it could extend the traditional values and
responsibilities in Tanzania. Nyerere believed in his new socialism which he said was
“people-centered”. Health, education and political identity were some areas that
succeeded when it was focused on human development and self-reliance. Nyerere had
two main headings regarding his educational philosophy and it was education for self-
reliance and adult education and lifelong learning and education for liberation. In
Nyerere’s vision “Education for Self-Reliance” he stated that education should promote
equality, foster co-operation and to work for the common good. He also stated that when
planning and decision-making process should be done, it has to engage both teachers and
students. Some of the educational reforms succeeded and some failed. Nyerere gave up
the Presidency in 1985 and he died in London on 14 October 1999 (Hartford Web
Publishing 2006).
After Nyerere’s retirement in 1985, Ali Hassan Mwinyi became the new president of
Tanzania. Mwinyi was against the socialism that Nyerere once introduced and was more
into private sector development and relaxed on import restrictions. Between 1990 and
1995 he also became chairman of the ruling party CCM (Answers 2006). In the
beginning of the 1980s Tanzania liberalized its economy and in 1986 an agreement was
signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Tanzania introduced the structural
adjustment program (SAP) after the agreement with IMF and the World Bank.
After being at the presidency during two terms, Ali Hussein Mwinyi was succeeded by
Benjamin William Mkapa in 1995. Mkapa continued with the liberalization of the
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economy and privatized most of the state owned corporations under his presidency. Even
he became the chairman for CCM during his time as president. In 1995 Tanzania
introduced the multiparty system but CCM still have the majority of the votes (Wikipedia
2006). In December 2005 Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete became the fourth president of
Tanzania and the chairman of CCM.
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6. EMPIRICAL CHAPTER
The empirical chapter starts with a presentation of statistical data regarding the primary
education in Tanzania. The next part is the interviews. The answers from the respondents
and the informant have been put together according to the related questions that we
asked. Thereafter follows a presentation of the Tanzanian Government Education and
Training policies. At last we presented some thoughts from the Tanzanian NGO
HakiElimu.
6.1 Case of Statistics
The statistical data includes figures and tables and gives a clearer picture regarding the
primary education.
0 1000000 2000000 3000000
4000000 5000000 6000000 7000000 8000000
Pupils
Enrolment 3877643 3942888 4057965 4042568 4189816 4382410 4881588 5981338 6562772 7083063 7541208
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Figure 6.1 Standard I – VII Enrolment in Primary Schools, 1995 – 2005
Source: Ministry of Education and Culture (2005b)
The chart above shows that the increase of pupils enrolled in primary school had its peak
with about 1.1 million children in year 2002. In the end of 2001 the Government
abolished the school fees in primary school. It has been followed by a steady increase
since then. Between the year 1995 and 2005 the enrolment nearly doubled.
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Figure 6.2 Total Enrolment, Population and Enrolment Ratios (GER and NER) in
Primary Schools, 1995 - 2005
Total Enrolment, Population and Enrolment Ratios (GER and NER) in
Primary Schools, 1995 - 2005
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
G E R & N E R
NER 55,4 56,3 56,7 56,7 57,1 58,6 66,0 80,7 88,5 90,5 94,8
GER 77,6 77,8 77,9 76,6 77,2 77,6 84,4 98,6 105,3 106,3 109,9
year 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Tot. Gd I-
VII
3 877 643 3 942 888 4 057 965 4 042 568 4 189 816 4 382 410 4 845 185 5 972 077 6 562 772 7 083 063 7 541 208
Pop 7-
13yrs
4996963 5 067 979 5 209 198 5 279 500 5 427 156 5 646 293 5 743 255 6 054 257 6 229 830 6 665 347 6 859 282
7-13yrs in
Gd I-VII
2 768 317 2 853
272
2 953
615
2 994 027 3 098
846
3 309 977 3 790 622 4 884 385 5 515 793 6 034 526 6 499 581
Source: Ministry of Education and Culture (2005b)
NER stands for Net Enrolment Ratio and is the number of pupils in the official age group
for a given level of education enrolled in that level expressed as a percentage of the total
population in that age group. GER stands for Gross Enrolment Ratio and is the number of
pupils enrolled in a given level of education, regardless of age, expressed as percentage
of the population in relevant official age group.
In the year 2005 the NER was 94.8 percent and if the trend continues they will reach 100
percent within a couple of years. The GER has since the year 2003 exceeded 100 percent
indicating that there are overage pupils enrolled in primary school. Between the year
2000 and 2005 the NER has increased with 36 percent units which is a remarkable
change in such a short time period.
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Table 6.1 Primary Schools Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) by Sex and Gender Parity Index
(GPI), 1995-2005
Source: Ministry of Education and Culture (2005b)
Year Male Female Total GPI
1995 55,9 54,8 55,4 0,98
1996 55,9 56,7 56,3 1,01
1997 58,1 57,2 56,7 0,98
1998 56,0 57,3 56,7 1,02
1999 56,4 57,8 57,1 1,02
2000 58,6 59,1 58,8 1,01
2001 65,8 65,2 65,5 0,99
2002 82,1 79,3 80,7 0,97
2003 90,4 86,7 88,5 0,96
2004 91,4 89,7 90,5 0,98
2005 95,6 93,9 94,8 0,98
The table above shows that the relation between boys and girls has been fairly equal since
1995. It is noticeable that the proportion of girls has decreased somewhat in the last five
years. In 1996 and the period between 1998 and 2000 there were more girls than boys
enrolled in primary schools.
Table 6.2 Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), Results 1998 – 2004.
Source: HakiElimu (2003)
Year Candidates Sat Passed % Passed1998 364,014 77,444 21,3
1999 426,569 82,419 19,3
2000 389,746 85,576 22,0
2001 444,903 127,351 28,6
2002 492,472 133,674 27,1
2003 490,018 196,273 40,1
2004 499,241 243,045 48,7
The table above presents the results from the primary school leaving examination.
Between the year 2002 and 2003 there is prominent improvement of the pass rate where
there is an increase of 48 percent. In 2004 the examination results has increased with
about 130 percent compared to the year 1998. In 2003 a reform was implemented
regarding the examination tests. Mathematics was given less importance while languages
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on the other hand were given more significance. Traditionally the primary school pupils
have performed better in languages.
Table 6.3 Females Enrolment as Percentage of Total Enrolment by Grade and Level in
Primary Education
Source: Ministry of Education and Culture (2005b)
EDUCATIONAL LEVEL 1982 1987 1992 2003 2005
STD I 50,1 48,5 48,6 48,5 49,6
STD VII 44,5 50,4 49,3 49,9 48,8
STD I - VII 48,3 49,8 49,1 48,7 48,9
The table above presents that the proportion of girls have been fairly even since 1982.
However, this does not say anything about the equality in the classroom.
Figure 6.3 Budgetary Allocation to Education Sector by Education levels 1995/96 –
2004/05
0
100 000
200 000
300 000
400 000
500 000
600 000
Financial year
Mill. Shs.
Education Sector 76 504 92 631 102 343 107 457 138 583 218 051 323 864 396 780 487 729 504 745
Primary & Non- Formal 51 602 63 519 68 896 78 000 92 845 144 658 236 618 289 718 361 425 322 196
Secondary Educ 6 608 7 838 7 894 7 857 10 492 21 453 24 359 29 876 32 464 92 045
Teacher Educ. 1 458 1 954 2 639 2 600 2 752 5 261 5 872 6 646 7 700 6 189 Tertiary and Higher Educ. 16 836 19 320 22 914 19 000 32 494 46 679 57 015 70 540 86 140 84 315
1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05
Source: Ministry of Education and Culture (2005b)
The chart above shows that the amount of money allocated to the educational sector has
increased steadily during the last ten years. The same could be said about the money
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transferred to the primary school sector apart from the year 2004/05 when there was a
decrease compared to the previous year.
Table 6.4 Pupil Teacher Ratio 1999-2004
Year Number of Pupils Number of Teachers Pupil Teacher Ratio
1999 4,182,677 103,731 40:1
2000 4,370,500 107,111 41:1
2001 4,875,764 105,921 46:1
2002 5,960,368 112,109 53:1
2003 6,531,769 114,660 57:1
2004 7,041,829 119,773 59:1
Source: HakiElimu (2004)
We can see in the table that the number of pupils per teacher has increased with almost50 percent since 1999. This indicates that the recruitment of new teachers has not been
able to keep up with the enrolment expansion.
Table 6.5 PEDP Enrolment Related Targets 2002-2006
Year Std 1 admissions New teacher recruitments New classroom
construction
2002 1,500,000 9,047 13,868
2003 1,600,000 11,651 13,3962004 1,640,969 10,563 14,203
2005 1,041,880 7,286 6,794
2006 1,065,843 7,249 5,832
Totals 6,848,692 45,796 54,093Source: HakiElimu (2003)
The table above shows that the recruitment of teachers has decreased in the last two
years. It is striking that there has been more classrooms built compared to the recruitment
of teachers.
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6.2 Case of Tanzania Government - Education and Training Policy
This chapter presents an extract from the Education and Training Policy (ETP) that was
published in 1995 by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Tanzanian
Government. The first part of this chapter will present the history and background of the
Education and Training Policy. The structure in this part is divided into different
headlines which are taken from the ETP. In the second part it will concentrate on the
outcome from what the policy is saying regarding the quality of the primary school. In
the third part there will be a short overview of the ESDP and a more detailed presentation
of the PEDP.
6.2.1 History and background of the policy
Education in Tanzanians intend for strengthening its good citizenship, the acquisition of
life skills and the perpetuation of valued customs and traditions. In the year 1962, after
independence, the first Education Act passed and it replaced the Education Ordinance
from year 1927 (MoEC 1995, s. i).
After the Education Act of 1962 was introduced, there were several acts that passed. The
Education Act of 1969, the Decentralization Program of 1972, the National Examinations
Council Act No. 21 of 1973, the Universal Primary Education and the Musoma
Resolution in 1974, the Institute of adult Education Act No. 12 of 1975 and the Institute
of Education Act No. 13 of 1975. These acts were involved to change laws and to
constitute different actions from the outcome at the Arusha Declaration in 1967 with the
Education on Self-Reliance (ESR) (MoEC 1995, s. ii). Education Act No. 25 was passed
in the year 1978 and the purpose for this was to legalize those changes in the education
from the outcome of the acts between 1967 and 1978 (MoEC 1995, s. iv). A review of the
existing education system was done in the year 1981 and a Presidential Commission on
Education was appointed. This review was mentioned to assure that the policies were
heading in the right direction towards the year 2000 (MoEC 1995, s. vi). A National Task
Force on Education was constituted by the Tanzanian Government in the year 1990. This
National Task Force was introduced to review, prepare and make the Education System
suitable for the 21st Century. The outcome of the report from the Task Force should be
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used for consideration and recommendation when formulating the Tanzania Education
and Training Policy (TETP).
“All changes in education between 1961 to-date were aimed at improving the quality of
education and strengthening the link between education provided at all levels and social
and economic development of Tanzania” (MoEC 1995, s. vii-viii).
There are eight main objectives that deal with formal and non-formal education in
Tanzania at all levels, and these are quoted from the ETP (MoEC 1995, s. xi-xiii):
• Enhancement of partnership in the provision of education and training, through
the deliberate efforts of encouraging private agencies to participate in the
provision of education, to establish and manage schools and other educational
institutions at all levels.
• Identification of critical priority areas to concentrate on, for the purpose of
creating an enabling environment for private agencies to participate in the
provision of education, such as, the training of more and better teachers.
• Broadening of the financial base for education and training, through more
effective control of government spending, cost sharing and liberalization
strategies.• Streamlining of the management structure of education, by placing more authority
and responsibility on schools, local communities, districts and regions.
• Emphasizing the provision of quality education, through curriculum review,
improved teacher management and introduction and use of appropriate
performance and assessment strategies.
• Strengthening the integration of formal and non-formal education relationship, by
instituting point’s knowledge comparability and inter-mobility within the sub-
sectors of education.
• Increasing access to education, by focusing on the equity issue with respect to
women, disadvantaged groups and areas in the country.
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• Facilitating the growth of the culture of education-for-job-creation and self
employment through increased availability of opportunities for vocational
education and training.
6.2.2 Main aims and objectives
The first chapter in the ETP contains the main aims and objectives regarding education
and training in general. It points out that the primary school is of great importance. At
primary school the children begin to strengthen themselves both ethically and morally,
and the socio-cultural foundation is being laid for the Tanzanian people and the nation.
The primary education is where children receive their basic skills to advance in to
secondary school and to higher education. Scientific and technological literacy and
capacity are factors that ETP points out are of importance for personal and nationaldevelopment (MoEC 1995, s. 4-5).
6.2.3 System and structure of education and training
The second chapter points out how the system and the structure of education are working.
Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher
Education and the Prime Minister’s Office (Department of Regional Administration and
Local Government) are the main ministries and where education is undertaken with other
ministries (MoEC 1995, s. 11). The coordination of the ministries, the Non-
Governmental Organizations, communities and individuals are involved concerning the
formal and non-formal education. The primary school in Tanzania is a seven year
education and it is compulsory in enrollment and attendance (MoEC 1995, s. 13).
6.2.4 Access and equity
Access to education for people and the equity of the resources should be distributed and
allocated in a fair way. The improvement of the quality of education and training is now
the biggest issue. The education is expanding and to meet the demands, it has to provide
these services. It also means that the average per capita education cost is increasing and
that has to be controlled and that the capital will flow into the sector (MoEC 1995, s. 17).
The Government has stated that access to primary education should be a basic right and
at the age of seven. All children shall go to school because primary education is universal
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and compulsory and that they will attend and fulfill the education (MoEC 1995, s. 18).
Primary education should allow more girls to have access to school. Girls attending
school starts raising slowly and due to this the family traditions differ through the nation.
This means that in some families girls get married and pregnant at a very young age. This
is some of the reasons why the drop-out rates for girls are so high (MoEC 1995, s. 19).
The curriculum, textbooks and classroom practices should help with the eradication of
gender stereotyping in the education and school system. (MoEC 1995, s. 20).
6.2.5 Management and administration
The ETP says that the management and administration in the school system are vital to
achieve good quality in education and training. At the moment there are several
ministries, parastatal organizations and NGOs who are responsible for the managementand therefore a review must be done, because the coordination in education and training
is not working as an institutional mechanism (MoEC 1995, s. 23). The Government
always got the monopoly over the provision and management of formal school. A need of
greater coordination and liberalization, expansion and qualitative improvements has been
envisaged regarding the primary school. There is a need of a decentralized management
(MoEC 1995, s. 25). The districts, regions and the communities in Tanzania have been
asking to get more power of the administration and management within their areas of
jurisdiction. There is also a need of more educational institutions when the education
management system is being decentralized (MoEC 1995, s. 26).
School inspection is a useful method for monitoring the school system. The use of
inspectors in order to overview curriculums, the delivery of education and monitor that
education is being efficient and that the quality is considered (MoEC 1995, s. 30).
The quality of the teaching force is an important aspect regarding the quality of
education. The working conditions are of huge importance so that teachers can perform
and be satisfied what they are doing. Problems for the teaching force do exist in
Tanzania. The salaries are low and irregular, lack of proper housing; inadequate teaching
facilities and the teacher status is low among other. The Government must review the
terms of service and working conditions for all teachers. Teachers should also be
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registered and licensed and that they have a professional qualification (MoEC 1995, s.
31-32).
6.2.6 Formal education and training
The primary school system starts with Standard One and ends with Standard Seven. At
primary school the pupils get hold of vital life qualities from an ethical and moral point of
view (MoEC 1995, s. 35-36). When Tanzania introduced “Education for All” the schools
expanded and the enrollment started to rise. The dependence on the Government is still
high when speaking about the establishment, financing and management.
Children at primary school age should all be enrolled and attended to school. There is
also a requirement of better school facilities such as desks, educational equipment,
libraries and instructional materials and these are vital requirements for good qualityeducation. The ETP point out the lack of exercise books, textbooks and teachers’ guides
is a major problem in the primary schools (MoEC 1995, s. 37-38).
The minimum to become a qualified primary school teacher is a valid Grade A Teacher
Education Certificate. The lessons should be held in Kiswahili and English will be a
compulsory subject (MoEC 1995, s. 38). There is a need of new teachers colleges. This is
because of the increasing enrollment in primary school and there is a need of new
teachers. The problem is that the Government can not afford to build new colleges
(MoEC 1995, s. 46-47). The teachers’ quality and professional competence are factors
that are important regarding the efficiency and improving the quality at primary
education. The entry qualifications must therefore be raised by the Government (MoEC
1995, s. 48).
6.2.7 School curricula, examinations and certification
The existence of a curriculum in the school system is a must. Curriculum has four
dimensions: the aims and objectives dimension, subject matter dimension, activitiesdimension and assessment dimension. The curriculum should include and concentrate on
the teaching of languages, science and technology, humanities and life skills. Language is
vital for everyone to communicate and this is where the access to cognitive skills,
knowledge, technologies, attitudes and values can be obtained. Kiswahili and English
should be encouraged throughout the education system. Science and technology are
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important subjects regarding the socio-economic development for countries like Tanzania
(MoEC 1995, s. 52). Skills in carpentry, crop and livestock husbandry, pottery making,
smithing (act or art of working or forging metals), masonry (stonework), painting, home
economics and technical skills should be included in the curriculum. This is for
strengthen the basic life skills for the Tanzanian people (MoEC 1995, s. 54).
In the primary school in Tanzania there are two examinations, at end of Std. IV and Std.
VII. In the first examination at Std. IV it is meant to measure the ability of the pupils to
handle the three Rs, (reading, ´riting and ´rithematic). The results from the examinations
can therefore be used for promotion and repetition. The examination in the end of Std.
VII is the leaving examination and where pupils get selected to advance for secondary
education. All the results from the leaving examinations in primary school should be
certified and be public (MoEC 1995, s. 58).
6.2.8 ESDP
When the ETP was published in 1995 there was a need of a review of the education
sector before entering the 21st century. The Government adopted a sector-wide approach
and therefore the ESDP was introduced. The ESDP is a mixture of different actors, like
key stakeholders, using pooled human, financial and material resources. The actors
should therefore work with planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the
education sector. The aim of this assemble is to strengthen the ownership and to promote
partnership where people are involved with education. The ESDP is therefore using the
ETP objectives (BEDC 2001, s. 3).
6.2.9 PEDP
The Primary Education Development Plan is a constituent of the ESDP and has four main
strategic priorities: enrolment expansion, quality improvement , capacity building and
optimizing human material and financial resource utilization (BEDC 2001, s. 4).Enrolment expansion is the most important target in the PEDP. One of the strategies is to
abolish the school fees. The plan is to recruit new teachers and build new classrooms as
well as use existing teachers and classrooms in a more effective way. The PTR should be
45:1 (BEDC 2001, s. 4-5).
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Regarding the quality improvement there are three main components. These are to
improve the teachers’ way of teaching in the classroom, availability of materials and
maintaining support for educational standards (BEDC 2001, s. 9).
Capacity building is the third policy that should be strengthened. The most important
factors regarding this issue are the decentralization process and increasing the efficiency
in the different Governmental institutions (BEDC 2001, s. 11).
The fourth and the last policy in the PEDP contain reforms to improve the human and
material aspects (BEDC 2001, s. 15).
6.3 Case of the interviews
This chapter presents the information from the three interviews. This information has
been sorted on the basis of our questions. This will make it easier for the reader to get an
overview. We have also chosen to add some quotations we find significant. Here follows
a short presentation of the people we interviewed.
The primary school teacher we interviewed teaches in a governmental school in Dar es
Salaam. The teacher’s own education comprises secondary school up to form four at
Kibaha and an received a “Education Diploma” at MANTEP college in Bagamoyo.
MANTEP is a two year course called Management Administration Training EducationPersonnel Institute.
Anthony Mtavangu work at Tanzania Teachers Union (TTU) as the head of education and
training department. The organization was founded in November 1993 and there is about
135 000 members. The overall objective for the organization is to protect the member’s
rights, social welfare and their professional integrity. TTU also advocate for quality of
education and work as a “watchdog”.
The third interview was with Hans Persson who is working as a senior program officer at
the Swedish Embassy in Dar es Salaam. He has been working for Sida since august 2003
with these questions related to education.
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What is the pupil/teacher-rate in Tanzania now? Has the pupil/teacher-rate changed
in the last ten years and what do you think the reasons are for this?
Anthony Mtavangu states that the average ratio in PTR is 1:57 right now. Mtavangu says
that there is other information collected from the field showing that situation varies from
school to school and at some places, it is 75:1 up to 250:1. He said that “ The teacher-
pupil rate is better now than ten years ago when it was above 1:80”.
Hans Persson explains that average figures are derived from the number of pupils
scattered on all the teachers which means that in the classroom there are actually more
pupils per teacher. In highly populated areas there are often more than 100 pupils. He
points out that “This says something about what kind of teaching that can take place
under such circumstances”.1
The reason for the high enrolment rates is the abolishment of school fees according to the
primary school teacher. The teacher also states that it is not only that they have removed
the school fees; primary school is now compulsory education. The teacher points out that
the effect of the abolishment of the school fees is that the classrooms now are so crowded
that it is hard for teachers to manage the classrooms. This is because the number of
required teachers is not equal to the amount of children.
Anthony Mtavangu believes that the pupil-teacher rate has changed to the better
compared to ten years ago and the reason for this is the adoption of PEDP and the
massive production of new teachers. In order to remedy the situation the Government
embarked on a program with the aim to change the teacher training from two years
fulltime to one year fulltime in order to increase the number of teachers. Instead they
introduced a mentorship program where mentors from Tanzanian collages where
supposed to visit the new teachers. However the mentorship was a failure. Mtavangu said
to us “it didn’t work in practice and in this program quantity was at expense of quality.”
Furthermore, Mtavangu mentioned that the increase of new teachers has not been able to
cover the increase of enrolled pupils. Right now there is a shortage of 130 000 teachers in
total and in primary school the amount is 30 000 teachers missing.
1 ”Det säger någonting om vilken typ av undervisning som kan äga rum under sådana förhållanden”translated from Swedish by the authors Patrick Lundqvist and Erik Björkdahl.
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Have you noticed any change regarding the distribution between boys and girls in
the last couple of years?
The primary school teacher told us that roughly half of the numbers of students are girls
at the school, i.e. the school where the teacher work.
Mtavangu said that the gender balance has changed in primary school since the
abolishment so that there are more girls in school before and becoming fifty-fifty, and the
situations have improved a lot.
Persson says the balance in number between boys and girls has been relatively good in
Tanzania for quite some time and the figures are something like 49/51 percent. In
Tanzania girls are more needed in the daily support for the family’s survival and that the
parents are less willing in releasing the girls to school because they are more vulnerable
than boys. It is more likely that they might get pregnant if they go to school for example.
Another explanation is that, at least in some parts in Tanzania, the girls are forced into
marriage in early ages and must drop out of school. This is important questions that Hans
Persson and others like UNICEF and HakiElimu run, i.e. there is a possibility for girls to
return to school after the pregnancy.
How do teachers and students interact with each other and do the students get any
kind of feedback?
The primary school teacher said that teachers try to interact with the students like visiting
the children in class and follow up their work in the exercise books. Although the teacher
consider it is hard because the time is short and there are so many children. The teacher
also states that they give students feedback in the way that their examination reports are
given to their parents and in that way parents sees their children’s performance.
Mtavangu says that “dialogue is impossible and one of the major challenges”. This is
because the method of teaching is very teacher centered. That learning is predominated
by the teacher talk, and therefore they are not actually in a position to freely express their
ideas. It all depends on what they get from the teacher and the books and for this kind of
learning is more a knowledge transmission. There is no feedback more than that the
teacher expect their students to reproduce the knowledge according to Mtavangu.
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Are the students involved in the planning of schedule, content of subjects, etc.? Does
pupils’ council exist?
Both the primary school teacher and Mtavangu state that the pupils never are involved in
the planning of things like the schedule or content of different subjects etc.
The teacher said “actually we as teachers are not participating so much in the planning,
because the syllabus is set from above. We just receive it and do what we are told. It is all
centralized.”
The teacher and Mtavangu say that the only pupils who are involved are the ones chosen
as prefects. The prefects are acting like monitors and assist the classroom teacher to take
care of the discipline in the classroom. Mtavangu further explains that the prefects are
elected from classes in the upper grades, mainly from grade 6 and 7 and gender is
considered when they are elected. The prefects are also responsible to make sure that the
other pupils, in the absence of the teacher, are disciplined.
Is there any kind of punishment and what is your opinion about that?
Mtavangu says that corporal punishment exists, and the teacher uses this in order to solve
disciplinary problems. This includes caning and other physical punishment like manual
work. Mtavangu personally believes in a more friendly relationship between pupils and
teachers, where the teacher behaves more as a councelor. Mtavangu further says that it
depends on the change of the mind-set, and the kind of teacher preparation during college
training, pre-service training and also through in-service training.
Has the teacher recruitment been able to keep up with the increase of enrolment of
pupils? Has the burden increased and in what way?
The enrolment rate has increased with 72 percent in comparison to year 2000 and the
number of children in the age of 7-13, that is those who should attend primary school
increased during this time with 21.5 percent according to Persson. The NER in 2005 was
95 percent compared to 58 percent in 2000 and 55 percent in 1995. This reflects that
many children attend primary school today and if this increase continues, Tanzania will
reach a NER of 100 percent. The GER has reached 110 percent which obviously show
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that there are pupils in primary school that are over-aged. Persson concludes that the
consequence of this is that the recruitment and training of new teachers have not been
able to keep up with the increasing number of new pupils.
The primary school teacher and Mtavangu definitely believe that the burden for the
teachers has increased. The teacher explains that there are a lot of exercise books to mark
since there are so many children in the class. Many teachers have also died from
HIV/AIDS, but it has been compensated by training new teachers. The Government made
a proper measure when changing the training to one year instead of two years, in order to
get more teachers in a short time.
Mtavangu raised another issue. It concerns the inadequate quality of many teachers.
When you are not confident with your teaching because of your professional quality, it
definitely becomes a burden. Mtavangu feels that teacher’s unequal quote makes it
somehow difficult for them to work confidently. HIV/AIDS affect teachers directly if
they are sick but also if they have to take care of family members who are sick or to
attend funerals. Mtavangu means also that the teachers will be affected in a psychological
way if one of their pupils is infected or have lost their parents or guardians, creating a
need of psychological support for the pupil.
Do you know if there has been any change in the school budget? Do you feel that
you have more or less financial resources for school material such as books, desks
etc.?
The primary school teacher finds it positive that the schools have more control of their
budget now. Previously the textbooks were bought by the district education officers but
now the money goes directly to the schools and can be used according to the needs.
Although the teacher points out that only a few schools have enough financial resources
and in Tanzania there are still some schools that do not have enough desks and other
facilities.
Persson on the other hand says that when the schools collected fees they also had a direct
income that they could use on a local level in some extent which they no longer have. But
the fact that the school fees have been abolished is a truth with some modifications. Many
schools requests contributions from parents for different things. Further more, the school
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requires also that the pupils should have school uniforms which give rise to expenses for
the parents. There could be other indirect costs as well that the parents have to contribute
to. The rapid expansion has given rise to high demand for new classrooms. What have
happened most and for all when it comes to contribution is that assisting in building new
schools have become a common way of contributing for the parents, Persson explains.
The increase of foreign aid in recent years has not covered the missing revenues which
have been the result of the abolishment of school fees in primary school. People are
talking about a financing gap, i.e. the difference between the resources available
according to the PEDP and the resources that actually are available. But many new
schools have been built more or less on voluntary efforts and one interesting thing is that
the value of this is not included in the official figures. The financing gap constitutes by
money from donors or the Government and not the local communities contributions for
example, which Persson really think should be the case, because it is a major contribution
without knowing exactly how large.
Could you say that the salaries for the teaching-staff have changed in any direction
the last couple of years? Has the abolishment of school fees affected teacher
salaries?
The primary school teacher explains that the salaries for the teachers have changed very
little in the last years. Teachers are not satisfied with what they get and still not enough
depending on today’s life.
Mtavangu says that “there is no relationship between abolishment of school fees and the
teacher salaries.” The school fees that are paid by parents do not contribute to the
teachers salaries because the education system is centralized. The salaries come from the
central Government and not from the local community. He also says ”the salaries are not
determined by the economic capacity of the community. The salaries are determined by
the economic position of the country. The government is actually cautious and making the
salaries of the public sector not so different.”
The average monthly salary for a primary school teacher is roughly 80 USD. That is for a
teacher who has completed four years in secondary school plus one or two years in
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teachers training college. Mtavangu indicate that salaries actually have increased more
than 50 percent compared to the salaries ten years ago.
Do you think the quality of the education has changed? What do you think is
important for improving the quality of the education?
The primary school teacher says that it is hard to say if the quality has deteriorated. The
teacher mentions some improvements, for example the Government has built many
classrooms since the abolishment of the school fees. Many of the children are now able to
sit on desks and are able to work easier than previous, so in some aspects the quality has
improved. The teacher thinks the most important thing in order to improve the quality of
education would be to improve the situation of the teachers. The teachers must be
motivated to work on this tough condition. So far not much have been done for the
teachers according to the primary school teacher.
Mtavangu opens up with the Government point of view which is that the quality of
education has improved. The Government has looked at the passing rate which has
become better; in that point of view there is a change. However Mtavangu is not
convinced that the quality has changed. He explains: “ I think we have to look what
quality means from a much more critical point of view. Passing is not the only measure.
To me it’s not a visionary way of looking what quality means because that is for
selecting. But I feel that quality should be rated for life, I believe that learning is for life
and not for school.”
Mtavangu develops this further by saying that examinations are for the purpose to
determine the selection of pupils and thus learning for school matters. If you look what
they are able to do in life, the quality has not changed according to Mtavangu.
Persson also discussed about the improved examination results. He underlined that he has
a feeling that the improved examination results during the last couple of years not
necessarily depends on an improved education but because of other factors. Persson
explains that the reason for the improved examination results could be that the subjects
are weighed different from earlier or that the examination questions are more simplified
than before to improve the possibility for pupils to pass. The improved results seem
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peculiar considering the increase of the PTR and the increase of children in the
classrooms.
In addition, the access of textbooks has not increased in the same extent as the amount of
pupils which at least theoretically suggests that this would be reflected in lower
examination results according to Persson.
Approximately 28 percent of the primary school leavers that wrote the exams passed in
2001, while almost 50 percent passed in 2004. Persson stress that the weighing system
has been changed so that subjects like Kiswahili which in general is more easier for the
pupils has been given more importance in the examination. This could explain a part of
the improved examination results. Persson also thinks that the questions might be easier
now which makes it easier to get good results. Persson says that in his perception the
examination system in Tanzania earlier was more of a marginalization system where the
idea was to make sure that the best candidates went to secondary school. In this way they
made sure that only 20 percent had the possibility to apply to the secondary school. The
development is very positive if the objective now is not to fail pupils but to make as
many as possible to feel that they are adequate in the sense that they have passed primary
school, according to Persson.
Persson uses PTR as one indicator of quality of education and in that perspective is not
what you would like it to be, he said. Another element of importance when it comes to
quality, according to Persson, is the access of books. Pupils per book ratio are today
about five or six. Even if this is slightly better than in the beginning of the PEDP, it is
still insufficient if the pupils should have a reasonable possibility to read the content of
the books and not just rely on the teachers’ dictation and notes on the black board,
Persson emphasizes. Another important factor that can affect the quality that Persson
expresses is the in-service training for teachers. He says that it is most common with pre-
service training for teachers while the resources for in-service training seem very limited.
This means that things that could improve the quality such as new ways of teaching and
new curriculums are not highlighted as much as one would like, according to Persson.
Persson mentioned that a large proportion of the teachers in primary school actually do
not really have an own education exceeding the primary school level. In reality they have
gone from primary school to a simple teacher training to become a teacher. They try to
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cover the gap of competence that exists through in-service training for teachers with a
low academic education. When you talk of in-service training in Tanzania it is mostly
this kind of training they have in mind. Persson think it is unfortunately that the teacher
which already have the basic education but need information and to be stimulated seldom
get in-service training.
Persson explained to us about SACMEQ-project; when it comes to indicators for quality
in education other alternatives have been discussed and there is an initiative called
SACMEQ (Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational
Quality). This is a project started by UNESCO and runs in several countries in Southern
Africa including Tanzania and Zanzibar. SACMEQ use a method where they measure the
pupils knowledge and skills and their ability to do different things. This is an example of
examination that aim at learning outcomes and one of the advantages of this method is
that the questions are designed in a way that the pupil’s short falls comes to light. The
way they think is reflected in the answers. This gives a very good foundation for
influencing the teacher training and the design of textbooks and other such things. This
initiative could have great significance if the Government responded a bit more to it,
according to Persson. Persson continues his discussion about quality to say that it is vital
that the children actually learn something in primary school. He says that there is not
enough of information right now in order to be able to make any certain conclusions. He
concludes by saying that the plan stated objectives like the pupil-book ratio would be 1:1
in 2006 but they are far away from reaching this. It is a reflection of too optimistic
expectations when the plan was designed.
Mtavangu emphasizes the importance of teachers being oriented to participate interactive
in classroom practices which has a social value, an affective domain, a cognitive and
intellectual development. This must also be integrated with love for manual work and it
should not really make the learner feel alienated from manual labor according to
Mtavangu. The reason for this, he says, is that 80 percent of the Tanzanians are in
involvements that actually are more conducive for the participation in manual production.
Mtavangu summarizes by saying that there must be self-reliance in terms of thinking and
in terms of translating practice things into actions. The primary school is too academic
and people are only talking about passing exams according to Mtavangu. Mtavangu stress
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that if we go on according to this kind of thinking, we come to a point whereby the rural
sector will have people who can not think of having access to other activities than in the
urban areas. The urban areas will be a place where everyone wants to go but there are not
employments for all the people coming from the rural areas and could result in chaos.
Tanzania is not an industrial country and the economic backbone of the nation is still
agriculture. This means that the people must be prepared actually to work with the rural
undertakings and manage them. Furthermore Mtavangu state:
”It’s still a big challenge. I believe that the most important thing for improving the
quality is to review the curriculum. It should be reviewed so that it becomes relevant in
that sense to gear competence building. Those competences should go beyond the major
writing, reading and numerous skills. It has to prepare the learner to become self
confidence in thinking, with the kind of orientation that prepares one to be a creative
learner, a problem solver and of course a good citizen.”
What is your opinion about the abolishment of the school fees?
The primary school teacher finds that the decision to abolish the school fees was a good
move by the Government, making sure that more children go to school.
Mtavangu is also very positive and believes that education is a right for every one and the
doors should be open for every kid and parents should not have to pay school fees.
Persson says that it is a good thing, the number of pupils has increased and that parents
can and want to send their children to school. Although what could be negative about this
is if the rapid expansion is at the cost of what you actually learn in school. Persson says
“then there is a question about finding the right balance between quantity and quality.”
There has been a drastic increase in the enrolment in primary schools in Tanzania and in
that sense the effects of the abolishment of school fees have been positive according to
Persson. On the other hand Persson says that the abolishment of school fees raise many
complicated factors which in turn leads to delays. From the beginning they might have
reckoned this in the plan and anticipated that for example the relation between teachers
and pupils would develop in a negative direction. Also, they probably anticipated this to
be a temporary problem that they soon would settle. But that was not the reality, Persson
ends.
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6.4 Case of the NGO HakiElimu and their view on PEDP
HakiElimu is a Tanzanian NGO and was founded in 2001 by thirteen Tanzanians from
different strata of the society which all had in common an interest and concern for
improving the education in Tanzania (HakiElimu 2006). The organization is mainly
financed by different donors. During our field course in Tanzania in April 2006, we
visited HakiElimu. The text that follows is an extract from several papers written by
HakiElimu and all of it represents their opinion.
“ HakiElimu´s overall goal is to contribute towards ensuring that every child in Tanzania
– without discrimination – is able to enjoy her or his right to quality basic (primary and
secondary) education. We emphasize that this is not education of any sort, but one that
promotes a culture and practice of human rights, democracy and critical citizenship. In
our conception a good school is children-centred, gender-sensitive and rights respecting.
It is a place where children thrive, where they learn to think and be creative, where they
acquire life skills and self-esteem, and where they are respected and learn to respect
others” (HakiElimu 2006).
When it comes to enrolment, HakiElimu believes that the PEDP is a success althoughthey are concerned about the fact that there are regional differences. For example the
NER in Kilimanjaro is 100 percent compared to 68.2 percent in Tabora (HakiElimu 2005,
p. 2-4). The construction of new classrooms has also been a success even if the
Government falls short to the target that was set up. Schools have more finances than
before and have received more textbooks. However, the TPR have also increased and
lead to overcrowded classrooms. There is still need for more teachers, classrooms and
textbooks. HakiElimu also criticized that the PEDP review of 2004 showed that there had
been little action taken from the Government on a large number of recommendations that
was presented in the PEDP review of 2003 (HakiElimu 2005, p. 18).
HakiElimu believes that there is a need for more attendance data rather than data of
enrolment. The deployment, support and supervision of teachers must be reviewed in
order to attract adequately qualified teachers. The Tanzanian Government decided to
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reduce the teacher training at the colleges from two years to one. In the second year the
new teachers are posted to schools and are supposed to get supervision from tutors at the
training college. In reality, the new teachers received little support when they were in the
field. Review reports from 2003 and 2004 showed that the new teachers did not get
adequate mentorship from experienced teachers (HakiElimu 2005, p. 13). Today the
status of teachers in Tanzania is very low. The teaching and learning process in the
classroom must be overlooked. The teaching is very teacher-centred and the pupils are
only passive recipients of knowledge. The PEDP has not resulted in any major changes in
this area so far. The schools are still not safe and friendly, especially not for girls
(HakiElimu 2005, p. 19). Various reports has indicated that the full capitation grant
equivalent to US $10 per enrolled child/year often not reach the school level. It is very
important that the flow of funds to the school level is transparent and reliable (Makongo
2003, p. 5). In addition HakiElimu stress that information about policies, entitlements,
obligations and funds should be more available to all. The information should be required
to be displayed on notice boards in all schools etc. The dialogue machinery must also be
improved. Domestic constituencies like civil society organisations and TTU should be
included in a more meaningful way and particular care should be given to establishing
“clear rules of the game” (HakiElimu 2005, p. 20).
HakiElimu analysed in 2003 whether extra funding for primary education is making a
difference. They looked at different aspects like if the measures that is used to measuring
progress in education are the right ones and if the targets are appropriate and feasible.
According to HakiElimu, the large increase in enrolment rates were more likely to be a
cause of abolished school fees and an extensive political campaign to enrol children
rather than increased funding. They also establish that there are no works waiting for the
ones who complete primary or secondary school. Therefore they need to learn other
subjects in school today such as how to solve a problem and think creatively. They have
to be able to analyse the world and evaluate options and create solutions. There is a risk
that additional funding will not improve the learning process and outcomes and only
limited to expansion of infrastructure and enrolment (Rajani and Sumra 2003, p. 4). For
HakiElimu it is quite clear that the increased funding is not being prioritized for the
aspects that matter the most in education (Rajani and Sumra 2003, p. 6).
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“ In fact the increases in enrolment under PEDP are reported to have led to overcrowding
and chaos, placing an enormous strain on under-motivated and ill-equipped teachers and
further eroding quality of education” (Rajani and Sumra 2003, p. 5).
The teacher recruitment have not been able to keep up with the high enrolment expansion
and there are class sizes of up to 200, or more in some cases, the classes are too big and
the teachers are unable to cope with it. PEDP will create more problems at the school
level if it is not implemented in a more systematic way (Sumra 2003a, p. 2). Rakesh
Rajani who works at HakiElimu writes that overcrowding in fact may have increased the
incidence of corporal punishment (Rajani 2003, p. 4).
HakiElimu and TTU conducted a research report on the living and working conditions of
teachers in Tanzania. The research was undertaken in seven districts of the country and
included both quantitative and qualitative methods. The purpose of the research was to
find out about teachers´ own perception about their working and living conditions. There
have been several studies that point to the relation between teacher quality and quality of
education. Authors like Coleman, Husen and Solomon have carried out studies that
indicate that high quality of teachers have a positive impact on students’ achievement in
developing countries. Bacchus (1996) argues that the impact of teachers’ quality is
greater the poorer the country is (Sumra ca.2003b, p. 2). According to the research, the
status of teachers has declined in recent years. Furthermore, this status decline is a
reflection of the decline in their living conditions depending a lot on their salaries (Sumra
ca.2003b, p. 17). The research also shows that the qualifications of primary school
teachers are low. Almost half of the teachers in primary schools do not have an
educational level above their pupils. One of the recommendations in the research is that
the Government must put in place a policy that attracts better qualified students to the
teaching profession. They mean that the solution lies in improving the status of teachers
(Sumra ca.2003b, p. 43).
HakiElimu have also published a summary of a research conducted by PhD candidate
Euan Davidson. The authors’ research was entitled “Understanding and Improving
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Quality in Tanzanian Primary Schooling” and based at the School of Development
Studies, University East Anglia, UK. The purpose with HakiElimus summary is to
explore the progress of PEDP between 2002 and 2004 with respect to the expanding of
primary education and quality issues related to this. The research took place in Morogoro
Region and the method used was mainly qualitative (Davidson 2004, p. 2). Among other
things, the author found that most teachers felt that their overall welfare has not improved
during the PEDP. The teachers were most dissatisfied with their salaries. The teachers
meant that the starting salary of Tshs2
70.000 not was enough for a teacher without a
family to make a living. They thought that the absolute minimum would be Tshs 100.000.
The consensus was that about Tshs 400.000 would be needed for a teacher to live a
decent lifestyle. Many teachers said that they had to do other things to get money that
often interfered with the teaching (Davidson 2004, p. 6).
According to the research, the majorities of the teachers use the blackboard and
complement with some verbal explanation, and the pupils tried to copy the notes in their
notebooks. Davidson argues that the reason for the poor pedagogy was that the teacher
did not have the confidence to use the methods they had been taught at the teacher
training collage. The reason for their poor confidence was not due to insufficient
academic ability but to the lack of practical experience in the use of these techniques
(Davidson 2004, p. 8). Davidson was also worried about the training that was being
offered to the new teachers during their second year that they spend in school. There was
actually almost no training at all during the second year. It also appeared as the methods
of teaching were chosen in order to maintain control in the classroom and not to aid in the
learning process. There was little evidence that any quality learning was taking place
within the examined schools. This was after three years of PEDP implementation
(Davidson 2004, p. 10). The examination results for primary school leavers have
increased to 49 percent in 2004 compared to 27 percent in 2002. However, the reason for
this is not necessarily improved quality of education. There could be several reasons for
this increase and one might be that there has been some change in the examination
structure. For example since 2003, emphasis in mathematics has been decreased which
traditionally have had poor examination results (Davidson 2004, p. 11).
2 1 USD ≈ 1250 Tanzanian Shilling
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7. ANALYSIS
In the analysis chapter we connect the theoretical framework and the empirical chapter.
The chapter starts with the quality of the teachers and the environment in the primary
schools. The analysis ends with a discussion about the PEDP.
Quality of the teachers
Our theory about the teachers’ quality focuses on the professional competence and their
satisfactory level which is highly correlated with their living condition. With this theory
in mind, our study shows that the teachers’ quality in general is low. We believe we
found much ground for this.
Davidson’s study show that most teachers overall welfare has not improved during the
introduction of the PEDP. The starting salary of Tshs 70.000 is not enough to support
them. In fact many teachers have to look for moonlighting, often interfering with their
ordinary job according to HakiElimu. This is likely to affect the teachers work
negatively, having to think of ways to increase the income etc. The research carried out
by HakiElimu show that the qualifications of primary school teachers are low. Also
Mtavangu worries over the teachers’ quality. Many of the teachers have inadequate
qualities which make them unconfident, he says. Both the primary school teacher and
Mtavangu believe that the burden for the teachers has increased. If the burden is too high,
the teachers will probably be tired and frustrated.
In addition HIV/AIDS add more weight to the burden. HIV/AIDS is a known and
devastating disease worldwide and this is a burden for both teachers and pupils. For
example, if a teacher get infected or have to stay home and take care of an infected family
member, a colleague must stand in, increasing the amount of work for the others. The
burden also increases if a pupil loses the parents or guardians in HIV/AIDS, because then
the teacher maybe have to play the role of a psychologist as well. One could imagine that
this is emotionally exhausting for a teacher. When the teachers get infected, the illness
affects their way of teaching and their alert during the lesson. Since there is no social
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safety net in Tanzania it is a possibility that they keep on teaching when they really
should not.
According to HakiElimu the status of teachers in Tanzania has declined in recent years.
This could have a negative impact when it comes to recruiting new teachers. The fact that
teacher profession is perceived to be a low status profession will not help to improve the
quality amongst teacher. Also the primary school teacher confirms that teachers are
unsatisfied with their salary. According to Persson, a large proportion of the teachers in
primary school only have primary school education. This means that they sometimes
have the same education as their pupils. The lessons are concentrated on the teacher
standing at the blackboard and the pupils copying the information into their books. There
is no time for teachers to visit the children and offer them help, therefore the teaching is
more like transmission than learning. He also states that the in-service training, which is a
quality factor, is limited. Persson believes that in-service training is important for
motivating the teachers. We think that lack of in-service training is a threat to the
teachers’ quality. How should the teachers maintain their knowledge if no in-service
training is being offered to them? Eventually they might forget important details in
teaching techniques and miss out new improvements etc. The Tanzanian Government is
aware of the problems with the teaching force. They have stated in the ETP that the
teachers’ salaries are low and irregular and have inadequate teaching facilities. It is also
written in the ETP that the teacher status among other jobs is low. The Government has
also stated in their ETP that the minimum for a qualified primary school teacher should
be a valid Grade A Teacher Education Certificate. Grade A teachers have a Secondary
Certificate and two years pre-service training at a Teacher Training College (Davidson
2004, p. 8). This is far from the reality. There are many Grade B/C teachers teaching in
primary school. The Government also reduced the teacher training at the colleges from
two years to one in order to accommodate the massive enrolment expansion. When
starting work, the teachers should get support from tutors at the training college during
the second year. According to HakiElimu however, the new teachers received little
support in reality. Mtavangu described the mentorship as a failure and said that quantity
preceded quality in this case. It is worrying if the requirement on new teachers reduces.
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Then there is a risk that the general quality of the teachers drops. The statistic show that
the PTR has increased to 59:1 in 2004 from 46:1 in 2001, precisely before the school fees
were abolished. This is a considerable increase, making the classrooms even more
crowded. HakiElimu emphasize the seriousness in the situation; “ In fact the increases in
enrolment under PEDP are reported to have led to overcrowding and chaos, placing an
enormous strain on under-motivated and ill-equipped teachers and further eroding
quality of education” (Rajani and Sumra 2003, p. 5).
Quality of the environment in primary schools
When it comes to the school environment our theory concentrates on the work of Per
Settergren. He argues that a good quality school should be secure and comfortable. There
must also be a curriculum with high ethical foundations as well as dialogue in the school.
Furthermore, the pupils’ intellect, imagination and emotion have to be stimulated.
Both the teacher and the pupils have to feel secure and comfortable when in school,
otherwise they will not succeed with other issues according to Settergren. The security
and comfort differs of course from school to school. Unfortunately we did not have the
opportunity to attend a lesson at any school so therefore it is hard for us to give a
comprehensive statement on this matter. We visited Zinga Primary School in the outskirts
of Bagamoyo during our stay in Tanzania in April 2006. There were no class activities
but it gave us an opportunity to see the buildings and the facilities. The school teacher
told us that it often was more than 100 pupils in the classroom with two teachers holding
the lesson. The pupil per book ratio at Zinga is 5:1. It should also be mentioned that the
classrooms was quite small, and some desks were broken. The building had doors but
there were no proper windows. It was a huge contrast compare to the Kibaha Secondary
School and Tumbi Primary School. Kibaha which is located outside Dar es Salaam is a
school for the elite, gathering the most talented students in the country. We experienced
this school to be a very well organized and functional school and felt that the
environment was much more pleasant. In the ETP it is stated that facilities in school is
vital for good quality education and there is a need for improvements. According to
HakiElimu, schools are still not safe and friendly especially not for girls. Rajani at
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HakiElimu also says that corporal punishment increase when the class is overcrowded.
Mtavangu verifies that corporal punishment like caning and manual work is used
relatively common.
Persson indicates that new curriculums should be given more consideration. He says that
new teaching methods could improve the quality of education. Anthony Mtavangu would
like the curriculum to be reviewed to become more relevant. He believes that the
curriculum should be formulated in a way that prepare learner to become self confident
and creative thinking. The curriculum should also enable the pupils to become problem
solvers and good citizens.
Settergren points out the importance of influence and responsibility. It is likely that the
pupils will perform better if they are given responsibility and have the possibility to affect
their schooling. In our opinion the pupils in primary school do not have any influence at
all. Pupils chosen to be prefects have some responsibility but not in the way that there
exist any pupil councils which we had in mind. The primary school teacher said that the
teachers get instructions from above, which means that their influence is restricted. The
teacher said that they are just doing what they are told. Our opinion is that pupils are
brought up with this kind of thinking. They are not encouraged to be active and taking
own initiatives, affecting the learning process in a negative way.
Referring to Settergren’s theory about dialogue, it is a way of getting the pupils to
achieve and improve their knowledge. We also think this is an important element for
improving their oral capability. On the basis of our study there is not much of a dialogue.
The existence of dialogue is one if the major challenges in the school in Tanzania today
according to Mtavangu. The primary school teacher points out that the teachers try to
interact with pupils when they visit them at their desks. The teacher thinks it is hard
because there are so many children; it takes a lot of time just to follow up their work in
the exercise books.
We are very doubtful that there can be any interaction at all really. There is no way that
the teacher can give any feedback to all pupils. For example if the classroom is too
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crowded it could mean that only the children in the front rows is involved in the
discussions taking place. We are worried that this issue is not named or treated in the
ETP. We believe this indicates that much more work has to be done from the
Government side. It takes time for introduced policies to be implemented in practice.
Therefore it is unfortunately that it has not been incorporated in the ETP yet.
This is an important factor for the pupils to be able to develop their cognitive capacity.
Cognitive capacity is about the capability of thinking and learning and improving the
intellectual functions. Settergren stress that the pupils is given stimulating assignments in
order to develop their thinking. Moreover it is important that the teachers are enthusiastic
and have great knowledge in their subjects. In the ETP it is stated that language is an
important tool for achieving cognitive skills, knowledge, technologies, attitudes and
values. ETP also says that, regarding the socio-economic situation in Tanzania it is
important that subjects as science and technologies will get more attention. As we know,
Tanzania is dependent on their agriculture and it is very important sector. The agriculture
sector contains numerous of different kind of work and skills. ETP points out for example
different skills regarding this, skills like carpentry, masonry, economics and technical
skills etc. Mtavangu thought that the primary education in Tanzania is too academic and
it focus mainly on preparation for secondary education. We think that the Government
should consider making primary education more adapted to Tanzania’s socio-economic
situation. Less than ten percent advances to secondary education so therefore the content
in primary should be adapted to the reality. Skills regarding agriculture could be more
useful.
Mtavangu said that during the classroom activities it is important that teachers are
interactive. Social value, an affective domain, a cognitive and intellectual development
are factors that Mtavangu points out of being important when speaking about the
stimulation. We find it interesting that these factors are taken into consideration, even if
there are major problems like overcrowded classrooms, poor facilities etc. Mtavangu also
mentioned that self-reliance is a must among people regarding the way of thinking, when
speaking about going from practice to action. For people, like in Tanzania, we find this
important for them to receive a greater knowledge and so that they can be part of the
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society and for example struggle against poverty. Mtavangu concludes that competence
in writing, reading and numerous skills is also important regarding self confident in
thinking, this encourage people to become for example a good citizen and a problem
solver.
It is interesting and important that both Mtavangu and ETP points out what is important
for Tanzania’s future and the development. This illustrates that they both are aware of
problem and possible solutions. HakiElimu also mentioned the importance of
creativeness, life skills and self-esteem and it is in the school they get educated and where
they learn to think.
The educational actors’ view
Mtavangu thinks that the PTR has changed to the better compared to ten years ago.
However, according to statistical data this is not true. He was negative towards the
shortening of the teacher training program and said that quantity was at expense on the
quality. We believe that this indicates a deterioration of the quality. Mtavangu mentioned
that lessons are dominated by the teacher and prevents dialogue with the pupils. He feels
that the burden has increased for the teachers and also that the quality of many teachers is
inadequate. He also discussed the examination results and says that the Government uses
the improved results as a measure of the quality. Mtavangu do not think that examination
is a suitable measure for quality and is uncertain if the quality has changed. We reckon
that Mtavangu believes that the quality of the education still is low and there has not
really been any change.
The primary school teacher presents a more positive view regarding the change of
quality. Nevertheless the teacher is dissatisfied with the overcrowded classrooms and an
increased burden for the teachers. On the other hand the teacher is positive that the
schools have more control over the budget and can use funds according to needs. Besides
there have been other improvements such as building of new classrooms and more
facilities. The primary school teacher comments indicate that there have been some
improvements and is more positive in general than the other educational actors.
Persson says that in highly populated areas there are often more than hundred pupils in
the classrooms. He is questioning what kind of teaching can take place in these
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circumstances. The teacher training has not been able to keep up with the increase in
enrolment. This statement also indicates a decline of the quality. Improved examination
results do not necessarily depend on improved education. The reason for the improved
examination results is probably a change in the examination process. He also states that
access of textbooks has not increased in the same extent as the amount of pupils. But
there has been a slight improvement since the beginning of the PEDP. This is an
indication of an aspect of quality heading in the right direction. According to Persson
many of the teachers do not have a complete teacher education. Taken together Persson is
careful in his statements and says that it is too early to make any conclusions. However
we feel that Persson is more negative than positive and glimpse a slight of decline in the
quality of education.
HakiElimu has witness an improvement regarding the building of new classrooms and
access to textbooks. HakiElimu has the same opinion as Mtavangu when it comes to
shortening of the teacher training education. They also think that the increased burden for
teachers has further eroded the quality of education. Besides the status of the teacher
profession has declined in the last years. Research shows that the qualifications of
primary school teachers are low according to HakiElimu. The overall welfare for the
teachers has not improved either. HakiElimu believes that there is low quality of
education in general and that the quality has deteriorated since the abolishment of school
fees.
PEDP
The PEDP was implemented in 2002 by the government and is a comprehensive program
stretching over five years. Enrolment expansion, quality improvement, capacity building
and optimizing the utilization of human material and financial resources are the core
components in the plan. The abolishment of the school fees is one strategy included in the
PEDP. There is a risk that this well-known strategy becomes an obstacle in implementing
the PEDP entirely. We argue that this is the case. In our minds there is no doubt that the
abolishment of the school fees have been a great help in increasing the enrolment rates.
However, when it comes to improving the quality some doubtfulness emerges. Since the
enrolments rates have increased due to the abolishment of the school fees, this has also
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placed some strains on the school system and especially teachers. Arguments for this
have been put forward in this thesis. In a way, the strategy to abolish the school fees is a
contradiction. It is helpful in achieving some parts of the PEDP but complicate the
fulfillment of others. It is clear that quantity have been given a higher priority than the
quality. There is a question whether the plan is sustainable. Certainly, there must be a
limit in what extent the quality can be put aside. Interesting is that, in our opinion, a
predominant majority of the donors involved with development cooperation work
welcome the abolishment of the school fees. We find this somewhat surprising and
expected to hear more critical voices. We are not saying that it was wrong to abolish the
school fees, only that the consequences should have been examined more thoroughly.
The interviews we carried out show that they all are very positive to the Governments
decision to abolish the school fees. This together with other aspects indicates to us that
introducing school fees again is not a solution.
Other solutions to the existing problems must be found. Figure 6.3 show an impressive
financial improvement in the last decade. This must continue in order to assure the
necessary capacity to handle the enrolment expansion and improve the quality of
education. Although it is not enough with financial resources, other factors are needed for
manage the massive expansion such as human capital for example. Human capital is not
easily reinforced and quite some time is needed. More funds must be directed to the
teachers in order to give them better support in their daily life and improve their
professional competence. According to Hans Persson the abolishment of the school fees
has resulted in a financial gap. The increasing financial allocation to the education sector
has not covered the income loss due to abolished school fees. It is difficult to say whether
the financial gap is the reason for the poor teachers’ salaries. Mtavangu sees no relation
between the salaries and the abolishment of school fees. Besides, corruption can not be
totally ignored. It is not certain that extra funds reach all the way down to the teachers.
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8. CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of this thesis was to examine different educational actors’ view to what
extent the quality of education has been affected since the abolishment of the school fees
in primary school. These are the questions we wanted to respond:
- What have been the effects on the primary education of the abolishment of the
school fees?
- What are the different educational actors’ views about the quality of education in
Tanzania since the abolishment of the school fees?
- How will the conditions for implementing the PEDP be affected of the
abolishment of the school fees?
In November 2001, the school fees in primary school were abolished by Tanzanian
Government. The effects on the primary school from this decision have been that the
enrolment rate has increased a lot. Approximately 2.7 million more children were
enrolled in 2005 compare to 2001. The NER in 2001 was 66 percent and in 2005 the ratio
rise to 94.8 percent. During the same years the GER increased from 84.4 percent to 109.9
percent. Between 2001 and 2005 the PTR went from 46:1 to 59:1. During this period,
approximately 46 000 teachers were recruited and approximately 54 000 new classroom
built.
The huge expansion in enrolment has resulted in that the burden for the teachers has
increased. The status of the teacher profession has been declining during the last years.
Another effect from the abolishment is that the teacher training has been reduced from
two years to one year.
We also examined the educational actors’ view regarding the quality. It should be
mentioned that their views which we present is compiled on the basis of our impression.
HakiElimu believes that the quality has declined since the abolishment of the school fees
and that the quality in general is rather low. They also believe that the abolishment has
lead to increased burden for the teachers. We think that Persson and Mtavangu present a
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fairly similar view. They both complain of some lacking in the quality but they are
hesitant whether there has been any change since the abolishment of school fees.
Although they state that the high increase in enrolment rates has lead to some difficulties
for the education system. The primary school teacher is more positive in some of the
aspects. We found this rather interesting because of his daily interaction in the primary
school as a teacher. But it must be mentioned that the teacher was concerned regarding
the increased burden for the teachers.
We also believe that the abolishment of school fees have affected the conditions for
implementing PEDP entirely. Since the burden for the teachers has increased it also
complicates to fulfill other targets like improving the quality. It seems like the quantity
have been given higher priority than the quality. However, we believe that it is not a
solution to again introduce school fees. The reason for this is that everybody we have
spoken to think that it was a good move from the Tanzanian Government to abolish the
school fees.
We have some thoughts regarding the curriculum in general. From what we have learned,
curriculum is too academic and not suitable to the Tanzanian context. Agriculture is the
most important sector where about 80 percent of the Tanzanians is working and living. It
is better to learn how to think creatively and be able to cooperate with others instead of
preparing for higher education. Is it right to educate children at young age for the purpose
to handling the university when such a small fraction get the opportunity to attend
university. It is also worth mentioning the considerably regional differences in the
enrolment rates. For example the NER in Tabora Region is about 68 percent when in
Kilimanjaro Region it is 100 percent. From what we have read and found out from the
interviews it is obvious that the teacher profession status must be improved. It is vital to
break the negative trend regarding the teacher education. Unqualified teachers will
provide low quality education in primary schools. It is the children in primary school
today, who is the future for Tanzania.
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Concluding comments and further research
The PEDP has been successful when it comes to enrolment. Tanzania is not far away
from reaching a hundred percent in Net Enrolment Ratio. However, there is still a lot to
be done in order to improve the quality of the primary education in Tanzania. Those
involved in the international aid community play an important role in developing
countries. We would like to stress the importance that they consider more thoroughly
what consequences a plan like this can give. It is of course the Tanzanian Government
that introduced the PEDP but the international aid community has a significant influence
and responsibility.
At national level the Government has started a decentralization process. We believe that
this is the right decision in improving the primary education. As we see it, it would be
better if each district can decide for them selves how the primary education should
improve and develop. The districts could also join with another district especially if a
district has limited capacity. The Government should therefore support the districts
instead of controlling them.
We would like to express that this study rely on a rather limited material and therefore
should the conclusions not taken to be definite.
Here follows some suggestions for future studies regarding this area; It would be
interesting to follow up what happens with the children who pass primary education, will
the secondary school be able to accommodate them? The large enrolment expansion
increases the pressure on the secondary school. The quality issue is likely to be a topic for
discussion here as well and consequently making it an interesting research area.
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