Re-examine Tanzania’s education system, govt urged

STAKEHOLDERS in the education sector have called on the government to think of changing the current education system, saying it was creating more gaps in the society as well as producing thousands of jobless graduates yearly. 
The call was made yesterday in Dar es Salaam during the launch of HakiElimu’s five-year action plan.
HakiElimu, an non-profit based organisation dedicated to promoting education in the country, launched the action plan to push for transformation and improvement of the education sector in the country.
Speaking during the event, Prof Kitila Mkumbo from the University of Dar es Salaam faulted the current education system saying that if left it would continue to produce thousands of unskilled and unabsorbed graduates.
He said the government needed to develop goals on how the education system in Tanzania should look like for the short and long term.
Prof Kitila mentioned another huge problem in the country’s sector as the government’s decision to keep changing the curriculum without retraining teachers to cope with the new curriculum, books and learning materials.
“We can also see inequality in education is hastily growing due to the current education system and this will never change without the country itself committing to adjust it. There is a disorganised higher education system as well,” he added.
For his part, HakiElimu Executive Director John Kallage said the organisation will invest more on conducting various research activities to come up with evidence-based recommendations for the improvement of the sector.
With support from the Swedish government and other development partners, the 2017/21 action plan will seek to achieve changes and review various policies to promote equity, inclusivity and effective learning.
According to him, despite various efforts to improve education, the sector has continued to be affected by a number of bottlenecks which need more joint efforts to address.
“By investing in research and exposing out accurate information about the shortcomings in the education sector, HakiElimu believes education and politics in Tanzania are inseparable issues. Unless there is democracy and transparency within the education system, people will continue to struggle,” he said.
Kallage said that when implementing the plan, HakiElimu will also work to ensure that the 2014 Education Policy is well implemented with a proper action plan.
For her part, Swedish Ambassador to Tanzania Katarina Rangnitt commended HakiElimu for pushing for quality education and system in the country.
“Your strength in research in the education sector is really remarkable...you are doing a very good job to fight for the right to education for children. We pledge to continue supporting initiatives like these,” she said.
According to her, Sweden has provided USD3 million in support for implementation of the action plan for the next three years and hopes to see the education sector improved.