elimu ya kibongo badala ya kupanda, inakuwa kinyume chake..

          IS 2011 THE YEAR OF TRANSITIONS IN EDUCATION SECTOR?

            EXCLUSIVE BY, EDWIN ZE GREAT.

Since two decades ago, education sector in the country has been stagnant. not only in in primary school, secondary, high school but also in universities and other colleges.

The education that was offered after independence was of high quality compared to today's.

students at all levels enjoyed their studies in all aspects. They paid no school fees, their parents paid their children's school fees indirectly through taxes. However, not did all parents pay for their children's schooling but there were those whose children studied freely for there were those poor peasants who had no money to pay taxes neither did they have any possession with them to pay for their children's school fees, thus dived freely in their country's academic ocean.

They were fed with balanced diet at school and above all, were given free transport services from their respective schools to their destinations during the vacation, this was done through warrant system.


for those who reached at the University of Dar es salaam, were highly esteemed .and appreciated. the university offered a meal equivalent to that offered in a noble hotel in the city.
The university was well equipped with all necessary teaching and learning aids, Libra lies,  research centers for practical learning  with highly motivated and respected lecturers  who were proud of their careers.

now the question is, are the conditions still the same? Did we take a right step? or things have fallen apart? let's call a Spade a spade and not a big spoon.

since the last year, we have been witnessing a public outcry on a poor quality of education in schools. many schools are facing a lot of problems that stem from in sufficient teachers, shortage of libraries and laboratories, negative attitude with the teaching profession, just to mention a few. these problems rendered the quality of education far below the expected standard, or we may say totally compromised.

another set back is enacting of UN-clear policies  like that of Universal primary education (UPE)  which was launched with the pretext of reducing illiteracy rate. However, the policy is yet to achieve its goal and cant achieve them unless revamped due to a combination of factors.

firstly, students are neither trained to self-reliant principles nor are they ready to responsibly help their societies on their ways to development.( poor pedagogy).

Students are taught rote learning and they become good parrots  who are capable of of tackling their examinations and not understanding their subjects.

again, shortage of teaching and learning materials with poorly trained teachers who partially attended short courses, further undermine the education standard in the country.

but if we may ask, where did all the money that was in the past used to train students go? it is surprising because in those old days, our country was poor or less developed than now when we have a lot of resources. All expenditures were covered by taxes collected from poor peasants and revenue from private sectors. How come, today we have over-whelming economic potentials like Mines, National parks, Game reserves, Mountains. Then why is our country facing a terrible time than it was before? or should we believe in the prevailing public heated debate about saboteurs? if not so why?


I could like to advise the government to ensure that all schools in this country are well equipped with relevant teaching materials. There should be enough libraries and laboratories for practical learning, that way, our education standard will go up and meet international standards.


                         my article was recently published in The citizen newspaper.