2013 Tanzania Form IV results
Abel Manumbu
The dismal form four results are wakeup call for the nation to what many parents since the early nineties had already figured out. The education system in Tanzania was not cutting it to say the least, so parent opted to ship their children to Uganda, Kenya and elsewhere for the glimmers of hope those education systems provided. Really the advantage then was the fact that the language of instruction from pre-school to A level in these countries remained the same providing a uniform and consistent platform on which every educator aimed to build on. Whereas in Tanzania students at the age of 12 to 14 had to change to English as a language of instruction after more than 7 years of Kiswahili you can imagine the pain. I attended one term of Tanzania secondary school education before I returned to Uganda and that experience was eye opening. I saw brilliant students struggling to comprehend information not because the content was difficult, but because the language was foreign. They were as much as learning English as they were learning new concepts of physics and biology.
But truly, there are bigger challenges with our education system than the language issue. I think this might be an opportunity in disguse. We now have an undisputable evidence that something is really wrong and a comprehensive solution is needed to put us back on track. First and foremost we need to evaluate how we train our educators and the resources we provide them. The fundamental question here is do we setup our teachers for success or for failure? We cannot expect miracles if our teachers are not well trained for whatever education environment they find themselves employed in. Equally we cannot expect excellence if we disproportionately underfund the education system.
Secondly we need adequate tools to assess how well the teachers are engaged in the process of developing these young minds. The intent here is to use such tools to better educators at what they do and not punish them for systemic failures. On the same token teachers need to have better tools to assess the progress of their students, identify those who need more help and those who need more intellectually challenging concepts so that everyone growths.
Thirdly, this has to be three legged approach with parents involved. Parents need to be equally assessing their childrens progress as they provide a conducive environment for learning while at home. I remember coming back home from Uganda for holidays with what we called holiday work which was due on the first day we returned to school and it was incumbent upon our parent to make sure we completed the work. You cannot have the child come home from school and be the maid or bread winner and expect rigorous participation in studies. In situation where this is identified as the case we need to devise means to help such students. Parents also need to encourage general learning at home (reading books etc), the task of develop our childrens minds cannot be left on the shoulder of educators alone it has to be a shared burden.
Finally, we have to look at the system overall and ask the question are we educating our students in a manner in which will make them contribute positively in a 21st century society on both a national and global level. In a nation where we barely have a chain of community libraries, but we buy hundreds of Land cruisers for public servants we have to ask ourselves if we are doing enough on education. We have to be both intentional and creative in the ways in which we educate our students if we are to be competitive as a nation.
Yes, something went really wrong with our students this year, and there is no better way to put it. Instead of getting ready to fire the whole ministry of education and send the failing student to Veta or JKT as some have suggested, we should be more responsible than that. Kama ni basi bovu it does not matter who the driver is. First, we should have an expert investigation conducted to uncover the systemic issue that have to be dealt with. Secondly, the implementation of results and solutions from this investigation should have the full backing of the whole government to ensure that the education ministry gets it right. Thirdly, we need to find a way to provide remedial courses for this years students I would hate to have them get lost in tertiary institutions because the system failed them. The option of a tertiary institution/ trade school should be a choice and not a destiny due to circumstances. Every student deserves a shot at university.
