Sungi
Senior Member
- Apr 29, 2009
- 149
- 47
I have been impressed with the speed on the establishment of institutions of higher learning in Tanzania. I recall when I completed A'levels in the early 90s we only had 2 institutions of higher learning, the University of Dar (UDSM) and Sokoine University. And if you were an Art student that meant you had to compete for admission to join UDSM. The competition was notoriously stiff. A decade later we have "utitiri" of universities and I think I have lost count now, which is impressive, but a question is do we have competent instructors to prepare young Tanzanians to compete in the 21st century after graduation? I sometimes take time and browse through websites of these institutions, reading instructors' vitae and biographies, leaving one to think if at the end of the day, a Tanzanian graduate is well prepared to compete with other graduates from other countries in the work force. It is important that both the Ministry of Education and Vocational training and its counterpart the Ministry of Communication, Science and technology give out scholarships for the purposeful preparation of instructors of higher learning in Tanzania. These scholarships have traditionally being awarded to "ndugu wa wakubwa" who later migrate to the countries they were sent to study instead of returning back home and fulfil their initial agreements. I do not want to pretend to know an ideal way to provide these government scholarships for graduate studies, but it is imperative that they are awarded to deserved students who have showed superior scholarship and a potential of scholarly achievements in the future.