Africa-Press – Tanzania. EDUCATION stakeholders have called on the government to prioritize vocational education and improve teaching modalities to ensure quality results as projected in the education curriculum.
Speaking at a public hearing forum organized by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology on the proposed Curriculum for Secondary Education, the stakeholder hinted that the newly proposed document has no problem but the challenge is largely on the delivery system—teaching.
Gloria Anderson, CEO at Tedi Tanzania says it is a shame for a student who has graduated with a GPA of 4.5 from a higher learning institution but cannot express himself. “There is a great need to improve the quality of teaching. Our teachers must be trained to impact skills on students,” she says.
A working teacher, Protus Nikodemas, said in his contribution there is no balance between the formulated exams and the expectations of the students. Further, he claims that while the preparation and implementation of the education curriculum are under the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, the supervisor is the Office of the President Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG). “Students are tested on content base than competency … this is a problem,” he added.
Delegates recommended that the government should ensure the technical subject is independent and that students must be assessed on the basis of competency in the vocational training.
“There is a need now for students to be recognized in terms of alternative groups such as fishing, livestock keeping, entrepreneurship and not the field of social sciences, or natural sciences,” added Abdallah Khamis during the debate.
The Minister of Education, Professor Joyce Ndalichako, made it clear the government’s intention of reviewing the secondary education curriculum is due to social, economic, scientific and technological changes.
Ndalichako emphasized that President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s sincere intention to see education help students is the reason the Ministry has convened an education stakeholder forum.
Tanzania has revised its education curriculum five times since independence in 1961.
Dr. Aneth Komba, Director of the Tanzania Institute of Education (TET) clarified that the new education curriculum is aimed at enabling students to acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and principles.
She detailed that the Form I-IV secondary education curriculum will have 194 days consisting of two semesters and each semester will have 21 weeks. Each week will have an average of 40 sessions and each period will have 40 minutes. “Form I and II will have 10 subjects. Seven subjects are Primary subjects and the student will choose either Physics, Chemistry, or Bookkeeping, Commerce or Needlework, Cookery or Vocational Studies,” she said.
