A website has been launched to track down the performance in O-Level Secondary Schools in Tanzania. Tanzania's education sector has received a barrage of criticisms from different people most notably educational and curriculum practitioners and policy experts. Further questions arose following the abysmal and appalling Form Four results last year (2012), which saw a record failure of 60 percent. A Commission to Investigate Causes of Poor Form IV Results was quickly formed by Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda. The findings are yet to be made public.
Just last week, the Ministry of Education came up with a new grading system which saw the expunging of Division Zero (Sifuri). Despite these changes, I have read and listened to a number of arguments and it seems the idea has not augured well with many. Tanzania's education system has for decades been on the spotlight for all the negative things. Issues such as the crisis of language in our education system, poor education infrastructure, inadequate skilled teaching personnel, corruption in the education sector, poor payment of teaching staff, amongst many other problems. In the recent past, civil societies in the ares of education have really brought these issues to us. CSOs such as Haki Elimu and Twaweza have instilled a culture of public accountability and citizen action in the areas of education. Civic awareness and the demand for accountability has risen forcing government to act in expediency.
Just last week, the Ministry of Education came up with a new grading system which saw the expunging of Division Zero (Sifuri). Despite these changes, I have read and listened to a number of arguments and it seems the idea has not augured well with many. Tanzania's education system has for decades been on the spotlight for all the negative things. Issues such as the crisis of language in our education system, poor education infrastructure, inadequate skilled teaching personnel, corruption in the education sector, poor payment of teaching staff, amongst many other problems. In the recent past, civil societies in the ares of education have really brought these issues to us. CSOs such as Haki Elimu and Twaweza have instilled a culture of public accountability and citizen action in the areas of education. Civic awareness and the demand for accountability has risen forcing government to act in expediency.
I am pleased to see more efforts been directed towards tracking the performance of secondary schools in Tanzania using innovative and modern ways such as having a results database for all schools in Tanzania. The initiative is within the context of Tanzania’s commitment to the Open Government Partnership, The Shule Yangu initiative promises to be a fantastic idea more precisely because the government has failed in its duty. Such brilliant initiatives will not only improve awareness but act as a engagement platform for all stakeholders to discuss and monitor education trends across Tanzania. The initiative has started with Form Four Results, I am pretty sure the A-Level Tracking will be launched soon. The government should embrace this and seek ways for consultative dialogues in order to improve the standards of education in Tanzania.
For further details see Shule Yangu website here.
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