Teachers now want performance-based pay included in salary review

Dar es Salaam. Nine out of 10 teachers in trial schools support the idea of a performance-based pay, a new report by a nongovernmental organisation, Twaweza shows.
Implemented on trial by Twaweza, Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (Costech) and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) for two years have shown that performance pay for teachers can significantly improve learning outcomes.
The results show positive effects on students’ learning in one year what would normally demand 15 months of learning.
A programme to provide incentives to teachers was in 2016 also known as KiuFunza was tested in 200 schools across 21 districts in Tanzania.
It was found that KiuFunza had helped more than 48,000 students to improve in Kiswahili and mathematics.
Presenting KiuFunza findings on Thursday, December 14, Twaweza executive director Aidan Eyakuze said an average of Sh266,315 bonus was earned by subject teachers, which is equivalent to 42 per cent average net monthly wage in 2016.
“While the highest paid teacher earned Sh3.6 million or about six months of the average teacher’s salary, the lowest bonus paid was Sh8,100 with only few teachers received nothing,” he noted.
He said 63 per cent of teachers supported the idea of including a performance-based bonus scheme in future salary reviews, while 37 per cent preferred a flat increase.
According to him, there were 134 schools in 21 districts in the trial and 60 schools were used as comparison or control group.
He said 65,643 students were tested, including those in control schools, noting that 48,042 students were in schools with incentives and were, therefore, supported to learn more than their peers.