Z’bar education improves after years in doldrums

Zanzibar. Zanzibar secondary schools have improved their performances in Form Four exam results.

Three out of 10 worst-performing secondary schools in 2018 were in Zanzibar, up from six out of 10 schools in 2017.

Some measures taken to improve the situation included hiring temporary teachers, building new classrooms and establishing academic camps to bring together students for discussions.

According to the 2018 Form Four national examination results, the passing rate increased by 1.28 per cent to 78.38 per cent compared with the preceding year,

The National Examinations Council of Tanzania (Necta) released the results on Thursday, with Zanzibar and Tanga dominating the list of 10 worst-performing schools, but with the Isles seeing improvements.

Zanzibar’s Pwani Mchangani, Ukutini and Kijini secondary schools are among the 10 schools with the worst results.

Tanga Region had three secondary schools-- Kwediboma, Komkalakala and Seuta-- on the ‘list of shame’.

Education stakeholders have attributed the poor performance in Zanzibar secondary schools to the shortage of teachers and classrooms as well as the lack of awareness among students.

Zanzibar has a shortage of 952 secondary school teachers.

A teacher teaches an average of 150 pupils. That poses a big challenge to the attainment of quality education, according to the stakeholders.

Zanzibar has 5,324 secondary school teachers and 114, 946 students.

Among those students 111,336 are undertaking O Level studies.

Zanzibar has 203 secondary schools, 183 being for Forms One to Four.

The director for secondary schools in the Zanzibar Ministry of Education, Ms Asya Issa, told The Citizen recently that the inadequacy of teachers was being addressed.

“To tackle the shortage of teachers, the Ministry of Education is taking teachers from Nigeria to volunteer,” noted Ms Issa. Reports show that in four years to 2015 about 50 teachers from Nigeria were hired.

Ms Issa said through the Zanzibar Improvement Students Prospective project financed by the World Bank, the government was building capacity to science and mathematics teachers on the methodology on how to teach the subjects.

“We have been doing all what we can to help students in all subjects especially science ones. I’m optimistic the challenges will be dealt with and Zanzibar will shine.”

Local media quoted the Isles government as saying that Zanzibar had also been benefiting from voluntary teachers from UK, US, Japan and South Korea.

Students used to be slack

In 2016, following poor performance in some schools, the secretary general of the Zanzibar Heads of Secondary Schools Association, Mr Fadhil Mshamba, said they were forced to establish academic camps for Forms Four and Six students a few months before exams. He said in the past students used not to be serious about their studies.

Data by Necta show that between 2014 and 2018, 48 per cent of Zanzibar school were on the list of worst performers in national Form Six exam results.

This year, Zanzibar West, North Pemba and South Pemba were the three last ranked regions placed at 27th, 28th and 29th respectively in exam results.

The stakeholders link the poor performance with the shortage of teachers and classrooms. Ben Bella Secondary School, founded in 1924, is among the schools that have been feeling the pinch.

The Unguja-based girls’ school appeared three times on the list of the five worst-performers in Form Six final exam results in the last five years, with the school administration citing the shortage of teachers and classrooms are the reasons.

However, in 2018 it extricated itself out of the worst five performing schools.

Ben Bella headmistress Zainab Mgunda attributed the improvement to a change in the classroom size and the development of academic camps.

She also said in the past, one teacher was teaching up to 150 students.

“For effective teaching, you need to have a reasonable class size of 45 students as recommended by the government, but due to the shortage of classrooms it was in the past not unusual here to find a Form Six class of 150 students. Low student-to-teacher ratio enables the teacher to better manage the class. In a large classroom setting behavioural problems can rapidly escalate.”

“As of now, the teacher-to-student ratio stands at 1:30. This is partly because the majority of students shifted to other schools due to reasons like suspension and expulsions, which were instituted by the school to control lazy and indisciplined students,” she said.

As it stands, Ben Bella has 46 teachers teaching 850 students of Form One to Six.

The number of teachers for Forms Five and Six, with 100 students, stands at 10.

More classrooms to be constructed

According to Ms Mgunda, the shortage of teachers is now a thing of the past. To address the congestion in a single classroom, plans are on the cards to build more classrooms.

“We wrote a letter to the Stone Town executive director to request a plot to build more classrooms and it is being worked upon,” she said.

Lumumba, one of the best secondary schools in Zanzibar, has 27 teachers and 850 students from Forms One to Six.

Although one teacher teaches 70 students, the co-education school performs well.

“We thank teachers for their commitment and students for studying diligently,” said the school head, Mr Mussa Mussa.

“Teaching a small class has so many benefits. There is a better cooperative spirit and a stronger closeness with others. Smaller classes have a more homogenous environment and unified solidarity, providing the best environment possible for all students to excel.”

Lumumba has 11 science teachers. The school has 125 Form Five and 172 Form Six students.

In 2018 Form Six national examination results, 17 candidates scored division one, 49 division two, 45 division three and zero division, according to the school’s head.

He says the 59-year-old school secured fourth position out of 20 schools, behind Sos, Feza and Suza. It produced the best student in the combination of PCM countrywide.

“We don’t have that big challenge of inadequate teachers compared with other schools.”

Mr Mussa also cited motivation to teachers who finish syllabus earlier than expected as a contributing factor to the good performance of Lumumba.