Tanzania Govt considers reviewing education policy

Dar es Salaam. The government has embarked on reviewing the country’s education policy to align it with the current changes and needs of Tanzania.

The move comes barely five years since the current policy was adopted in 2014.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Leonard Akwilapo, said the process will involve all stakeholders including the citizen who will be given the chance to air their views.

“It’s high time we reviewed the policy to match the current situation. There are many changes in technology and other aspects as Tanzania is also industrialising,” said Dr Akwilapo as he opened a meeting between the ministry and editors yesterday.

“We will involve as many stakeholders and ordinary Tanzanians as possible. We received and noted good comments during the recent Mwananchi Communications Ltd Thought Leadership Forum and we will also prepare ours to get more public opinions,” he added.

Dr Akwilapo said Tanzania’s education is neither the best nor the worst as the government was continuously taking actions to improve the situation.

“Our biggest challenge is passing at primary level. Many pupils are not passing at the level we want.

However, those who pass can study anywhere in the world and they are performing better wherever they go,” he said.

Some of the measures include provision of free basic education which has increased enrolment in primary schools.

The primary education enrolment increased from 1.028 million in 2015 when the free basic education policy started to 1.89 million in 2017.

The government issues Sh23.8 billion per month to finance provision of free education, according to the ministry’s commissioner for education Dr Lyabwene Mtahabwa.

The budget for higher education student loans also has been increasing years with the current one (2019/20) being Sh450 billion, up from Sh424 billion in 2018/19.