EDUCATION SPECIAL REPORT: Moshi Tech: From the cradle of engineers to shambolic state

Moshi. Once an academic giant producing the best engineers and technicians in the country, Moshi Technical Secondary School has lost its shine.  It is a far cry from the school that produced—in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s—such outstanding graduates in civil, mechanical and electrical engineering that they are now teaching in universities worldwide, including the United States.

The 11 workshops at Moshi Technical have fallen into disrepair, reportedly due to government neglect. The state-owned school, which has over 1,000 students from all over the country, used to be one of the best performing academic institutions in the 1960s through the early 1990s. It has now gone to the dogs.

Government neglect and worn out facilities have led to the deterioration of the school, which opened its doors in 1957.

What went wrong?

Frederick Moshi, who heads the welding and metal fabrication department, says most of the equipment acquired in the 1960s and 1970s are the ones still in use. “Although these machines are functioning today, more than 40 years after they were acquired, they can’t be  100 per cent perfect,” says Mr Moshi, who has been teaching at the school since February 1989.

Three years ago, the school was given “new” machines for making spare parts but they are all dormant, says Rogath Massawe, head of the mechanical department.

He adds: “The machines (given by a donor he has forgotten) appeared new, but they had just been repainted before they were shipped to the school. The challenge we are facing is that we don’t have training materials such as mild steel and coolants, which are very expensive.”

Raphael Mbise, head of the carpentry and joinery department, says the school has not had a very important machine for woodwork—a bend saw—for two years now.

Helen Malisa, a 60-year-old who heads the biology department, laments the sorry state of her laboratory.  The ceiling board of the lab has fallen off.  “On top of that, the windows are open—allowing in dust. We thank God that we have enough laboratory facilities but they are all dusty,” she adds, “The working environment is very frustrating.”

Teacher Malisa appeals to the government to provide the school with a modern biology laboratory.

Jumanne Bosco Mtemi, the headmaster of the school since January 2013, says the school has a total of 1,345 students—1,157 boys and 188 girls. Of the 1,157 boys, 458 are in Forms V and VI studying PCM (Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics), PCB (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) and CBG (Chemistry, Biology and Geography).

Students in Form I to IV are taking civil, mechanical and electrical engineering at the school situated along the Moshi-Arusha road. Mr Mtemi admits that the school has serious problems, including lack of science books, practical materials in workshops and chemicals and facilities for laboratories.

Although the government provides subsidies for office use, buying text books, and renovation, several buildings need to be rehabilitated.

In 2001/2012, the government released Sh50million for the rehabilitation of five classrooms. In 2012/2013, it released Sh50million for the renovation of toilets for the boys’ dormitories and Sh48million for the rehabilitation of a girls’ dormitory.

The headmaster says the government has set aside Sh500million in 2013/2014 for the renovation of workshops, a fact confirmed by Kilimanjaro region’s assistant administrative secretary for education, Ms Ruth Malisa, and the Moshi Council Education Officer, Mr Peter Mbwambo.

Says Mr Mtemi: “This budget cannot renovate the 11 workshops we have. What we need to do is assess all the workshops to establish the amount needed for renovation. The assessment can be done by VETA (Vocational Education and Training Authority).”

The school needs 1,345 chairs and desks for students but has only 1,120.  Form V PCM student Charles Boniface, who was in the dining hall, told The Citizen he was not in class because he did not have a chair.  The 19-year-old added: “I have been looking for a chair almost all day but found none.”

The headmaster has his own list of woes: They need 83 chairs but have 46. Students need 57 toilets but only 41 are available. There is a need for 30 classrooms but there are only 26. They need six laboratories but have three. Teachers need 83 houses but only 57 are  available.

Mr Mtemi also blames the school’s poor academic performance of the school on the introduction of advanced technology not only in Tanzania but also worldwide. The students simply download material from the internet and no longer bother to really study, he says. Tuition has also played a role in poor performance of students because students are simply drilled to pass exams rather than learn.

“Students pick everything from the internet,” says the headmaster, “and when examinations come they find that what they downloaded is very different from the exam questions.”

Too much dependence on tuition has also taken a toll on students. Some so-called tutors are incompetent, Mr Mtemi adds. “As a result, they force students to cram the answers to questions likely to appear in the examinations.”

Students who go for tuition cover the whole two-year syllabus for A-level (Form V and VI) in two to three months, which is practically impossible. “This problem could be solved by counseling students to listen to teachers in class and cultivate the habit of doing their homework,” says Mr Mtemi.

According to the headmaster, there is also a dearth of science and mechanical engineering teachers. “For example, the school had one teacher for mechanical engineering but he retired last year (2013) and we don’t have a replacement,” he adds.

Hassan Yusuf Ikoro, who graduated from the school in 1977 and started teaching at the same school in 1995, says politics could have played a major role in relegating technical education to the backyard.

From the time Tanzania became independent in 1961 through the 1980s, technical education was given the priority it deserved but it lost out with each change in the education policy over the years.

“As the government seemingly neglects technical education, youth who are supposed to benefit from it also feel there is no need to pursue technical education,” says Mr Ikoro, who studied at Moshi Technical Secondary School between 1974 and 1977.

Policy changes effected about five years ago to allow government secondary schools to absorb as many students as possible resulted in overcrowding in classrooms, making  it difficult to teach effectively.

Moshi Technical Secondary School used to accommodate 800 students but, following changes in the education policy, the school now has 1,345 students.  He adds: “The rise in the number of students has resulted in some of them missing desks and chairs. Generally, the environment is not conducive for both teaching and learning.”