Minister of State in the President’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), Mr Mohamed Mchengerwa. PHOTO | COURTESY
Dar es Salaam.Hundreds of students who completed their Form Four examinations in 2024 and qualified for Form Five have been assigned to various government schools for the 2025 academic year.
However, transfers between schools have been ruled out due to limited space.
In previous years, parents frequently requested transfers after government placements, often citing concerns about school quality, environment, or distance.
However, this year the government has firmly ruled out such requests, citing the urgent need to expand the number of secondary schools to accommodate students’ preferences.
In a statement on 6 June 2025, the Minister of State in the President’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), Mr Mohamed Mchengerwa, confirmed that the Form Five selection process was strictly merit-based and constrained by available slots.
“The selection of students to join Form Five and technical colleges was done based on performance and available space. Therefore, there will be no room for any school changes due to lack of vacancies,” Mr Mchengerwa said during a media briefing in Dodoma.
Of the 214,141 students who qualified for Form Five and technical colleges (97,517 girls and 116,624 boys), 149,818 (approximately 70 percent) have been placed in 694 government secondary schools nationwide.
The government’s stance on barring school transfers has sparked debate among parents, teachers, and education stakeholders, especially those whose children were posted to distant or less favourable schools.
University lecturer and education expert Dr Elisante Malima described the situation as symptomatic of a chronic shortage of government secondary schools offering advanced-level education across Tanzania.
“Students cannot realistically choose preferred schools unless we first invest in building more schools with proper infrastructure and diverse subject combinations. Without that, placements will always feel like a lottery,” Dr Malima said.
Only 1,728 students secured places in eight elite schools reserved for top scorers, while over 141,000 were assigned to boarding schools and 6,944 to day schools.
Mr Moses Mbani, a parent from Dar es Salaam, said his child, despite scoring Division Two, was placed over 400 kilometres away from home instead of at Kibaha Secondary School as hoped.
“It’s difficult to afford transport and other costs. We have no choice—we can’t complain because there’s no way to change schools. This is unfair to our children,” he said.
In 2024, 529,329 candidates sat the Form Four exams, with 223,372 (41.23 percent) passing with Divisions I to III — a rise of over 5 percent compared to the previous year.
Education policy expert Ms Rehema Kavishe urged the government to scale up investment in advanced secondary education to match the growing number of qualified students.
“We are seeing more students qualify, but infrastructure and school expansion are lagging. This puts huge pressure on parents and students who aspire to quality education with freedom of choice,” Ms Kavishe said.
With students expected to report between 6 and 21 July 2025, many remain anxious about conditions in their assigned schools, while concerns over limited school choice continue to grow.
