EDITORIAL: HEED CALL ON REVIEW OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

Stakeholders in Tanzanian education have called upon President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s government to form a special commission to review the country’s education. The call by the leader of the political opposition party ACT-Wazalendo, Mr Zitto Kabwe, comes 40 years after the Makwetta Commission was formed in 1981 by Mwalimu Nyerere for more or less the same task.

Formed about 20 years after the country secured political independence from alien rule on December 9, 1961, the Makwetta Commission reviewed the country’s education system, including educational coverage, curriculum development, administrative structure, equipment and materials – and then make recommendations on the sector for the next 20.

The proposed Commission this time is also “to review Tanzania’s (current) education system, and make recommendations on how best it can be transformed”.

This comes in the wake of President Hassan’s general remarks that she was able, willing and ready to join hands with other stakeholders to transform the sector. This is particularly taking into consideration the need to review the extant education curricular nearly 60 years after political independence from British rule.

As the Britain-Tanzania Society (B-TS) noted in its Tanzanian Affairs issue of July 1, 1981, Education plays a central role in socioeconomic development. Therefore, it is prudent that this wide-ranging review is made. What B-TS said when commenting on the formation of the Makwetta Commission on the Education System 40 years ago can also be said regarding the proposal to set up a similar commission today.

As we noted in our edition yesterday, forming a special task force on the lines of the Makwetta Commission by President Hassan’s government to revisit, review and assess the current education system in terms of its relevance and performance is as prudent as it is called for.

Best way forward

This comes with the commission’s recommendations on the best way forward in bolstering and otherwise vastly improving-cum-transforming Tanzanian education to the highest levels humanly possible – and in the shortest time possible.

Education experts who spoke to our reporters at different times were generally of the view that such a review should include – but must not be limited to – educational policy and regulatory frameworks, curricula development, administrative structures, teaching and learning environments, teachers and facilities: buildings, equipment and related materials…

Also, we could/should take a leaf out of the book of the Zanzibar government of President Hussein Ali Mwinyi on this agenda.

According to the Zanzibar minister for Education and Vocational Training, Mr Simai Mohammed Said, use of the relevant, modern technology “can raise the quality of education by effectively addressing the sector’s key challenges.”

Such technological appliances and applications, the minister says, are catalytic in achieving development goals as set by the government, including improving educational quality.

But all these otherwise lofty goals can functionally be achieved on a sustainable basis if all stakeholders work hard together and in solidarity.

All in all, we support the call for a new education review commission 40 years after the last one by the-then Education minister, the late Jackson Makwetta.