Kiwango cha ufaulu mitihani kupandishwa

Dk. Shukuru Kawambwa

Wizara ya Elimu na Mafunzo ya Ufundi imezindua mpango wa utekelezaji wa mikakati ya matokeo makubwa sasa, unaolenga kupandisha kiwango cha ufaulu kwenye matokeo ya mtihani wa shule za msingi kwa darasa la saba, hadi kufikia asilimia 60 kwa mwaka huu, toka kiwango cha asilimia 31 cha mwaka jana.

Aidha, mkakati huo unalenga pia kupandisha kiwango cha ufaulu kwenye matokeo ya kidato cha nne toka asilimia 43 cha mwaka jana, hadi asilimia 60 kwa mwaka huu.

Akizindua mpango huo jana jijini Dar es Salaam, Waziri wa Wizara hiyo, Dk. Shukuru Kawambwa, alisema uzinduzi uliofanyika ni matokeo ya mkutano wa washiriki 34 kutoka taasisi 31 zikiwamo za serikali na zisizo za serikali, washirika na wadau wa maendeleo ya elimu, waliokutana mwaka huu, kwa wiki sita na kutafakari kwa kina changamoto zinazoathiri sekta ya elimu.

“Walikutana hapa Dar es Salaam na changamoto kubwa walioanisha ni utambuzi kuwa, ingawa kiwango cha uandikishaji wa wanafunzi kimeongezeka, lakini ubora wa elimu umeshuka, hususani kuporomoka kwa kiwango cha ufaulu katika elimu ya msingi na sekondari,” alisema.

Alisema, ili kurekebisha hali hiyo, maabara iliangalia kwa makini namna ya kutatua baadhi ya changamoto na kuamua maeneo yatakayolengwa yenye matokeo makubwa muhimu na ambayo yanahitaji muda mfupi kutekelezwa, na hivyo kuweka mikakati tisa ya kutekeleza.

Mojawapo ya mikakati hiyo ni upimaji wa kitaifa wa stadi za kusoma, kuandika na kuhesabu (KKK), lengo likiwa ni kuhakikisha kwamba, wanafunzi wanamudu stadi za kusoma, kuandika na kuhesabu wakiwa darasa la pili, kabla ya kujiunga na madarasa yanayofuata.

Mikakati mingine ni upangaji wa shule kwa ubora wa matokeo ya mtihani kitaifa kuanzia shule iliyoongoza hadi ya mwisho,utoaji wa tuzo kwa shule zilizofanya vizuri, kuwa na kiongozi cha usimamizi wa shule na utoaji wa mafunzo kwa walimu kuhusu ufundishaji mahiri wa stadi za KKK.
 

CHANZO: NIPASHE

Kawambwa ‘spits fire’ at unethical educators

THE Minister for Education and Vocational Training Dr Shukuru Kawambwa

THE Minister for Education and Vocational Training Dr Shukuru Kawambwa has directed all stakeholders in the education sector to adhere to their professional ethics and warned irresponsible officers that they would not be spared for any failure record. 

“We cannot go on with business as usual slogan. You must work diligently and efficiently. You must change your attitude and the changes must start now,” the minister told about 600 delegates in Dar es Salaam.

Dr Kawambwa pointed out that the ministry was currently facing several challenges, sometimes due to lack of commitments on part of education and other partner officers in their respective levels.
 
He said time has come for each one of them to perform his or her duties instead of accusing each other. Among the challenges, the minister said, include congestion of students in classes, shortage of teachers, in particular for science subjects, shortage of teachers’ houses, desks and toilets, dilapidated infrastructure, drop of success for graduates and rise of illiterates.

“We must find ways of reducing them and subsequently eliminate them completely. It is a known fact each one of you here knows his duties and obligations at his working place.
 
We cannot go on with these challenges year after year,” the minister said. The delegates comprising Regional and Districts Education officers, directors, school inspectors, ward education coordinators, heads of education colleges and other institutions are meeting in Dar es Salaam to discuss the implementation of Big Results Now Programme in the education sector.

According to the minister, the government decided to use the programme, which requires every officer to perform his or her functions to the highest degree and each one of them would have a particular area to deal with and would be assessed for what he or she was doing.

For example, Dr Kawambwa said, starting this year, his ministry has been tasked to increase the passing rate for primary school leavers from 31 per cent to 60 per cent and reach the same level for secondary school graduates from 43 per cent.
 
The minister also pointed out that it has been directed that a standard two primary school pupil will be allowed to join standard three after knowing how to read, write and count. “I have expressed my commitments in writing before the President toward these successes. Some of you will be required to commit yourselves in bringing before me. For those who feel are unable to cope let them be open so that we can let them go. We should not blame each other later,” he warned.

While addressing the delegates, the minister used the opportunity to unveil a number of successes his ministry
achieved, including increased enrolment of pupils in primary schools from 7,541,208 in 2005 to 8,363,386 by 2001 and increased number of schools from 14,257 to 16,001 during the same period.

He further said that there was an increase of primary school teachers from 135,013 in 2005 to 175,449 by 2011 and the ratio per one teacher for 56 pupils decreased to 48 pupils during the period in question, whereas there were also significant improvements at the secondary level.

The minister also expressed the ministry’s commitment to increase ward secondary schools and the target is that by 2015, some 1,200 would be fully functioning. Improvements of the first phase involving 264 schools have started and the ministry has provided 20bn/- for the purpose.

Ilboru students boycott classes

 Ilboru Secondary School

Protest suspension of Form Three colleague

Hundreds of Ilboru Secondary School students here are reported to be on go-slow, protesting against the suspension of fellow student Ibrahim Kaebo.

One of the students who was interviewed at the school on Monday morning, but declined to reveal his name said the go-slow was to express the students’ anger at the school board decision.

“We are not happy with the board ruling. The suspended student is innocent,” he said. 

“We have started this ‘go-slow’ since morning and we are not ready to attend classes until the school administration provides a thorough explanation on why our colleague has been suspended,” another student said, adding: “We want to know the fate of our  fellow student.”

Reports from the school said that Ibrahim a Form Three student was suspended last Saturday over a number of charges, some of which are not ‘genuine’.

 "Right now as students we have nothing to say to the media as discussions are 
underway with our teachers on the possibility of recalling the suspended student,”  another angry student said.

Reports said that since yesterday morning no teachers had entered classrooms. The Guardian visited the school, which is located in Arumeru District and found  students loitering around. 

Some teachers also were moving up and down, while the 
school headmaster was reported to be in a meeting.

No teacher was ready to speak on the ongoing go-slow, saying they were not the school spokespersons.
 
A School secondmaster who was available wasn’t ready to disclose even his name because he wasn’t the school spokesperson.

"Our headmaster is not in the office. And I have the mandate to speak on behalf of  the school. But, I would assist you to ask the head,” he said quickly rushing into the meeting.

 Surprisingly, the school academic master came out of the meeting and told journalists that the school head wasn’t in a position to speak to the media.

“Right now, the headmaster is not in a position to speak on this matter because we  are still working on it. When time comes we’ll call you (journalists) and speak on it,” he said.

Last year in September dozens of angry students from Ilboru Secondary School,  carrying banners and chanting slogans, marched to the Arusha Regional Commissioner’s office accusing their headmaster Jovinus Mutabuzi of harassing them and denying them freedom of worship.

Ally Simalenga the student government general secretary said that they were  demanding immediate removal of their headmaster, who they accused of frequently abusing students.

Simalenga said the headmaster locks halls used for worship, only unlocking them after peaceful protests by students, though the one used by Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) is still locked, denying the faithful a place for worship.

During the same month the government suspended the headmaster Mutabuzi and named  Loma Nteles, who was the Assistant Headmaster as Acting Headmaster of the school. 
 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

NECTA Clarifies on Teachers' pass mark

The NECTA Acting Executive Secretary, Dr Charles Msonde

THE National Examination Council of Tanzania (NECTA) has clarified on the passing of teachers from teaching colleges in the country saying that at certificate level the pass mark had increased by 4 percent.
 
The NECTA Acting Executive Secretary, Dr Charles Msonde said whilst announcing the 31st Association for Educational Assessment in Africa conference that there had been media reports misrepresented the results. 

“The reports that there were mass failures among teachers in teaching colleges weren’t correct.
 
"Actually as compared to last year, the pass mark for certificate qualification increased from 94 per cent to 98 percent while for diplomas, there was little difference,” he said.
 
Dr Msonde said that in terms of overall marks, 63.5 per cent of those sat for the examinations passed while 35 percent passed but had a number of supplementary papers that they need to re-sit.
 
He said that in terms of enrolment, this year the number of students had more than doubled that of 2012 thus concluding that the results for this year were not as bad as presented by an article last week that was published in one of the daily newspapers.
 
Regarding the conference, he said that it would run from August 12 to 16, 2013,where over 400 participants will convene at Ngurudoto Hotel.
 
The Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) is a non-profit making organisation established to promote co-operation amongst examining and assessment bodies in Africa.

 “The theme of the conference is enhancing assessment practices for quality education and the conference is expected to be opened by the Zanzibar Second Vice President, Mr Seif Ali Iddi,” he explained.

Dr Msonde said that this was the fifth time that Tanzania was hosting the conference - 1983, 1987, 1992, 2002 and this year.
 
Some of the papers to be presented at the conference include innovation in assessment practices and their implications in improving quality of education, role of classroom assessment practices in improving the quality of education and impact of information and communication technology in educational assessment.
 
Others are the relationship between continuous assessment and final examination score and the implications on the quality of education, dynamics associated with assessment and learning outcome, challenges associated with assessment of soft skills for quality education and the impact of security breach on the quality of examination and assessment.
 
AEAA has the objectives of promoting co-operation amongst examining and assessment bodies in Africa; encourage relevant examining and assessment activities among members; sponsor international participation in the field of educational testing and examining and commission/co-ordinate research projects.

The existence of AEAA dates back to 1982 when it was bore out of what was known as the sub-regional Conference for Heads of Institutions responsible for Educational Assessment in Eastern and Southern Africa(AEBESA) whose founding members were Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Lesotho and Malawi and many other African countries later joined the association.

In 1992, at Arusha, Tanzania the AEBESA metamorphosed into the AEAA drawing its membership from across the continent of Africa.

35pc of student teachers set to re-sit exams

Dar es Salaam. About 35 per cent of students pursuing Diploma in Teaching in different public
colleges this year have to sit for supplementary examinations after performing poorly in some
subjects.
 
The deputy executive secretary of the National Examinations Council of Tanzania (NECTA), Dr Charles Msonde, however, said 63 per cent of the students passed all exams, hence qualified.
Dr Msonde said yesterday that students normally study a total of nine subjects in the teaching course.
 
“It’s not that those who sit the supplementary examinations have failed course; but they have
failed in a few subjects for which they have the opportunity to repeat,” he said.

He was speaking in Dar es Salaam at Necta’s headquarters when briefing journalists on the forthcoming international meeting in Arusha whose aim is to look at enhancing assessment practices for quality education. 

The five-day meeting to be held from August 12 to 16 would pull together member countries of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA).

That would be the 31st meeting since the association was formed in 1982, and with this year’s conference the Necta would have so far hosted five of them in the country.

During the conference, in which about 400 participants are expected to attend, there will be discussions on innovation in assessment practices and their implications in improving quality of education.

The role of classroom assessment practices is to improve the quality of education. Other areas for brainstorming would include the impact of information and communication technology in educational assessment and the relationship between continuous assessment and final examination score: implications on the quality of education.

The participants will include experts on educational assessment from different countries of Africa,
Europe, America and Asia.

UN agencies speak out on examination failures

Clara Makenya

Stakeholders have cited poor application of teaching methodologies as the cause of mass failure and are demanding for immediate reconciliation, saying a key method is the mainstreaming of Education for Sustainable Consumption (ESC).

Speaking yesterday in Dar es Salaam, during a seminar convened by a cross-section of education stakeholders and development partners, the National Officer of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Regional Office for Africa United Nations Tanzania, Clara Makenya said in order to solve the education crisis the lack of competence on the part of instructors must be addressed.

To achieve this redress, she reaffirmed UNEP’s support to ESC both financially and technically. Makenya explained that among strategies to be adopted is the Reviewing and Analysing of existing national policy frameworks and initiatives relevant to ESC.

Review will be accompanied by multi-stakeholder national roundtable discussions with policy makers and education experts. 

Other strategies are to include the development and dissemination of national guidelines and recommendations on ESC to relevant ministries.

Further, piloting proposed guidelines prior to the dissemination and their wide application of the necessary policy instruments and related implementation of the national strategy on ESC.

Robert Lwikolela, the Environmental Education Coordinator at the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training also revealed strategies that will help ease impartation of skills and their application at both national and local levels.

“We want to establish in-service training for teachers to offer relevant lessons that are practical and applicable in the context of environment and time rather than simply copying material from text books,” he said.

ESC was introduced in 2011under the UNEP’s global project titled “Institutional Strengthening of Education for Sustainable Consumption” that was developed in the framework of the Marrakech Task Force on Education for Sustainable Consumption in support of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) of (2005-2014).

The seminar was attended by Prof. Eustella Bhalalusesa, the Commissioner for Education in Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, the Directors from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Zonal Chief Inspector of Schools, Regional Education Officers, Municipal and District Education Officers, Teacher Training College Principals and Representatives from other related Government Departments, Civil Society Organizations as well as Development Partners. 
 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN