The
government has been urged to restructure the Tanzania Education
Institute and the Regional Administration and Local Governments to form a
single-and-strong governing body that would oversee the education
sector in the country.
Making the observation ahead of the recently
cerebrated Pi day, Mathematical Association of Tanzania (MAT) permanent
secretary Makoye Wangereja, noted that availability of the two
institutions complicated education system and hence prompting failures
by students.
Citing dropout in Mathematics, Wangereja said, the
reason that contributed to failures by most of the last Form Fours was
due to fewer books in schools an aspect attributed by the improper
coordination of the two institutions.
“In most public schools at least three students share one book,” he said.
Wangereja said that the government is to blame for
such failures as it has made students to see that mathematics is a hard
and difficult subject.
“I call upon the government to put more emphasis on
the subject so as to encourage the students to see it as one of the
most important,” he said.
Explaining on the challenges that MAT faces, he
said, financial problems is one of them, adding that the society has no
support from either the government or the private sector.
“We really need support from stakeholders so that
we can run the show easily and deliver better services to our students,”
he said.
For his side, Deputy Director in the Prime
Minister’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government) Abdul
Maulid recommended that MAT should implement and install ways that would
help encourage students to like the subject and improve their
knowledge.
MAT which is vested with the task of promoting the
teaching and learning of mathematics as well as sensitising the public
on the importance of the subject has decided to include Pi Day as one of
its major activities in promoting the subject.
Pi is defined as the length of a distance around a
circle, known as circumference, divided by its diameter. Simply put, Pi
is the ratio of circumference to the diameter. But the rough ratio of Pi
is 3.14 which gives the date for Pi Day, that is March 14.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
