Mengi urges the rich to invest in education

IPP Executive Chairman, Dr Reginald Mengi (C) presents certificate of merit to excelling Form Four student Miriam Panja, during graduation ceremony of Barbro Johansson Girls' school.

Tanzanias blessed with resources have been urged to invest in the country’s education so as to raise its standards.

In addition they have been urged to come up with strategies, including paying school fees to enable children from poor families to attend school.

The appeal was made in Dar es Salaam yesterday by the IPP Executive Chairman, Dr Reginald Mengi during the 13th Anniversary and 11th Form Four graduation ceremony for the Barbro Johanson Model Secondary School.

Dr Mengi said it is necessary for every Tanzanian who has been blessed with wealth to realise the need to invest in education.

He said the move will improve the country’s education and see more children go to school, adding: “Blessings come from helping other people who are in need. By doing so God will give you more than what you have given.”

Dr Mengi said children from families who cannot afford to raise school fees faced a major hurdle in pursuing education, underscoring the need to take urgent action so as to enable pupils from poor families go to school.

Putting his words into action, Dr Mengi promised to pay 200m/- to cover children whose families are unable to pay school fees from January next year.

Turning to the graduands, he advised them to aim high and believe in themselves.

He told them: “I want you to excel and make your dreams come true.” He urged them to have respect as education without respect is nothing in today’s world, he said.

Barbro Johanson Model Secondary School Head teacher Halima Kamote said that 18 percent of the children in the school are sponsored. She said the school will continue to offer such sponsorship, because educating a girl is educating the whole nation.

“We believe in this and we now see that out of the 78 pupils sitting for their Form Four final exams there are some who we have sponsored, “she noted.
She thanked Dr Mengi for his efforts aimed at seeing every child go to school. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

7 000 students drop out of school in Rukwa

MORE than 7,000 children from both primary and secondary schools in Nkasi District in Rukwa Region have
terminated their studies due to various reasons including truancy.
The Nkasi District Academic Officer, Mr Linno Mwageni, mentions other reasons being normal school drop
outs, pregnancies, illness and that most of them through the assistance of their parents and guardians are
vigorously engaged in child labour.
Mr Mwageni revealed such a grimy situation before the Nkasi District Consultative Committee meeting held
recently in Namanyere town, in the district.
He further expounded that out of 9,910 children who were enroled in Class One in 2007 about 6,128 children
dropped out of school before Class Seven, this year, while out 2,277 students who joined Form One in 2010
out of them 1,000 failed to proceed to Form Four, this year.
"This is very alarming as many children are dropping out of school in large numbers. Despite this problem, there is
no concerted effort to contain the situation on part of the parents, guardians as well as village and ward
leadership," added Mr Mwageni
Earlier, while opening the DCC meeting, the Nkasi District Commissioner, Mr Iddy Kimanta warned all those
officials who failed to deliver responsibly in their daily duties that relevant authorities will never hesitate to
deal with them.
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Dar student innovats 'mathematical tutor software'

The Mathematics Tutor Software Project Team: From left to right, Isack Shayo- the inventor, Sr. Maria Samy (project instructor) and Adil Salum (Project Evaluator)

Mathematics is one of the subjects most feared by students in the country. It is also the subject which most students have lost interest in. This affects the students’ performance in other science subjects that require the calculations and logic that is learnt in Mathematics.

Studies show that the lost of students’ interest in mathematics subjects contributes highly to the decline in number of science students while the country is still struggling in science, technology and scientific development.

Recently in Dar es Salaam there was a two-day Young Scientist Tanzania (YST) Exhibition which involved a total of 120 secondary school students from different parts of the country where 60 different science projects were displayed.

Among the projects which captured the intention of the people visited the showcase was that titled ‘Application of Computer Technology in learning Mathematics’. It was mainly a computer programming project. It involves development of an electronic learning resource for Mathematics lower secondary students in Tanzania, particularly Form One.

A form six student at Loyola High School in Dar es salaam, Isack Shayo pursuing Computer Science as an optional subject has created a computer software called Mathematical Tutor Software to serve mathematics self learning resource for lower level secondary mathematics students specifically Form One.

According to him the project is aimed at creating an efficient and interesting learning resource that would make students enjoy learning Mathematics and thus increasing their interest in Mathematics and academic performance in the subject.

Students’ loan board recovers 35bn/-

THE Higher Education Students' Loans Board (HESLB) has so far recovered 35.1bn/- loans granted to university students.

HESLB's Assistant Director for Information, Education and Communications, Mr Cosmas Mwaisobwa, said the amount was out of 57bn/- extended loans.

"The amount was collected between June and this month, I urge other beneficiaries of the loans to refund the money," Mr Mwaisobwa told a news conference in Dar es Salaam on Monday.

The HESLB Act provides a grace period of one year after graduation for recipients of the loan to start repaying the amount in instalments.

Mr Mwaisobwa explained further that between the year 2005 and June, this year, the amount of matured loans stood at 222bn/- which he said would be collected in instalments.

Meanwhile, the HESLB official advised students wishing to apply for loans to make applications through the internet since the technology has proved to be efficient compared to other systems.

"It is advisable that applicants make use of the internet where payments are also made online. If one fails to make it through the internet then she/he can contact us through a mobile number which is open full time," he explained.

During financial year 2005/2006, the board dished out loans amounting to 56.1bn/- to 42,729 students and the amount increased to 76.1bn/- for 47,554 students during the year 2006/2007.

Mr Mwaisobwa went on to add that the board had given loans totalling 235bn/- to 97,348 students during fiscal year 2012/2013.

Responding to questions from journalists, Mr Mwaisobwa maintained also that the application fee is not refundable.

PM: Educational materials to go digital

 Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda

THE government now intends to digitalise all school books and other paperbased educational materials in a move to do away with dated physical reading manuscripts and embarking onto ebooks.

Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda stated here that the country’s educational system must go digital because it would make it easier for both students and teachers in Tanzania to access available reading and teaching materials on convenient and modern platforms such as personal computers, tablets and even smartphones.

Mr Pinda explained that the move will also include establishing a giant national digital library and archives that can be accessed from practically anywhere in the country.

Weruweru: We'd like our O'Levels back please

Moshi. Weruweru Secondary School, which marked its Golden Jubilee yesterday, wants the government to reverse its order to phase out ‘O’ levels in all high schools.

The school’s administrators and former headmistresses said the decision, taken in 2007, was counter-productive and could have led to a drop in the performance of the school in national examinations.

Maria Kamm, the longest serving headmistress, said during the climax of the celebrations yesterday that ‘O’ levels were critical in moulding students.

She told Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, who was the chief guest, that scrapping Form 1 to IV at the school she taught in for 22 years may have led to the drop in its performance in recent years.

Ms Kamm, who is one of only five headmistress the school had in its 50-year history, said the school fared well in the national examinations in the 20 years it had only ‘O’ level students.

The situation remained more or less the same from the 1980s, when Form V and VI were added and Ms Kamm is concerned about the school’s national ranking. 

Weruweru was established in 1963 by the Roman Catholic Church with the support of the Assumption Sisters from the United Kingdom. The government took it over in 1970.

In 1984, the school had to be expanded to accommodate Form V and Form VI students, raising the number of students at any one time to an all-time high of 1,200.

In 2007, ‘O’ level classes were phased out following a government directive that schools with ‘A’ level students should ditch Form I-IV classes. The move affected other public schools countrywide.

Ms Flaviana Msuya and Ms Anna Devotha Sambaya, the headmistresses from 1993 to 2001 and 2001 to 2009 respectively, suggested that if the government could not revert to the old order, it should reconsider Weruweru’s case.

Similar sentiments came from other speakers, mainly former students Asha Rose Migiro, Dr Mary Nagu and Ambassador Mwanaidi Maajar, during the well-attended event.

But the deputy minister for Education and Vocational Training, Mr Philipo Mulugo, said the government phased out ‘O’ levels in all high schools after the rapid rise of the former.

Some 12,757 girls have gone studied at the school, which has 53 teaching staff currently. Three of the headmistresses have been former students.

TEA, Total Tanzania, support Dar schools

Tanzania Education Authority (TEA)

The Tanzania Education Authority (TEA) has signed a three-year pact with Total Tanzania Limited to provide desks to primary schools in Dar es Salaam municipals.

The support is meant to boost government's efforts in implementing the Big Results Now Initiative which need to see the country transforms to middle-income economy.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday at the launch of the project Assistant Director for Primary Schools, Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Sara Mlaki said that the pact has come up at the right time when there is a huge shortage of desks in primary schools forcing some pupils to sit on the floor.

Students make pesticide from husks

Dar es Salaam. Two students at Moshi based Maua Seminary have developed a potentially low-cost pesticide for cereal crops using rice husks.

Newton Mshanga and Francis Shirima, studying at Form Two and Form Three respectively, have managed to develop pesticides from paddy husks when engaged in their joint science project at school.

“We came up with an idea after seeing crops in the school farm devastated by pests,” said Mr Shirima.

The duo were in the city this week to participate in an exhibition which brought together science students from 60 secondary schools.

The competition, which was held during the last two days also involved over 120 pupils and was meant to encourage them apply scientific methods in finding solutions to problems in their surroundings.

UK visa system to benefit Tanzanians

Dar es Salaam. Due to customer demand from businessmen and students who wish to travel on short notice to the United Kingdom, the British High Commission yesterday launched a new fast-track visa application system.

The fast-track system would be optional for Tanzanians who wish to study in the UK for business, studying and a visit and would cost an additional fee of £100 (about Sh250,000). 

Tanzanians lead other East Africans in accessing visas to the UK. Last year 4,067 Tanzanians were granted visas to the UK out of 5,214 applications.

The British High Commissioner, Ms Dianna Melrose, said visas applied through the fast-track system would be processed within five days or less unless there were problems with the application in which case the high commission would notify the applicants.

“This priority service will help us achieve the objectives of our new UK/Tz prosperity partnership to increase trade and investment. It will support Tanzania’s development and generate prosperity and employment for both countries,” said the High Commissioner.

She noted the visa service was flexible and responsive to needs. She said every individual applying for a visa was different and the high commission wanted to ensure it provided a range of services to meet varying needs.

“However the normal immigration rules still apply, this does not assure that the applicant will be granted the visa,” she said, adding that the move meant to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

On whether there were any plans to start issuing visas in Tanzania, Ms Melrose said the initiative to process them in Kenya was meant to cut down on costs.

Teachers’ boycott puts students in deep uncertainty

A guardian accompanies students travelling back to school yesterday. The start of third term is uncertain for government-aided schools because teachers have said they will not work unless government increases their salaries. PHOTO BY GEOFFREY SSERUYANGE  

Kampala. Students in public schools can expect a rugged start to the third term today after the national teachers union insisted its members would boycott classes despite a government plea that the strike be called off.

The teachers union announced the strike last week after government failed to find money to effect a 20 per cent pay increment although State authorities insist there is still room for dialogue.

In an interview on Saturday, Education minister Jessica Alupo said she expects the teachers to turn up in class today, adding that further action would only be taken depending on the opening day events.

“We expect that all teachers will report to their duty stations on Monday. Ministry of Finance has already sent capitation grant to schools to enable them start. In case they insist on their planned strike, I have decided to wait until that time,” Ms Alupo said.