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

Mzumbe launches programme for locals to manage big projects

 Mzumbe university Vice-Chancellor, Prof Joseph Kuzilwa.

MZUMBE University, in collaboration with a Brazilian-based institute, ISAE, has inaugurated a new academic programme that seeks to empower Tanzanians to efficiently manage big projects in the country.
 
The course, the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative, seeks to help Tanzanians manage huge projects starting in the country, especially now that the economy is booming.
 
The varsity’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Joseph Kuzilwa, said when inaugurating the course in Dar es Salaam
yesterday that it was the first course of its kind in the country.
 
“Our economy is now growing fast and there are huge international projects starting here…we want to train
Tanzanians so they can manage them and become participants and not mere observers in the process,” he said.

He identified eligible students as people dealing with such projects from government agencies, ministries,
companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the rest of Tanzanians interested in acquiring such
knowledge.
 
He said students will acquire quality knowledge that will empower them manage international projects by the two organisations and that Mzumbe would be monitoring their performance at their workplace afterwards.
 
He noted that the course was very crucial in the country and the region at large because it will make the
beneficiaries be at par with foreign experts in terms of knowledge when managing huge projects.
 
“They will be able to plan big international projects, enter into agreements, procure and better manage them,” he said, adding that this was one of the secrets that made Brazil what it was today in terms of development.
 
He explained that the course will help Tanzanians better manage projects dealing with gas, oil and minerals in the country. There are already some students who have started acquiring the knowledge offered at Mzumbe
University’s Dar es Salaam campus.
 
For his part, Prof Wanderlei Marinho da Silva from ISAE said he was happy for the educational collaboration with Mzumbe University in offering the course.
 
“Brazil has managed to be where it is today because of managing its projects well,” he said. He said they were ready to make sure that their collaboration became a success for the good of the country. Mzumbe has promised to come up with more courses that will meet the demand of the country.

CBE tied up with University of Eastern Finland for PhDs

The College of Business Education (CBE) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Eastern Finland to assist its lecturers acquire philosophical degrees (PhDs) to enable them supervise masters degrees at the college.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Guardian yesterday in Dar es Salaam, CBE rector Prof Emanuel Mjema said that they planned to start offering masters degrees but lacked qualified lecturers to run the programme.

He said the signing of the MoU will help them have sufficient PhD lecturers to run the post graduate courses.

Prof Mjema also said that five lecturers will commence PhD studies in September, this year to be supervised by a professor from the University of Eastern Finland.
 
He said the college has 90 staff who will have to study for PhDs to enable them supervise masters degrees. Ten lecturers are currently studying for PhDs in different colleges in and outside the country.

“We have projected that after four years we will have more PhD lecturers in our college. our aim now is to provide quality education that will assist our students to compete in the labour market,” he said

He pointed out that apart from signing the MoU with the University of Eastern Finland, the CBE has also joined hands with University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa to exchange research methodologies and training in business administration.

As we sat to seek answers to the question of how we can make sure CBE’s academic production process is not flawed, there is no cheating in examinations, lecturers are not getting into lecture rooms to talk cheap and street politics and more importantly have a mechanism where we can be able to get a true picture of our students and lecturers conduct, then we came up with the idea of installing cameras in all lecture rooms,” noted the Rector.

The project involves 20 Security Cameras, which have been installed at CBE Main Campus, 13 of which were installed in normal lecture rooms, five in the Computer Lab and two in the Library. 

Through the Security Control room, the office of Rector and the Deputy Rector responsible for Academics, Research and Consultancy (ARC) will be able to view what is happening in all the installed lecture rooms, Computer labs and Library at a time.

According to the Rector, the Camera installation drive which includes supply of Security Cameras, DVR, Dimensional keyboard and High Resolution LCD Monitor 22 has spent a total cost of TZS 66,300,000/=. 
 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Ten UDSM students clinch geology scholarships

TEN University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) students 

have come out on top for geology scholarships that 

were offered by Swala Oil and Gas Tanzania Limited 

after fierce competition for the slots.

According  to  a  statement  issued  by  the 

 company,   there  were  many  applicants  for  the 

  scholarships.  "We  are delighted that these ten 

students have been accepted for our scholarship

 programme. We had many applicants and the

 successful ones stood out, not just because of their 

vision and plans, but also due to their scores in 

 relevant subjects," Swala Chief Executive Officer, Mr

 David Ridge, said.

Mr Ridge said his company looked forward to work 

with the students during their geology course. The 

winning students are Joel Haule, Robert Kisimbo, 

Andrew Maronga, Denis Muhoka, Rafael Ngole

, Levina Pangani, Lucy Pangani, Emmanuel Rajabu, 

Anita Ringia and John Sospeter.

The head of the Geology department at the University

 of Dar es Salaam, Dr Shukrani Manya, commended 

Swala for offering the  10 undergraduate students 

pursuing a Bachelor of Science programme in

 Geology a fully paid sponsorship.

“Not only does the offer enable the students to

 pursue their studies with assured funding support, 

but it also helps in building the much-needed 

capacity, especially for the oil and gas sub-sector 

which is in its infancy in Tanzania," he said.

Dr Manya explained that the spin-off impact from this 

programme will enhance collaboration between

 Tanzanian local universities and the private mining 

sector. Furthermore, the students who won the

 scholarship are expected to serve the nation as well

 as being trained and qualified human resource in

 the booming mining industry in the country.

To be considered for the scholarship, students were 

required to have been accepted at the University of

 Dar es Salaam for the geology course, have

 outstanding academic results and apply for the grant

 through a website.

According to the East Africa Gas - Potential for Export

 report published by the Oxform Institute for energy

 studies, it was truly remarkable how East Africa and

 specifically Mozambique and Tanzania, have in a

 short space of time become the focus of attention as 

a source of new global gas supply.

The report said that five years ago, the two countries

 would not have appeared on a list of potential

 suppliers of large volumes of gas and Liquefied

 natural gas (LNG). "What has particularly captured

 the industry’s attention is the size of the ‘reserves per

 well’ being reported.

In Tanzania the 8 successful wells to date have been

 found to have 18 Tcf (i.e. 2 Tcf/well), while in

 Mozambique the 12 successful wells have been 

found with 85 Tcf, which equates to an astonishing 7

 Tcf/well3," the report read in part.

The report said that a fundamental question being

 asked by many observers is why the gas prospects of

 this region have only come to the attention of the gas

 world in the past few years.

Swala is an affiliated company of Swala Energy

 Limited, a company listed on the Australian Stock

 Exchange with ticker  ‘SWE’. Swala’s holdings are in

 the world-class East African Rift System with a total

 net land package in excess of 17,500km2.

New discoveries have been announced in a number 

of licences along this trend, including Ngamia and 

Twigga, which extend the multibillion barrel Albert

 Graben play so successfully developed by Tullow Oil

 into the eastern arm of the rift.

‘Desk for every child’ project gets 80m/- boost

 Bank M Chairman, Nimrod Mkono

BANK M has offered 80m/- to support Hassan Maajar Trust’s (HMT) project to provide desks to public schools countrywide. 

Launched in December 2011 in partnership with Bank M, HMT’s ‘Desk for every child’ campaign has provided over 4,000 desks for over 12,000 children in the country.

 Speaking at the signing of the 80m/- deal in Dar es Salaam yesterday, HMT Chairperson Amb. Mwanaidi Maajar appreciated the bank’s generous support, saying the trust managed to provide desks to over 12,000 children in the project’s first year. 

“We are determined to ensure that no child has to study while sitting on the floor,” vowed Ambassador Maajar, noting that with the bank’s support, the trust will this year provide 5,000 desks for 15,000 children, particularly, in rural areas. 

Bank M Chairman, Nimrod Mkono, said his bank was proud to work with HMT in such a noble cause, commending the trust for a job well done in the project’s first year.
 
“Having 12,000 children seated on desks in the first year of the project is an achievement we can all be proud of…this has really encouraged us to continue working with the Trust,” said Mr Mkono, noting that the bank was dedicated to support sustainable projects, with long lasting impact on the community.

“We all understand the magnitude of desk shortage in our public schools, which accommodate majority of our children. It is our collective duty to support the government to improve the learning environment and enhance the quality of education in public schools,” said Mr Mkono, who is also an MP for Musoma Rural.

Other partners to the desk project include Africa Barrick Gold through its ABG Maendeleo Fund, National Housing Corporation and Millicom Tanzania’s Tigo Tuchange