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The Tanzanian government has placed a value in education since shortly after the nation's independence. The government's National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty in 2005 heavily emphasized education and directly related its focus to the focus on the well being and quality of life of the people. Education is provided by both the public and the private sectors, starting with pre-primary education, followed by primary, secondary ordinary, secondary advanced, and ideally, university level education. Curriculum is standardized by level, and it is the basis for the national examinations. Achievement levels are important, yet there are various causes of children not receiving the education that they need. A large part of this is lack of resources for special needs education, although Tanzania has committed to inclusive education and attention on disadvantaged learners, as pointed out in the 2006 Education Sector Review AIDE-MEMORE.

Cite these: http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Inclusive_Education/Reports/nairobi_07/tanzania_inclusion_07.pdf http://www.tzonline.org/pdf/mkukutalldraft.pdf

History of the education system

Keeping this pretty much the same as the current section on this (see section 2.6 on the page for section), but I'm moving it to be the first section since I think it's important to preface the other sections with the history. I would like to add in some brief information on the 2006 Education Sector Review AIDE-MEMORE, though, because it was brought up to have some teachers learn sign language and have special books and resources for "disadvantaged learners" which I think is a really important milestone in the history of the nation's education system. Main info: Schools should focus on groups that have been traditionally excluded from education opportunities, regardless of physical, intellectual, social, or other condition within their environment.

Public vs. Private System

Tanzania's school system is catered towards the wealthy. Less than 30% of students achieve secondary education, and the language barrier between primary and secondary education is much of the issue. The language of education for primary school is Kiswahili while the language of secondary school is English, which many children end up not ever learning prior to this. There is typically no extra or private help available, and it is a big discussion as to which language the system should become consistent in. Around 60% of all teachers are under qualified, there is a huge lack of incentive and lack of instructional materials, and many of the public schools are located in extremely poor areas. Private primary schools are very few, and they are English medium and expensive. Private secondary schools are also costly, even more so even, but they often have a higher demand because if children do not pass the Standard VII exam, then they do not have the capability to enroll in government secondary school. The "normal" public system is much worse, and therefore, people often turn to private school. Private schools have the advantages of smaller class size and often better resources, but they were charging around 150,000Sh of tuition, which was completely unfeasible for the majority of families. The government is attempting to standardize the delivery of education and lower costs.

Chediel, R. W., et al. “Private and Community Schools in Tanzania (Mainland).” UNESCO, Oct. 2000, pp. 1–93. Yahl, Marie. “Education in Tanzania.” New York University, 2015, pp. 1-24. ( not scholarly but interesting perspective!: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35111666 http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/News/Tuition-fees-in-private-schools--unaffordable-/1840340-3003442-j7qkm2z/index.html )

Pre-primary education

In the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Tanzania ratified in 1991, there are two arguments that emphasize the importance of Early Childhood Education. It argues that it should be a basic right for all young children and that it yields high economic returns for a nation's development. Tanzania was one of the first African countries to ratify this policy as well as a number of others such as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. While they are progressive and see pre-primary education as a basic right, it is not mandatory and is up to parents whether or not their child attends before the age of five. There is low public awareness, especially in rural communities, about the importance of early education, and it is accessible to about 40% of pre-primary aged children, with the government not currently making strides to increase this. About 8.6% of teachers in pre-primary education are professionally qualified, and nutrition, physical health, and mental health, are all not priorities of the system. The curriculum focuses on teachers delivering curriculum in numeracy and literacy, with little room for feedback, questions, or more 'creative learning' such as storytelling, art, or peer interaction.

Primary education

Enrollment and teaching statistics

The Arusha Declaration from 1967 placed value on Tanzania adapting a community-based learning education system, where each area, urban or rural, low-income or not, assesses the needs of its community and judges policy change through that. Primary education is compulsory, and it is free and taught in Kiswahili if through the public system. As mentioned, private primary education is English medium and much more expensive. About 8,247,000 children in Tanzania are enrolled in primary education, which is about 80% of total pupils in the nation. On average, 86.5% of Tanzania's primary school aged children are enrolled, which is a decrease from the unsustainable 97% in 2007.

As enrollment increased with accessibility, it was at the expense of quality. Number of classrooms were low, especially in rural areas, often meaning between one to two hundred students would be in one classroom, and at ten government schools, there is only one teacher in this large of a classroom. Teacher to student ratio was, on average, 1:51, and textbook to student ratio was about 1:10 (as of 2018). Tanzania has plans to employ around 10,000 primary school teachers this year and is trying to focus on their credentials.

( http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/News/1840340-4562922-25oiftz/index.html ) https://www.epdc.org/sites/default/files/documents/EPDC%20NEP_Tanzania.pdf

https://www.unicef.org/tanzania/education.html

Standard Primary Curriculum

Keep pretty much the same as section 2.3 on the page (curriculum section) but exclude the languages part because already talked about that earlier. Add that agriculture was added to curriculum, especially in rural areas. Cultural activities included poetry, drama, music, arts, sports. Important addition is that Kiswahili only became the language of primary education in 1968 after independence, and this led to much linguistic discontinuity between primary and secondary education, unless children were enrolled in private primary education.

( Sifuna, Daniel N. “The Challenge of Increasing Access and Improving Quality: An Analysis of Universal Primary Education Interventions in Kenya and Tanzania since the 1970s.” International Review of Education, vol. 53, no. 5-6, 2007, pp. 687–699. )

National Examinations and Achievement Rates

Combining both of these sections from the main page with edits: Until 1973, a student was required to pass the National Standard IV Exams to continue to Standard V. The exams are still given even though passing is no longer required. The pass rate was 70.6% in 2001, 88.7% in 2003, and 78.5% in 2007.

Under current law, a student must pass the Primary School Leaving Examination at the end of Standard VII to receive a primary school certificate and be eligible to attend public secondary school. In 2009, 49.4% of the 999,070 students who sat for these exams received passing marks. The pass rate has declined alarmingly from over 70% in 2006. The Dar es Salaam region had the highest pass rate (69.8%) while Shinyanga region had the lowest (31.9%). There was a significant disparity in the national pass rate for males (55.6%) versus females (43.2%). This disparity existed to some degree in every region except Kilimanjaro. Of those who passed the exams in 2009, 90.4% were selected to join government public secondary schools for the year 2010. There was not enough room in those schools to accommodate everyone who passed.

In 2000, 82.8% of children in Standard VI on the Tanzanian mainland were at or above reading level 4, "independent reading", which was fourth highest among 14 countries and regions in southern and eastern Africa (Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Tanzania (mainland), Zambia, Zanzibar). Although only 39.5% of those children were at or above mathematics level 4, "beginning numeracy", that was fifth highest among those countries and regions.

In 2007, the reading achievement level of Standard VI children in Tanzania was higher than that of children in any other country in southern and eastern Africa. The mathematics achievement level of Tanzanian children in Standard VI in 2007 was third highest, behind only Mauritius and Kenya.

However, curriculum and success is relative. According to UNICEF, results from 2014 primary education leaving exams revealed that only 8% of students in second grade were able to properly read and do basic math like adding and subtracting. Less than 0.1% showed competency in life skills such as self-confidence, grit, and problem solving.

(https://www.unicef.org/tanzania/education.html + sources from original)

Secondary Education

Levels

Secondary education has two levels. Ordinary Level (O' Level) is Form 1 through Form 4. After Form 4, a certificate is issued to all passing the Certificate of Secondary Education Examination. Selected students may progress to Advanced Level (A' Level) education - Forms 5 and 6 - or study for an ordinary diploma in a technical college. Not all schools offer A' Level classes. All students at this level are boarding students. Because of the potential problems associated with boarding both male and female students, A' Level schools restrict enrollment to one sex.

Enrollment and teaching statistics

Keep fairly the same. After the 2012 section, though, add "In 2014, almost 70% of children between the ages 14-17 were not enrolled in education, and only 3.2% of them are enrolled by the time the final two years of secondary school comes around." And at end add: The government, in order to try and increase secondary education attendance, is providing free education for the first four years of secondary school, though quality at each school varies. Additionally, while secondary education often faces a dramatic drop in females because of the financial burden, Tanzania has reached gender parity in enrollment. One-third of girls are still married by age 18, and most of them come from poorer families.

Curriculum and student activities

As mentioned before, English is the official language of secondary school, both private and public, which leads to challenges for the majority of students that come from Kiswahili focused primary schools. In 2009, only 35.4% of students passed the English portion of the Nation VII Exam, but this does not affect their ability to go to secondary schools. English in secondary schools is extremely controversial because while some people believe that students will become prepared to understand the global economy, many others believe that the focus on other subjects drops because a significant portion of time goes into learning English. If communication is not possible and questions are difficult to ask, it is difficult to retain information and critically think.

The curriculum of secondary education consists of optional subjects plus core and compulsory subjects.

(leave from original): The core and compulsory subjects in Forms 1 and 2 that are offered by all schools include Mathematics, English, Physics, Chemistry, Kiswahili, Biology, History, Geography, Civics and Religion. The optional subjects in Forms 1 and 2 include Home Economics, Information and Computer Studies, additional Mathematics, Music, Fine Arts, foreign languages, Islamic studies, Bible knowledge, and physical education. Students may choose none or any one or two of the listed subjects if offered at their school.

The core subjects in Form 3 and 4 offered by all schools include Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, Biology, Civics, Religion, History, Geography, Physics, and Chemistry. The optional subjects in Form 3 and 4 include Home Economics, Information and Computer Studies, additional Mathematics, Music, Fine Arts, French, Arabic, Islamic Studies, Bible knowledge, and physical education.

Tanzania reemphasized the value of sports like soccer in 2009, and in addition to that, debate and religious groups are popular after school activities. Parents and teachers have slowly began to value these activities in the development and growth of students.

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/WDE/2010/pdf-versions/United_Republic_of_Tanzania.pdf

National Examinations

Keep the same as section now, but add that ~ 3% of students complete secondary education and even less go to the university level. Youth unemployment rate is about 6.5%, with more females struggling to find jobs than men. About 90% of their economy jobs remains to be in agriculture.

http://uis.unesco.org/country/TZ https://www.unicef.org/tanzania/TNZ2017-Education_factsheet.pdf https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1092388.pdf

Special Needs Education

Cultural history and stigma

While about 7.9% of Tanzania's population lives with disability, less than 1% of children enrolled in pre-primary, primary, or secondary education have a disability. Similarly to many other Sub-Saharan African countries, Tanzania has no system set in place to assess children for physical or mental impairments before they enroll in the education system, and there is a huge gap in knowledge about how to improve access to education for disabled students when many of their disabilities are not known or tested. Disabled individuals in traditional society and culture are often at a disadvantage in social relationships and economic status. The majority of the country is religious, primarily Muslim or Christian, and in history, that has been used as justification to not include disabled individuals in "normal society." In 1950, the Church Missionary Society of Tanzania opened a school for students with visual disabilities. Teachers were trained abroad and centered curriculum around the students, although up until this point, there had never been a separate learning environment for students with disabilities. Many students were and still are forced to stay at home due to superstition, stigma, and ignorance, and they are, consequently, often seen as worthless or as a burden.

Since then, the Tanzanian government has implemented multiple development plans and has incorporated programs for students with auditory and physical disabilities, but there are still issues of teachers not having proper training in this area.

https://www.unicef.org/tanzania/6911_10810.html https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5351792/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5351792/ https://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2003/23757.htm

Effects of Malnutrition

Malnutrition frequently leads to cognitive disorders and issues with motor development at a young age. In the majority of sources discussing special needs education in developing countries, malnutrition is pointed out to be a major cause of these challenges. While most malnutrition-related neurological disorders are preventable, people are not often educated and aware of this, and a lack of vitamins and other nutrients can not be diagnosed with no regular healthcare checkups or system. In Tanzania, 34% percent of children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition, and 58% of children in the same age range suffer from anemia. While malnutrition can lead to lack of curiosity or attention span and affects many Tanzanian schoolchildren, it can also lead to deficiencies that cause visual blindness, delayed mental development, retardation, peripheral neuropathy, and nerve sensitivities. According to a report from the World Health Organization, children with disabilities are 3.7 times more likely to be victims of any sort of violence, whether physical or sexual, and children with mental impairments are the most vulnerable. Because the education system for most of the nation's history did not accommodate these children, the alternative to staying home was often attending school and experiencing bullying or isolation that was not conducive to learning.

https://www.who.int/mental_health/neurology/chapter_3_b_neuro_disorders_public_h_challenges.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/global-health/nutrition/countries/tanzania-nutrition-profile https://www.unicef.org/tanzania/VAC_Tanzania_Report.pdf https://www.who.int/disabilities/violence/en/

Language Impairment and Speech Deficits

Due to cultural influence and lack of adequate educational testing, children with language impairments are often diagnosed much later on than average. Language impairment can be caused by other cognitive disorders, through social and environmental factors, or through a variety of other disorders like cleft lip. Language impairment often affects psychosocial development as well as the capability of a child to be educated around people at their level and at their pace. Teachers are not often prepared to alter their curriculum with children that cannot follow the way that they are teaching, but it is better if children are diagnosed at the pre-primary level so that they can begin training and practice at a young age. It is especially difficult in the public secondary education system because of the language change from Kiswahili to English, which is a significant transition for the average student. Tanzania faces a shortage of speech-language pathologists and therapists, and because there is no individualized training in the disorders and speech deficits are typically not the same in two people (perception, production, etc.), it is hard to have an effective curriculum solution.

https://www.annalsofepidemiology.org/article/S1047-2797(14)00279-8/abstract

Moving to an Inclusive Curriculum

With all of this considered, Tanzania has become one of the most progressive nations in Africa to implement special needs policy. Their policy on Disability as of 2002 emphasized that educators should be well versed on identifying students' developmental needs and being able to create a curriculum and classroom setting that is inclusive. While they have pledged to create training centers for these skills, there is still debate on whether enough action has been taken or if it has all been unimplemented policy. Religion and stigmatization of disability still exist and play a key role in the progress of the issue. However, Tanzania does seem to pride the progression from segregation, to integration, and now to inclusivity. Organizations for disabled individuals and allies have been developed, schools are becoming more inclusive so that all children can bond over experience and build relationships, and families have support groups that they may part take in. Recently, progress with policy has been largely progressive.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5bacce7ded915d25b12500a7/113-Education_for_Children_with_disabilities.pdf

Education sector national budget

Keep the same as current page

Rest of page stays the same, am currently working on adding in all of my sources which I think is the main thing that I have to do! And a few diagrams/images! Links that are in sections just have to be incorporated in, I'm not actually leaving them there!