education in mtwara

INTRODUCTION

According to fafunwa (1974) defines education as what each generation gives to its younger ones which makes them to develop attitudes abilities, skill, and other behavior which are of positive value to the society in which they live.

Kelly (1999:1) defines education as a lifelong process in which the older generation impart skills, values and knowledge into the young ones for their own survival. “Education is not the same as schooling, but it is a lifelong process conducted by many agencies”. Education is the action exercised by adult generation on those who are not yet ready for social life.

Education in Mtwara after independence provided through formal system. The government had built many primary schools, secondary school and advance schools. Now days Mtwara there are schools owned by government and others owned by private person. Example Ocean Secondary school, King David Secondary School and St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School which are privately owned by people. Kambona & Komba (2018).

This is education system that provided by native teacher to the majority natives in mtwara after getting independence in 1961. Education system after independence is differentiated from colonial period , because  present education is started kindergarten level or pre-primary education followed primary education, secondary education from form one to form six and finally to the university education/level that student completing attend a three or four years bachelor degree offering institution or attend other non-degree institution.

All in all progress in the education in  Mtwara region has been made since independence when the government decided to increase the number of schools especially in rural areas through different plans like introduction of ward  secondary school in 2007 and so on.

Importance of education in Mtwara region.

Provide training and support to teaching staff; so they are able to use the resource in the most effective way to further student’s education, in the few months alone, 21 schools have been successfully added to the programme bringing the total number to 41. Schools are located across the country including Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Dodoma, and Kagera. By working with the government and teachers were able to use cutting edge technology as a vehicle to improve education and provide informative world class content to students in under-resourced areas.

Education is the one of the key strategies being deployed to achieve the millennium development; goals in developing countries, where particular challenges are faced. This includes limited equipment and books, low salaries for teachers and unreliable transport for children to name just a few. More recently, the government budget shortfall for this year has been public schools under greater pressure

To gain respect from the society one should be educated. To lead a happy and prosperous life one need to study and can obtain a great job to be successful in life. It helps in earning money and fulfilling the basic needs of life. Also education will help to gain reputation by being in a great position. One can grow in their career and fulfill their dreams.

Education is the ability to think, apply it in the world and to know the value of life. It doesn't limit with self education, but also to spread it to every human around us. There is no end for education in each and each and every stage of human life we learn something. It is not about learning life, but education itself is a life. It is the key to finding great characters hidden in every individual.

LIMITATIONS OR CHALLENGES OF EDUCATION IN MTWARA REGION

Cultural history and stigma; while about 7.9℅ of Tanzanians population lives with disability, less than 1℅ of children enrolled in pre-primary, primary and secondary education have a disability. Tanzania has no system set in place to asses children for physical or mental impairments before they enroll in the education system. Surprising revelation about witch craft and how it demoralizes teachers in some parts of Mtwara.

Effect of poor meal; frequently leads to the cognitive disorders and issues with motor development at a young age. So due to that influence poor performance in academic issues to the students that lead to the challenge of getting to those children.

Shortage of teachers; addressing shortage of teachers, the LHRC report says in April, 2017, five teachers in Msimbati primary school in Mtwara teach 922 pupils, shortage of science teachers, in this year’s Chuno secondary school in Mtwara have 4 teachers of science out of 300 of number of students.

Early pregnancies, This is simply because girls getting pregnance at ealy age that caused by manyn reasons especially poor living condition as well as poor traditional practices for the Young girls of the region, it appear traditional practices have had a major negative impact on their academic performance too.

The first graduate from Mtwara was Dr. John Omari, Frank Omari, John Mponda, Joseph Namata, Isaiah Mpelumbe, Carmichael Mpupua, Anthony Hokororo and Jonas Kazibure. The first graduate from Makerere University.

Lack of support from the parents; after the release of the form 4 results at the end of last year, the regional commissioners was quoted as saying parents were not taking the education of their children seriously. But also said generally there is need for change of attitude among local government institutions and organs whose duty is to promote education

On the other hand, Mtwara region apart from registering less school emerged the first in form six results of 2018. This is an imprisonment from the third place it was ranked last year 2017. The following are some schools from Mtwara region which show the form six results of 2018

It is only in recent years that Post-colonial education has gained popularity. There were only Nursery schools in 1994 but by 1996 this has increased to117 schools.so that it is estimated more that 10% elegible 5 to 6 years old, attended pre-school in 1996. According to the table 111-1, the balance between sexes is almost 50-50. The average number of pupils per class is 51 to the class to the region and varies only slightly between District.

Total enrollment in primary schools by district Mtwara region 1974-1975 and 1996

DISTRICT	NUMBER OF SCHOOL		ENROLMENT TOTAL		AVARAGE PUPILS PER SCHOOL
	1974/1975	1996	1974/1975	1996	1974/1975		1996
MTWARA/M		19		10461			551
MTWARA/RURAL		82	11,740	19,785			241
NEWALA		193	34,110	61,573			319
MASASI		199	28,940	49,348		248
TOTAL	371	493	74790	141,167		286

(Regional inspector 2019).

Number of classrooms and enrollment in primary schools, by district, Mtwara region 1974/1975 and 1976.

DISTRICT	NUMBER OF SCHOOL		ENROLMENT TOTAL		AVARAGE PUPILS PER SCHOOL
	1974	1976	1974	1976	1974	1976
MTWARA/M	292	443	11,740	19785	40	45
MTWARA/RURAL	634	1,159	34,110	61573	54	53
NEWALA	559	1,172	28,940	49348	52	42
TOTAL	1485	2,938	74,790	141169	50	48

(Regional inspector 2019).

PRIMARY EDUCATION 2010-2014

Table: show the number of primary schools by district, Mtwara region in five years- 2010-2014

District	2010		2011		2012		2013		2014		Inspected schools-2014		Total number of public and private schools-2014
	Public school	private school	Public school	private school	Public school	private school	Public school	private schools	Public school	private school	Public school	private school			Public schools	Private schools	Public schools	Private schools
Mtwara (M)	28	3	28	3	29	3	29	3	29	4	5	4	33
Mtwara (R)	108	0	118	0	122	0	127	0	130	0	0	0	130
Tandahimba	115	0	115	0	116	0	117	0	117	0	0	0	117
Newala	118	0	118	0	119	0	119	0	119	0	0	0	119
Masasi	156	2	156	2	123	0	123	0	123	0	0	0	123
Masasi (U)	0	0	0	0	32	2	33	2	33	2	0	0	35
Nanyumbu	86	0	86	0	86	0	86	0	94	0	0	0	94
Total	611	5	621	5	627	5	634	5	645	6	5	4	651

 (Regional inspector 2019).

Education policies and acts before the independence in Tanzania up to present 

Education for self reliance 1967; This education policy introduced by J. K. Nyerere in 1967 during Arusha declaration, the major object of this education policy, was to develop students critical thinking skills, and self confidence, also this education policy was introduced as J. K. Nyerere wanted his country to become independent in all aspects like economically or socially from other nations.

Universal primary education (1974); This education policy aimed to make primary education accessible to all Tanzanian children, hence in the beginning of the 1980’s. Tanzania has achieved its needs of having a primary school in each village, however this has increased the running cost through roots and quality of education started to suffer.

The cost sharing policy; In 1980’s Tanzania suffered from decline in economic growth at the same time donor countries who supported the earliest development of schools in Tanzania by providing capital costs which leads to withdraw their support, hence government introduced the cost sharing so as to assist the continuation of the education due to availability of salaries to the teachers and availability of learning facilities example books.

The basic education master plan; In implementing this policy, since a country faced with challenges in its education sector in terms of equitable access to high quality formal education less developed districts and regions were given priority and preference in opening up new secondary schools. This policy help the country to maintain equal distribution of secondary schools in all regions or districts within the country.

CONCLUSION

After attaining independence in 1961 Tanzania has introduced various strategies in order to improve the standards of education such as the introduction of various policies and acts to improve the standards of education in Tanzania. Such that education came into improvement of the education.

REFERENCES

Regional inspector (2019). Number of Secondary school, primary schools, VTCs and Collages in                          Mtwara. Mtwara

Kelly, M.J. (1998). Origin and Development of Schools in Zambia , Lusaka : Image Publishers                              Limited.

Fafunwa, A.B. (1974). History of Education in Nigeria. London; George Allen and Unwin.