What are the education policies we have past up to date?

What are the education policies we have past up to date?

In Tanzania there are different education system which have been used since after independence, these policies includes education for self reliance, Universal Primary Education, cost sharing policy reforms of the 1990’s, the basic education master (BEMP), as follow described.

.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.

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

Education policies after independence

Since independence in 1961, the government of Tanzania has attempted several times to reform the education system to meet their development objectives which was adopted almost all regions and that of Mtwara. However, in order for the new reforms to be successful, perceptions and attitudes would

 The  Education  for  Self-Reliance  document  and policy President  Julius  Nyereres education for self reliance  policy was  based upon the  perceived inappropriateness  of  a western model  of  education that  was  imported by colonists  along with a  foreign curriculum.  Along this  line  of  thought, because  Africans  history, culture, and position  differs  from  that  of  the western  countries,  so  too  do  the  goals and  needs of  the  educational  system.

 Education for self reliance  was a part  of the  broader  Ujamaa  reforms that  attempted  to  address  these inadequacies and  failures of  the colonial  educational  system  that  was  still  in use  in independent  Tanzania.   As  such, the  new policy  was  to  teach  students the values of  equality  and  respect,  the  importance sharing  of resources, and a  belief  in the  philosophy of  hard work by every citizen  without  exploitation;  all ideals that  Nyerere felt  the colonial  educational  system  lacked. Rather  than  simply  being inadequate  for  Tanzania,  Nyerere  saw  the  colonial  education model  as a system  that  was introduced  with  the intent to  inculcate colonial  values  and  force cultural  change.

 The  main shortcomings  of  the  old educational  system  included  the  elitist exclusivity  of  education, the  tendency of  education to separate  and alienate  students  from  their local  communities, a  lack of  value  in an education in which only knowledge  is  acquired with no productive  use, and an inherent  disregard for  no formal  and/or  pre-colonial  educational  methods and values.  The education  for self reliance  policy was  intended to redress  these  problems  through the  reorganization of  the  educational  system,  mainly by changing  curriculum  content,  adjusting  the  entry age  of school  children, and the  decentralization of  educational  institutions.  also need to be  adjusted, not  just administrative  changes  (Nyerere, 1968).

 The  ultimate goal  of  education for self reliance  was for Tanzania  and  its  citizens to  achieve  “self-reliance” or  freedom  from  dependence on  outside resources.   In  the  context of  the  state,  this meant a strong  reforms  and  modifications  to education for self reliance  After the  initial introduction of  the  1967 education for self reliance  policy, a  number  of  Education Acts  and other supporting  policy documents  were  released by  the  government  to both formalize  and solidify education for self reliance  objectives as well  as to  make  modifications to  the  original education for self reliance   implementations  as deemed necessary  (Education and Training  Policy,  1995). 

One  of  the  largest  reform  attempts  of education for self reliance  was  the  1974 Musoma  Resolution,  which was  produced after  a  government  conference  held  to assess the education for self reliance  policy.   Dismayed by this assessment,  which indicated that  many  of the  important attitudinal and  social  objectives of  education for self reliance  were not  being  successfully  executed,  the  Musoma Resolution  put  forth  three  strategy  reforms  that  were  intended  to  correct  the  prominent  problems of  education for self reliance. These  were  the  universalization  of  primary  education  (UPE),  reformed  requirements  for university admission, and a  stronger  emphasis  on the  integration of  vocational  training with academics to  better  prepare graduates at  all  levels for both  employment  and  further  education (Block, 1984, p. 107).

 The  Musoma  Resolution was  reiteration of education for self reliance  values  and philosophy and  its major reforms  were designed  to  increase the prevalence  of education for self reliance activities and  the vocational  element  in “diversified  secondary education.  It  also undertook examination reform in  an  attempt  to  reduce  the  importance of  the  traditional  academic Musoma  Resolution 1974,  established  a new  examination  system  that  was intended  to  assess  both  academic  knowledge  and attitudes  to work  (Nkonoki, 1978).

 However, the  addition of  new  subjects  led to overcrowded  curriculums  and educational quality continued  to deteriorate  due  to both  resource-based  problems and  issues with  teacher training and  pedagogy  (Buchert, 1994).  Furthermore, attempts  by the  schools  to  change  student attitudes  toward manual  labor  and  national  responsibility  were  unlikely to be  successful, and were  often even negatively reinforced by practices  such as  using the  threat  of  agricultural  or manual  labor  as disciplinary  measures  in  schools and  the installment  of  mandatory national service  (Nkonoki, 1978

 Challenges, shortcomings, and failures of education for self reliance without a central policy or nationally-standardized implementation, 

ESR  became characterized by a  severe  lack of  organization and  poorly synchronized implementation and activities, which made  it difficult to  determine  which  strategies  were  being  implemented  or  whether they  were effective.   This  deficiency undoubtedly  impeded the  progress  of  ESR  and  the  attainment  its goals, although it  is  unclear  to what  degree  it  is  responsible  for  ESR’s  eventual  abandonment  (D. Komba  &  Temu, 1996).

Several  key  areas  in  which  education for self reliance  failed  to  meet  its objectives can  be  clearly  identified,  while  the  development  of  critical thinking  skills  is  mentioned  as  an  important part of  education, neither  the  ESR  document  nor  later  policy directives  gave  a  clear  indication of  how  to foster these  skills  or  methods  for  teaching  them.

 Furthermore, although examination reform  was  listed as a goal  of education for self reliance,  there  was little guidance for how  to  make these changes or what  alternative forms  of  evaluation were  to be  utilized;  an attempt  by the  Musoma  Resolution to  introduce what  is  done in  classes  is not  integrated  with  what  goes on  outside  of  classes”  (p.  15-16).    In many  ways, the  problems  and  failures  of  education for self reliance,  as  well  as  the  strength  of  the  philosophical rationales  and values  behind it, had a  huge  impact  upon the  changes  that  took  place  in the educational  system  and the  eventual  formation of  the  new  policy in 1995.

                                    EDUCATION AND TRAINING POLICY

 In  the  early  1980s  the  predominance  of  the  original  ESR  policy began to wane,  although  it lingered on  in many ways  until  the  official  creation of  the  1995 Education and Training Policy.  The  ETP  policy changes  occurred within  the  context  of  many wider  societal  changes, including the  effective end  of  the socialist  economic  model  with  the  increasing  liberalization  of  the economy in  Tanzania.  It  also corresponded with  shifts  in development  education discourse  and interests,  as  a strong  backlash  against  agriculture and  vocational  education  in  primary  and secondary  institutions  developed in  the  1980s.   This  backlash was  partly the  result  of  popular research  in the  field, such as  Foster’s  1965 “vocational  school  fallacy”  findings  and  later  similar studies,  and  the  barrage of  challenges and  ineffective  results  that  plagued  “vocationalized” policies,  but  also  reflected  a  shift in  international concentration  to  universal primary  education (UPE)  as  a  new  paradigm  of  development  education  (McGrath, 2010).

 These changes in  the  broader  national and  international environment  are  reflected  in  the changes in  policy  approaches and  focuses in  Tanzania.    In  1981, a  Presidential  Commission on Education  was  established to  develop  recommendations  for  the  future  direction of  the educational  system  (The  Ministry  of  Education and Vocational  Training, 1995,  pp. vi-vii).  While  the  government  for  the  most  part  continued to reaffirm  the  philosophy and goals  of  ESR, examinations  that  were based upon the  western models.  In 1976, the National Examinations Council of Tanzania, acting on