EF 200: HISTORY OF EDUCATION
EF 200: HISTORY OF EDUCATION
History
History is the record of all past human events, experience and activities. It is concerned with social, political, economic, scientific and technological development of human being.
Education
Education is continuous process by which desired knowledge, skills and attitudes are acquired and developed. Through education one achieves social competence and individual growth.
Education is the process of a of acquiring and developing desirable knowledge, specific skills, positive attitudes and values. This implies that education is lifelong activity.
Education should therefore bring about some change, a change that is acceptable to some society.
Education is the process of transmission of wisdom, experience and skills.
Education is the process of transmitting the culture of a society from one generation to other.
Education today is more than what the school, colleges or universities alone can give.
Forms of education
(i) Formal education; refers to fulltime hierarchically structured and chronologically graded educational activities operating from pre-primary school to university level (Mushi, 2009). It also includes general academic studies, a variety of specialized programmes for full- time technical and professional training.
Unfortunately this is the type of education that is recognized by many people, thus a person who has never been in formal educational institution is considered as uneducated.
It has the following features
It is conducted in the institution by professional teachers, ability to read and write is the means for communicating knowledge and skills to learners, it has a well-structured curriculum with defined goals and objectives,
testing and measurements are used to promote learners to the next level and achievement is recognized by the award of certificates.
(ii) Non formal education
refers to any organized educational activity operating outside the established formal educational system targeting certain group in the population (Mushi, 2009).
The forms of education include: adult education, on-the-job training, farmers training, literacy programme, rural development programs, vocational training, cooperative and health education.
features Non formal education
less selective,
less expensive,
less elitist and programs are meant to meet specific needs of specific categories of people
it may or may not lead to formal certification
it may or may not be supported by the state
it focuses on a clearly defined purpose
is not compulsory
Characteristics of non-formal education by Thungu et al, (2010):
activities are flexible and therefore adaptable to different situations;
the cost are relatively low;
it is skill oriented; it serves the immediate needs for employment and increase productivity;
performance of learners may be assessed through marks or grades;
certificates to recognize achievement may or not be awarded;
it is content focused though not necessarily time-bound;
It is aimed at meeting the interest and aspirations of specific groups.
Informal education
Is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and attitudes from day-to-day experience as one interacts with his/her environment.
Informal education is a lifelong process that provides an individual with skills, attitudes, values and knowledge from daily experiences and through social interactions.
Agents of informal education include the family, religious bodies, the media, the state, and peer groups. They introduce the learner to the roles and behavior that are acceptable in the society.
Some features of informal education
It is unstructured;
Learning takes place unconsciously;
It is broad-based;
It is often aimed at imparting moral values;
It takes place anywhere and at any time.
History of education
History of education is the study of major educational developments in the society which took place in the past for the present and future generation.
History of education is the study of past developments of educational systems, theory and educational institutions within the general historical framework of political, social, economic, technological and cultural change.
History of education is the systematic study of educational development of a society from the past to the present. It is aimed at knowing what was done in the past so as to appreciate the present and plan for the future.
The reasons of studying History of education
To improve the quality of education and strengthening professional competence of teachers through critical examination of existing educational theories and practice in order to improve the future.
The study of history of education helps us to appreciate the various aspects of our past educational process so as to link them to the present;
History of education gives us the opportunity of studying other people’s educational ideas and programmes with the aim of developing ours;
It also gives us a solid foundation to plan for our present and future educational development
History of education guides us to give some positive solution to our present day educational problems;
It widens the scope and knowledge of the teacher and makes him more comfortable and competent in his class.
It helps us to understand some major trends and developments in our educational system;
It helps us to formulate and implement better philosophies of education;
Phases of history education
1st phase; Pre-colonial education and the emergence of Islamic and Christian education
2nd phase; Colonial education
3rd phase; post-colonial educational development to the present.
INDIGENOUS AFRICAN (PRE-COLONIAL) EDUCATION
Indigenous African education is a process of passing among the tribe members and from one generation to another the inherited knowledge, skills and values of the tribe/ society.
This was education about the tribal society they lived in even though there was no formal school and no teachers ( Nyerere, 1979).
Education in traditional African society could be said to be education for consolidating the society; it reinforce the cultural solidarity of the tribe.
Traditional African societies had no schools as we know them today. Every society had its own system of passing on to the young generation the values and beliefs which identified the society and ensured its continuity.
The Contents of Indigenous African Education
Education responded to the existing socio-economic, political and cultural practice of the community.
The content of education varied from one society to another depending on the natural environment, cultural norms and the needs of the society it served.
For example in pastoral areas, hunting and herding skills were emphasized, farming; tribes concentrated on skills relating to crops and plants and in coastal or lake areas, fishing and canoe making were practiced.
It was a process by which the youth learnt from their elders and parents about their society.
They learnt from their parents and other elders about the society they lived in, about the methods of farming and so on.
The education reflected the socio-economic, political and cultural life of Africans. There existed three categories of education according to Cochiti (1988) i.e. general education, Age- grade education and specialized education.
General education was provided to every member of the society and it comprised of civics, health care, history of the society, moral education, food production etc. It was offered to every member of the society.
Age- grade, individuals of the same age were brought together to share responsibilities, to work together. The entry to each grade being the initiation. The education provided included sex education, codes of good behavior, social responsibilities, warfare and courtship.
Specialized education, this type of education was offered to a few selected individual in the society. The skills offered included leadership, medicine, fishery, building, witchcraft, rain making, tinsmithery etc.
Forms of indigenous African Education
Indigenous African education was mainly informal type where by learning was a lifelong process related to the pattern of work in the society. However some aspects of indigenous African education were formal.
Formal education in pre-colonial society like informal education was directly connected to the purpose of the society.
Traditional African education was transmitted through various ways including language, music, dance, oral tradition, proverbs, myths, stories, and religion. For example social values and attitudes were transmitted through music, songs and dances.
Some songs and dances were used to discourage bad behavior like theft, witchcraft practices, and abusive language. Generally there were no clearly defined and common methods of instructing and no clear standardized methods of testing the learner for the purpose of graduation and certification
Education was acquired by children from the examples and behavior of elders in the society. Young people imitated the elders. Teacher was the only source of information and learners were required to conform to what teachers/ elders said.
Objectives of Indigenous African Education
i) To pass on the inherited knowledge and skills and values of the society from one generation to another.
ii) To consolidate the society through the preservation of cultural heritage of the society and transmission of codes of good behavior like obedience, respect, honesty which ensured the survival of the society.
iii) To prepare the individuals for life in their society i.e. it produced individuals who were respectful, integrated, sensitive and responsive to the needs of the society and its neighbors.
iv) To acquire specific vocational skills and to develop a health attitude towards honest labor.
v) To develop a sense of belonging and to participate in the activity of the family/community.
vi) To understand, appreciate and promote the cultural heritage of the community.
KEY PRINCIPLES OF FOUNDATIONS OF AFRICAN INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
Preparationism
This implies that the role of education was to prepare young boys and girls to take responsibilities in the society.
Functionalism
Indigenous African education was for immediate use in the society or what was taught to the youths was directly related to the activities of the society.
Communalism
Education insisted on communal living and working together. They worked together, owned the means of production together and the products of labor were equally distributed to each member of the community.
Perennialism
This philosophical base ensured that the traditional communities in Africa use education as a necessary tool for preserving the status quo of the tribe. Based on this fact it did not allow the progressive influence of on the mind of young people and so it was viewed as conservative in nature.
Holisticism
In this philosophical base a learner was required to acquire multiple skills. They were either not allowed to specialize in specific occupation, or very little room for specialization did exist.
Methods of Learning
(i) Through observation and repetition of what parents and elders did and encourage young ones to do it.
(ii) Through oral tradition method whereby knowledge was passed through stories, legends, folktales, songs, riddles and poetic devices.
The Strengths of Indigenous African Education
i) The education makes everybody a functional member of the society,
thereby minimizing unemployment and social unrest;
ii) It inculcates high level of discipline among the people;
iii) It unites every member of the society and bring peace and happiness
to all;
iv) There is the fear of God and ancestors which goes to check members character and behavior;
v) It transmits to the younger ones things considered by the society to be worthwhile;
vi) It provides physical, mental, social, moral and spiritual growth for the individual;
vii) ) It was taught in relation to the “concrete situation” i.e. it was geared to the needs of the community. Thus it was useful in solving community problems.
Viii) Every member of the society has the opportunity to receive education according to his or her ability and talent.
Weaknesses of Indigenous African Education
i)Traditional education has limited scope in terms of content and curriculum;
ii) It is mainly informal, hence limiting the span of knowledge;
iii) It does not have well defined structure, duration or time;
iv) Traditional education lacks uniform standard. The standard varies from teacher to teacher or community to community.
v) Certain members of tribe were prevented from eating certain kinds of food like eggs, fruits, milk and fish;
vi) It lacked proper methods of storing knowledge as it relied on memories of elders. It was not easy to estimate distance, weight, height, volume etc. because figures or letters were unknown.
The Influence of Indigenous African Education on the Post-Colonial Education System in Tanzania
Some aspects of the indigenous education continued to feature in the policy and Practice of education after independence. These aspects include:
The purpose of education
Like the indigenous African education, the purpose of education after independence was to pass on knowledge, skill and wisdom from one generation to another.
Integration of community education
Pre-colonial African education was organized with reference to socio-economic pursuit of the indigenous society. Similarly the Education for Self Reliance called for integration of education and the community life.
This was achieved by combining traditional education and the modern one so that education operates with reference to the society.
Education as a lifelong learning Process
Traditional African education was part of the community life as it took place all day and almost every day throughout life. After independence the government insisted that education provided in Tanzania had to be part of life as it had been in traditional societies.
Learning as a practical activity
Indigenous African Education was taught theoretically and practically. This idea was perpetuated in the post-independence period.
Nyerere emphasized the question of learning by doing when he said” the best way to learn sewing is to sew; the best way to learn farming is to farm; the best way to learn cooking is to cook; the best way to learn how to teach is to teach.
Emphasis on functionality
Indigenous African education was functional because the knowledge imparted was relevant in the development of socio-economic activities of the society. The idea of functional literacy has its origin to indigenous African education.
THE BEGINNING AND IMPACT OF ISLAM AND QURANIC SCHOOLS
In Tanzania, apart from indigenous African education, religious institutions also provided education for many years. Formal non-indigenous education was introduced by the Arabs from the time of their early contact with East Africa to the present.
Islamic education was provided through Koranic schools. The influence of Koranic school was most felt along the coastal areas, Zanzibar and along the major slave trade routes in the interior.
Koranic schools were established by the Arabs to offer religious instruction to Muslim children and promote the Islamic religious culture.
This was done through sharia memorization and mastering Arabs scripts so as to be able to read the Koran. The common learning institutions were called Madrasa
The teachings in Koranic schools were based on understanding the Koran and the fundamental tenets of Islam including: i) Belief on only one God called ‘Allah’ and Mohammad is the Prophet of God.
ii) Conducting five prayers daily.
iii) Pilgrimage ‘Hija’ to be conducted at Mecca in Medina city (for those who can afford to go there).
iv) Fasting in the Holy month of Ramadhan
v) Alms giving/Zakat
IMPACT OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION
i) It opened many opportunities to many Muslims; for example some Muslims were employed by the German colonial government as akida and liwalis.
ii) Koranic schools formed the basis of education for the coastal people and some people in the interior especially in the urban.
For example Kimambo and Temu, (1969) argued that some Tanzanian societies were already using Islamic teachers before Christian missionaries arrived to prepare people for administrative purposes.
iii) Islamic schools promoted human welfare since people were taught to live fairly with economic justices which were central teachings in Koran.
iv) It contributed to the establishment of German colonial rule because Islamic education produced graduates who helped the administration of the German colonial government.
EDUCATION IN ZANZIBAR FROM LATE 19TH TO EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Before British colonized Zanzibar parents educated their sons and daughters from the age of 6 years up to the age of 9-10 and in Quranic schools where Islamic knowledge using Arabic script was taught.
When girls reached the age of 9-10 years they were taken out of school to take over household tasks until they were married.
As a result of these reforms new schools called madras were established which in turn introduced new books and disciplines and the education was formalized and modeled to Egyptian education.
Madras played important role in the development of Islamic education in East Africa in the 20th century.
MODULE TWO
THE INTRODUCTION OF WESTERN EDUCATION AND ITS DEVELOPMENT AND PARTNERSHIP IN THE PROVISION OF EDUCATION
MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN EAST AFRICA
Christian religion was introduced in Tanganyika and elsewhere in East Africa almost eight century after the introduction of Islam and Islamic education. By the time missionaries arrived in Tanganyika in the 19th century Arabs had already been in the country for more or less seven centuries.
The Muslims had established themselves on the coast and quranic schools had been established throughout Islamic centres to offer religious instruction to muslim children.
Islam totally opposed formal education which was introduced by Christian missionaries.
Muslim religious authorities encouraged and even forced muslim children to attend madrasa (Quranic classes) which taught elimu akhera i.e heavenly or spiritual education.
Likewise the missionaries were not interested in admitting Muslim children to their schools unless they were ready to be converted.
For these reasons, missionaries became more interested in the region whose population was free from Islamic influence as well as areas which had more or less permanent settlements and
whose climatic conditions were more or less similar to that of their home countries. Such areas include Mbeya, Kilimanjaro and Bukoba which today lead in educational development.
These conflicting of religious interests led to the difference for the western type of formal education between Muslim Africans and the Christian Africans. This situation continued up to nineteen sixties (1960s).
European Christian missions and the respective areas they established themselves:
The Church Missionary Society (CMC) Kidugala – Iringa.
The United Free Church of Scotland. Tukuyu, Itete, Manow, Mwakaleli, Mwaya and Matema.
The Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) Musoma and Pare areas.
Evangilical Lutheran Mission- Machame areas in Moshi.
African Inland Mission- Tabora and Mwanza.
White Fathers- Lake Tanganyika area, Nyanza, Tabora and Ndala.
Holy Ghost Fathers – Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Bagamoyo and Morogoro.
Swiss Benedictine Fathers – Peramiho ( Songea) and Lindi.
Italian Fathers – Iringa, Mahenge and Dodoma
Belfield Mission – Vuga ( Lushoto).
The nature of penetration and the educational work of Christian mission in Tanganyika accounts for the educational inequalities along religious lines. However within would be christened communities some regions were more favored than others depending on:
Geographical location and specific goals of the mission;
Number and capability of the mission;
The response they advocated among communities in which they established themselves.
These missionary organizations set some schools in different parts of Tanganyika. For example Holly Ghost Fathers opened the first mission station with a nuclear of slaves in 1861 in Zanzibar. Other schools drew their pupils from among orphans, bankrupts, poor and misfit in the community.
Local leaders received missionaries and gave them the areas to construct schools but when they realized that mission education was denouncing their culture they drew their children from these schools.
Therefore formal Western type of education in Tanganyika and elsewhere in East Africa was introduced by missionary around 1860s (Mushi, 2009).
This education supplemented traditional African Education. Missionaries put efforts in primary education just to keep the Africans at the level that would cause little harm on economic and political ambitions of Europeans.
By 1914 missionaries had not less than 1000 bush schools with a total enrolment of 150,000 pupils most of these schools were in the interior without grant-in-aid except if they taught German.
The curriculum of early missionary schools
Gotneids (1976) state that each mission operated its own schools and used its own syllabus and the medium of instruction it wanted, however most of them used vernaculars and few of them used Kiswahili as the medium of instruction. The missionaries were not ready to use government curriculum.
The schools were divided into 3 streams
1. Brighter students. They learned the 3rs, geometry, geography, chemistry, Greek, and trigometry.
2. Industrial stream. This was for less academically capable students. They studied technical subjects, such as carpentry, craft trades, and carving.
3. Agricultural labor stream. This was for duller pupils for labor at the construction of cities and mission stations.
The time table was based on the stream as follows:
1. Academic group had: 1 hour academic activities;
hour religious study ½
The rest of the day were doing shamba work
2. Industrial stream spent 1 hour academic activities
religious study ½ hour
10 hours practical training.
3. Agricultural stream 1 hour 3rs
1 hour religious study
9 ½ manual work.
In this group some pupils remained permanently illiterate.
The Motives behind Missionary Education
According to Mushi (2009), there were three reasons for the establishment of mission schools. These include:
i) To spread Christian religion
ii) To introduce western economy
iii) To control Africans
To Spread Christian Religious Culture
The missionary viewed African as cruel and having no religion hence has to be saved together with his/her society and they regarded themselves as the bearer of the new ways of life. Mission schools, inculcated the new culture and way of life of a society they represented.
Education was used as an instrument for Christianization because the teaching of the 3rs and Christian religion was inseparable. Such education was provided through the churches, mission schools, colleges and vocational training centres.
To Introduce Western Economy
The Christian mission centres were used as a means of reproducing western culture and economy. They established commercial, agricultural and vocational centres and encouraged their converts to grow cash crops like coffee.
The taught their converts how to raise the crops and sometimes they distributed seedlings to parents through school children converts. Thus schools were used to facilitate the spread of commerce which promoted exploitation.
To Control Africans
Missionaries through education paved the way for colonial rule. According to Tibarondwa (1999), Christianity which was part of the basic education advocated peace and obedience.
Through this education African ruler, warriors and chiefs were softened and became obedient and receptive to colonial values.
Therefore these objectives sped up the establishment of schools which accelerated the process of exploitation. By the end of the 19th century there were 600 mission schools in Tanganyika with a total enrolment of 50,000 pupils. BY 1914 there were 1,000 schools with the total enrolment of over 150,000 pupils.These schools were for production and hence exploitation.
IMPACTS OF MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN TANZANIA
Some Positive aspects of Missionary
1. It played a role in the abolition of slave trade.
2 They conserved African languages including Kiswahili. They used vernaculars and they put them into writing scripts.
3. They rendered education services. They built schools and provided education. They supplemented government education where it was inadequate.
4. Economic opportunities. Where mission stations were built missionaries trained people about commercial farming, e.g. coffee, vegetables as well as cattle rearing and poultry care.
These activities benefited indigenous of the surrounding areas, e.g. Mbeya, Kilimanjaro and Bukoba.
5. Schools, hospitals and technical institutions built by early missionaries have been improved and are now important centres serving people of all beliefs.
6. Missionaries laid foundations of communication network in different areas in the interior part of the country. The colonial government used these foundations to construct railways and roads.
7. It laid foundations for few elites who struggled for independence.
8.They introduced Christianity in Tanganyika and other part of East Africa.
Negative Aspects
1) They destructed African education and technology.
2) It discriminated against non-Christian societies e.g. Muslims were discriminated in education and other social services unless the submitted to Christianity
3) Missionary education was geared to serve their interests thus Africans became their objects or tools for their system.
4) The focus of the school was religion;
5) there was lack of common syllabus and no standard textbooks; the few that were available were not relevant to the local people.
EDUCATION UNDER GERMAN COLONIAL RULE
The colonial period in Tanganyika began with the partition of Africa in the 19th century. Tanganyika was occupied by German and so became part of the German East African.
When the Germans took over Tanganyika, education for Africans was out of their thoughts. Their concern was:
1. The establishment of law and order
2. The opening up the country for trade and commerce.
The education offered to Africans aimed at:
i)producing Africans who will accept and implement colonial policies by making them serve, produce and enrich the colonial government by providing cheap labor, raw materials, markets and investment areas.
ii) implanting among Africans the notion of superiority of the whites and inferiority of the Africans so as to enhance the domination of Africans by the whites.
The first government schools were established along the coast because all colonial buildings were found along the coast e.g. Tanga school , Kilwa, Bagamoyo and Dar es salaam in 1880s.
The college was set first in Tanga, Korogwe College today then followed by Bagamoyo, Dar es salaam, Lindi. The majority of students were Swahili speakers.
By 1902 there were 4,000 students attending school. No a single girl attended school except missionary schools that trained girls. Children of administrators received education abroad.
Contribution
The education system laid a stable foundation of a national language Kiswahili since German administration often corresponded in Swahili.
The German laid a small but solid foundation for Tanzania education system. In 1903 there were 8 government schools and 15 mission schools.
Weakness
It did not educate one African girl because western education began along Muslim coast where customs dictated that girls not allowed be educated. It emphasized submissiveness not to enlightenment in the society.
EDUCATION UNDER BRITISH COLONIAL RULE 1919 – 1961
After the First World War Tanganyika became a trusteeship territory under the League of Nations. The British used indirect rule system, a system which integrated indigenous political structures into the central British Administrative structure.
Native administrative structures were run by local leaders. This system influenced the nature and development of education in Tanganyika.
After the war the education system built by the Germans collapsed and mission schools were affected too.
In 1920, River Smith, the Director of education was appointed from Zanzibar Administrative service. The tasks of the new director were:
i) To re-open the ex- German government schools
ii) To encourage missionaries to establish themselves in theirs.
Sir Horace Byatt (the first British Governor in Tanganyika) was in favor of having separate education system between the government and the missionary.
The East and Central African Phelps-Stokes Commission of 1924 made a detailed study on local conditions so that education could be improved. The commission came up with the following recommendations;
1. Partnership in Provision of Education
Partnership in the provision of education between the government and missions and missionaries were to be controlled and
financed by the government, therefore missionary basic education should lead to teacher training, technical training and secondary education.
All mission schools were to be registered by the colonial government, also were required to use government syllabuses.
These schools were to be inspected by the government school inspectors. They were also required to have qualified teachers who were recognized by the Director of education.
From 1925 the British colonial government began to finance voluntary agency schools regarding staffing and curriculum.
The aim of education on the part of government was to train manpower for economic development, missionary education was for Christianizing the whole country by education.
The British government needed to educate the children of the local elites to make their policy of indirect rule work.
They opened a special school at Tabora in 1924 for sons of chiefs. Their aim was to produce future administrators, clerks, and artisans.
They created a bold experiment at the Malangali government school whereby Africans were to be helped to preserve and modify their own culture until a satisfactory modification was made to the Europeanized environment.
Thus in 1926 the first native authority school was opened. Missionaries opposed native authority schools paid by African chiefs to train their own elites.
Therefore from 1930s to 1945 three main agencies provided education in the country, the colonial government, the missions and Native Authorities.
Quranic schools were not given grant-aid on the ground that they were purely religious institutions which gave no secular education.
2. Education for Adaptation
The education provided to Africans should be adapted to their rural environment that is it should aim at developing the people on their own lines and in accordance with their own values and customs refined where necessary.
It should enable the individual to improve his life and that of his community. Therefore, the development of agriculture, native industries, improvement of health,
training of local leaders to manage African affairs, character training were considered important in achieving the policy goals.
The curricular content consisted of health, home life training, agriculture and recreation so as to provide low-level labor supply the objective of which to produce docile and productive workers.
Religious and moral education together with secular subject were highly emphasized in the formation of habits important for the well-being of the colonial state.
Education for girls was promoted. This system was justified on the ground that it was best type of education for Africa since the majority were agricultural producers.
Content of the Syllabus
1. Agriculture was made the basis of education system. Parents saw agriculture as the road to give employment and they did not regard education as the means to improve their own life.
2. Kiswahili was made the medium of instruction in primary schools and English in secondary schools.
By 1945, vernaculars had disappeared in the education system both in government as well as non-government system.
EDUCATION IN ZANZIBAR 1919 – 1945
The government and voluntary agencies provided education in Zanzibar. The Christian missionaries made little or no impact except for few immigrants from the mainland.
The first director of education was appointed in 1907.
He made Swahili the medium of instruction and Quran was made integral part of the syllabus.
However, the integration of Western (secular) education with Quran education was not successful due to lack of interests on the part of administrators and religious conservatism of the people.
Parents did not believe that schools can effectively replace Quranic schools. Eight years later there were 800 Koranic schools with a total enrolment of over three times that of the government schools.
To make secular education acceptable to muslim parents, in 1940 the government did the following things:
1. Posting Quranic teacher in every government primary school.
2. Devoting the first two years of primary education to Quranic schools
3. Primary education was made free and each child was given a midday meal free of charge.
These attempts increased enrolment such that by 1945 there were 30 well attended government primary schools for boys and 7 for girls and one secondary school.
THE TEN YEARS EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT PLAN 1947-1956
The plan aimed at expansion of education for Africans, the focus being primary and middle school education, teacher education to provide teachers for primary and middle schools, establishment of technical education with well-equipped trade schools and enrolment of girls in schools.
It was introduced in response to economic effects caused by the Second World War. The British colonial government was trying to revive the economy which was damaged by the war.
Mass education was meant to stimulate mass production in agriculture with active participation of the masses. Skills in agricultural production, character training and hard working were highly encouraged.
The British colonial government concentrated on education for Africans.
Educational Administration
At the beginning of the plan the supervision and inspection of schools was the responsibility of the headmasters of government secondary school.
Later on with the expansion of both primary and secondary education the Provincial Education and his assistant District Education officers were appointed.
The Curriculum
The curriculum for all levels and syllabus for all subjects were revised so as to make them relate to the needs of agricultural society. The children were taught in theory and practice.
Problems in the implementation of the plan
Decline of the quality of education. In order to ensure that primary education expand STD I-IV were organized on a double session time table.
Therefore pupils were at school for only half the day in the first four years of their education.
The problem of dropout. Although many pupils were enrolled in school, many of them dropped out of school due to the traditional use of child labor at home and in the field. long distance walked to school, teaching in miserable buildings and ill-equipped classrooms.
Few girls and children of Muslim parents were undergoing formal education and many remained at home for fear of being converted to Christianity as a expense of modern and secular education.
Achievements of the Plan
1. Expansion of education at all levels.
2. Spread of Kiswahili language.
3. Improvement of the school curriculum.
4. Reorganization of educational administration
5. Mission, local authority and the government begun to be joined into education unity.
THE FIVE YEAR EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT PLAN 1957-1961
It was a plan for African Education.
It emphasized on the expansion of middle and secondary education system because such expansion is vital for social and economic development of Tanganyika.
provision of quality education to improve the ability of teachers
the establishment of Institute of education.
The introduction of unified teachers Services.
The need for agricultural, technical and commercial education.
Objectives of the plan
1. To create opportunity for more pupils to climb higher up the education ladder after completion of primary education.
2. To improve the quality of primary education by making std III and IV to have full day schooling instead of half day.
3. Introducing the teaching of English in std III-IV;
4.Improve teacher education and make closer supervision and inspection of schools;
5.Expansion of middle school (STD V-VIII) so as to reduce the number of pupils leaving schools after 4 years of half day schooling.
Increase the number of std IX, X and std XI-XII so as to increase the number of candidates eligible to take the school certificate examination.
The development of trade schools at Ifunda and Moshi as well as the Technical Institute of Dar es salaam.
Criticism
1. The education provided was too bookish.
2. Primary and middle school pupils spent much time on farm work.
3. All key posts of educational administration were filled by colonists.
4. The education system of our country was organized into racial bases.
However the 5 years educational development plan was not fully implemented because of lack of fund and political events of 1960s. In 1960 an elected government was already in the office and worried to introduce its own plans.
INEQUALITIES IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES: ORIGIN AND TRENDS IN TANZANIA
Throughout the colonial period chances of access to education were unequally distributed across the country. The imbalanced distribution of educational opportunities led to inequities in the socio-economic development of people.
The origin of imbalanced distribution of education includes four basic factors:
i) the missionary factors;
ii) the colonial government
iii) the local native; authorities;
iv) the cooperative unions.
The Missionary Factors
The nature of penetration and educational work of Christian missionaries accounts for the educational inequalities along religious and geographical lines. The missionaries were interested in non Islamic areas in regions where;
population were free from Islamic influences
the area had permanent settlements
the area had conducive climatic conditions for white people
Hence most mission stations were set up in areas of banana and coffee culture that is Kilimanjaro, Mbeya and Bukoba.
The conflicting religious interests among the Christian Africans and Muslim Africans also contributed to disparity in distribution of educational opportunities.
Within Christian communities educational disparities were caused by
Geographical location and the specific goals of missionaries
The number and capability of missions
The responses the evoked among the communities in which they established themselves.
The colonial government factor
The colonial government established schools in productive areas because the aim of colonialists was to get raw materials. The unproductive areas were neglected.
According to Ishumi et al (1980), the colonial government established central schools in all provinces except the southern provinces.
Girl’s education did not receive much attention throughout the colonial period leading to unequal distribution of government schools and gender biased in education.
Local Native Authorities
The institution of indirect rule the local native authorities were allowed to run their own affairs including provision of education at certain levels.
The cost of running these schools were met through local taxing on sales of cash crops, adult male tax etc.
Some districts such as Bukoba, Kilimanjaro, Mbeya, Upare, Nyanza and South Mara benefited from sales of cash crops. The finance enabled the district to build many schools while other districts were less able to do so.
The Cooperative Unions
The cooperative unions were influential in promoting secondary and higher level education. The cooperative unions had differential economic base and finance.
Strong cooperative unions prevailed in districts in which commercial agriculture had been stimulated and vice versa. A good example of cooperative unions was the Bukoba Cooperative Union and Kilimanjaro Cooperative Union.
These cooperative unions established a special fund to assist the educational costs of children of member parents. For example the B.C.U. had the B.C.U education fund which helped the development of education in various ways such as:
Assisting parents to pay school fees.
Assisting pupils who were not selected for further education after primary education to secure places in private schools. The B.C.U paid 60% of the total cost.
The B.C.U built two secondary schools namely Omumwani and Balumi which admitted children who did not secure places in public secondary schools.
Provide scholarship and grants to students from Buhaya pursuing higher education within E.A and abroad.
Supported non formal but productive educational schemes e. g construction of home craft centres at Maruku and Igabo and training courses at the Cooperative College of Moshi.
MODULE THREE
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE POST COLONIAL PERIOD AND REFORMS
During colonial period, education was offered on the basis of gender, religion and ethnicity.
Due to discrimination in provision of education only 15% of the populations out of 9 million people were literate by 1961 (Mushi, 2009).
Lack of education caused poverty, ignorance, economic dependence, diseases, hunger and exploitation to many people. Many people accepted these problems as the will of God hence they resisted changes.
People’s Expectations after Independence
Rural population expected the new government to provide them with new and improved socio-economic facilities. On the other hand urban expected to benefit from economic changes.
However the government found itself unable to meet people’s expectations. Since People resisted changes because of traditional beliefs and practices, the government saw the need to mobilize and encourage people to fight their beliefs and practices in order to improve their conditions of life.
The government believed that poverty, diseases and ignorance could be curbed through;
i) Encouraging people to live and work together
so as to facilitate the provision of services to the people, to help people to share the benefits of their efforts and to increase cooperative production, freedom and remove exploitation.
ii) Provision of adult education
The government believed that change could be realized through education. Thus adult education was needed so as to:
a) create awareness that change is possible;
b) help people understand the root causes of their problem;
c) make people conscious of their conditions;
d) help people understand the means by which constraint could be removed;
e) encourage people to live together in the village communities;
f) improve agricultural and industrial production;
g) make people reject certain traditional practices which were inappropriate for change;
h) help people prevent communicable diseases.
REFORMS IN EDUCATION FROM 1960s
Educational policies a historical perspective
Since independence, the Tanzanian education system has gone through a number of significant changes.
In order to appreciate the significance of the changes that have occurred in education sector after independence, there is a need to look at the country’s Economic Development Plans. Within development plans, the education system is automatically improved.
Development Plans:
The first three Years development Plan in 1962;
The First Five Years Development Plan in 1964;
The Second Five Years Development Plan in 1969;
The Third Five Years Development Plan in 1978; and the
The First Union Development Plan in 1981.
The relationship between development plans and educational policies:
The First Three Years Development Plan in 1962
Expansion of secondary education Act of 1962.
This expansion of secondary first and higher level education and technical education next in order to meet higher level manpower requirements.
As a result a new university college was opened at TANUs’ headquarters Lumumba street in Dar es salaam.
Teacher education received more attention due to the need to develop primary education and to improve its quality.
This expansion of secondary education which needed for more teachers;
Therefore, the institute of education was created as part of the new university college in order to improve the quality of teachers.
Other Policies and reforms were:
Abolition of racial discrimination and establishment of a single education system;
Transfer of the responsibility for primary education to local government;
Empowerment of the minister for education to set up board of governments for post primary Institutions;
Review of grants rules,
Registration of teachers and approval of owners of schools;
Provision of common terms and conditions for teachers through the establishment of the unified teachers’ services (UTS); now TSD regulations,
Promotion of Kiswahili as a national language and English medium of instructions.
The First Five Development Plan in 1964;
Policies and reforms were;
Expansion of primary education;
Expansion of adult education;
Expansion of training facilities for Grade A teachers;
Phasing out Grade C training programmes and initiating up grading programmes for existing Grade C teachers;
Abolition of secondary schools for fees;
Expansion of secondary education to the extent justifiable by the manpower requirements through the construction of more classrooms,
Conversion of some existing primary schools and colleges into secondary schools;
Primary education duration changed from 8 years to 7 years but the phasing out was in phases over 4 years period;
The UTS Central Board Regional Committees were instituted;
The need for curriculum reforms in order to integrate the theory with the acquisition of practical life skills of ESR.
Abolition of the Cambridge Examination Council and establishment of East Africa Examination Council instead, to which Tanzania became a member.
The Second Five Years Development Plan in 1969;
The plan had given birth to the Education Act of 1969;
Policies and Reforms were:
The Central Government paying directly all the teachers serving in public schools;
Adult literacy including functional education to be intensified;
Introduction of UPE (Musoma Resolution in 1974);
Work was made an integral part of education;
Primary and secondary education were made terminal and relevant to the needs of the country; diversification of secondary schools (I-IV);
Adult literacy and education were given more importance and financial;
Voluntary agency schools were nationalized;
Local education authorities were formed to run and manage primary schools;
The Third Five Years Development Plan in 1978
The Education Act No. 25 of 1978 was passed
Policies and Reforms were:
The establishment of a centralized administration of schools which gave powers to the Ministry of Education to promote National Education;
The education Act No. 25 of 1978 was amended in 1995
The Act came to be known as ‘An Act to amend the Education Act, 1978, to establish the Higher Education Accreditation Council, to provide the procedure for accreditation and other related matters (URT, 1995).
Policies under the Act were:
Making primary school enrolment and attendance compulsory for children ages 7 to 13 years;
The centralization of school curricula and syllabi;
Establishment of Education training boards;
Age for enrolment in pre-primary education to be 5 years;
Every pre-primary school to have a school committee;
Establishment of the High Education accreditation council Act.
The First Union Development Plan in 1981
An outstanding educational reform in this plan was in 1981, a Presidential Commission on Education (Headed by the late Hon. J. Makweta, MP)
was appointed to review the existing system of education and propose necessary changes needed to be met by the country towards the year 2000.
Major issues in the report were:
The establishment of Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC);
The establishment of the Tanzania Professional Teachers’ Association (TPTA);
The formulation of a National Policy for Science and Technology;
The introduction of Pre-primary Teacher Education Programme, as well as the expansion of secondary education.
NB: In 1984, the ministry of education prepared a Ten Years Development Programme for the Expansion of secondary education.
In 1985, the communities started the construction of Community Secondary Schools and fees for secondary education were re- introduced.
From 1990 Tanzania abandoned the policy socialism and self-reliance(Ujamaa) and adopted for conservative policy of economic liberation.
The major policy adopted in the late 1960s was the policy of socialism and self-reliance which was the reference point for most of the successive sectoral policies adopted between 1967 and early 1980s.
Tanzania’s economic crisis of last decade brought in more socio-economic and political challenges which necessitated the formulation of various policies including the SAPs of the 1980s which has both positive and negative effects.
With the adoption of the SAP of the 1980s, Tanzania has been transformed into market economy in seeming state of growth. Education is clearly identified as one of the strategies for combating poverty.
This has been articulated in the Development Vision 2025 and Poverty Eradication Strategy 2015: specifically, the poverty eradication agenda in education include:
Ensuring the right of all children to basic good quality education;
Equity by gender and special programmes to enroll and retain girls in schools and colleges;
Improvement of the quality of education and emphasis on science and technology;
Public subsidies or loans for the poor children who cannot afford school fees;
Encouraging public sector to be more active in the education sector;
Increased public allocation of more resources to the education sector;
Provision of life-skills to all children in schools;
Enhancement of greater community participation in education;
Strengthening adult literacy, numeracy and writing.
Features of the Education and Training Policy of 1995:
The process of formulating this policy started in 1993 and the policy was eventually adopted by Government in February 1995. This policy has a total of 149 statement is the most comprehensive statement on education ever issued by the Tanzania Government since independence.
The main policy thrusts are:
a) Decentralized education and training by empowering regions, districts and communities;
b)Improve the quality of education and training through strengthening in-service teacher training programmes; the supply of teaching and learning materials;
rehabilitation of school/college physical facilities; teachers’ programmes; research in education and training and restructuring the curriculum, examinations and certifications;
c)Expand the provision of education and training through liberalization of education and training and the promotion, strengthening of formal and non-formal, distance and out-of-school education programmes;
d) Promote access and equity through making access to basic education available to all citizens as a basic right, encouraging equitable distribution of educational institutions and resources; expanding and
improving girls’ education, screening for talented, gifted and disabled children so that they are given appropriate education and training and developing programmes to ensure access to education to disadvantaged social and cultural groups;
e)promote science and technology through intensification of vocational and training; rationalization of tertiary institutions, including the establishment of polytechnic education; strengthening science and technical and education and development of formal and non-formal programmes for the training of technologists;
f)broadening the base for the financing of education and training through cost- sharing measures involving individuals, communities, NGOs, parents and end-users and through the inclusion of education as an area of investment in the Investment and Promotion Act.
EDUCATION POLICIES AND PRACTICES IN THE CONTEXT OF LIBERALIZED
CRISIS OF EDUCATION IN THE 1980s AND 1990s
During the 1980s and early 1990s due to economic depression which affected the whole continent of Africa the national economy changed the government introduced a number of economic recovery programmes including 1982 SAP and ERP in 1986 and the Economic and Social Action Programme ESAP in 1989/90 – 1991/1992.
This trend affected the form and direction of education in the country. SAPs policy on education emphasized liberalization of education provision. The reforms addressed four key macro issues of access, quality, finance efficiency and greater role to be played by the private sector.
The pressure to introduce private schools originated from within the ruling party ( TANU) and the general population because of the falling standard of education.
By the mid-1980s public primary schools were in the state of collapse for they were characterized by lack of teaching and learning materials, unmotivated teachers, collapsing buildings, under-qualified teachers. Thus the quality of education became the major issue of concern of many parents in the country.
There emerged elite parents who saw that the education offered through public schools was too poor for their children. Thus, either their children are enrolled in the so called private “international schools”, English medium schools; or
in some cases the children are enrolled in primary schools outside the country.
The pressure from elite parents was supported by donors forced the government to allow the establishment of private primary schools in the country.
The increase of private primary schools was given impetus in 1992 with the repeal of section 30 of the 1978 Act and its amendment in 1995 which encouraged many individuals to open private schools in the country. From then education became a commodity and people began to invest as they would invest in any commercial activity.
The role of the government in education as instrument of efficiency was reduced. Thus the government phrase of education for all could no longer be sustained.
This then reduced the importance of mass education and the goal of equality in education relating to aspect of gender. The emphasis of the international aid community was on broad access to, efficiency and effectiveness.
In order to improve quality of education Cost sharing partnership in education with private and Non- Governmental Organizations, parents, religious groups and others was introduced to supplement government measures to improve the economy.
EFFECTS OF SAPS CONDITIONALITIES ON EDUCATION PROVISION AND DEVELOPMENT IN TANZANIA
1)The SAPs conditionalities led to growing inequality in access to education to all levels, inequality in access to the quality education as well as change in the direction and vision of education.
2. Decline of resources available to primary education subsector declined in 1994/95.
3. Total contributions for primary education overtook the contribution by the government (a sign of state withdrawal). The poor were being squeezed more and more thus leading to the threatened access in equity provision and consumption (Wort, 2000).
4. The number of primary schools decreased from 10960 in 1992/93 to 10911 in 1994/95 (Galabawa, 2001). This is due to decreased government support for the provision of social services including education as well as cost-sharing policies.
5. The high cost of private education is definitely forbidding the majority of parents who cannot enroll their children in quality education.
REVISION/OTHER IMPORTANT ASPECTS
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL POLICIES AND PLANNING ON EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
POLICY DEFINITION
A policy is a statement of intent.
A policy helps translate the intentions of government into action.
Friendrich (1963) defines policy as a proposed course of action within a given environment providing obstacles & opportunities which the policy is proposed to overcome & utilize.
Policy making is the 1st step in planning cycle and planners must appreciate the dynamics of policy formulation before they can design- implementation and evaluation procedures effectively.
FUNCTIONS OF POLICY
1.Improve decision making: good policy work relies on powerful tools such as the use of evidence.
2.Explain why things need to change: effective policy development, documentation & communication help government to comm. its intentions and explain its actions.
3.Policy helps us to focus on what is important.
4.Inform judgments and guide actions: policy guidelines help decision makers to plan, & solve problems.
INTERNATIONAL POLICIES ON EDUCATION
International policies in education are reflected in the:
Education for All and
Millennium Development Goals.
EDUCATION FOR ALL
Education For All is a global movement led by UNESCO, aiming to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015.
UNESCO has been mandated to lead the movement and coordinate the international efforts to reach Education for All.
Governments, development agencies, civil society, non-government organizations and the media are some of the partners working toward reaching these goals.
The EFA goals also contribute to the global pursuit of the eight MDGs, esp. MDG 2&3, by 2015.
EDUCATION FOR ALL-GOALS
1.Expand early childhood care and education.
2.Provide free and compulsory primary education to all.
3.Promote learning and life skills for young people and adults.
4.Increase adult literacy by 50 percent.
5.Achieve gender parity by 2005 and gender equality by 2015.
6.Improve the quality of education.
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
1.To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. To achieve universal primary education.
3.To promote gender equality and empowering women.
4.To reduce child mortality rates.
5.To improve maternal health.
6.To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
7.To ensure environmental sustainability.
8.To develop a global partnership for development.
Education vision of 2025 in Tanzania
Education should be treated as a strategic agent for mindset transformation and for the creation of a well-educated nation, sufficiently equipped with
the knowledge needed to competently and competitively to solve the development challenges which face the nation.
In this light, the education system should be restructured and transformed qualitatively with a focus on promoting creativity and problem solving.
Also education should promote science and technology education in order to attain the National Development Vision 2025.
History
History is the record of all past human events, experience and activities. It is concerned with social, political, economic, scientific and technological development of human being.
Education
Education is continuous process by which desired knowledge, skills and attitudes are acquired and developed. Through education one achieves social competence and individual growth.
Education is the process of a of acquiring and developing desirable knowledge, specific skills, positive attitudes and values. This implies that education is lifelong activity.
Education should therefore bring about some change, a change that is acceptable to some society.
Education is the process of transmission of wisdom, experience and skills.
Education is the process of transmitting the culture of a society from one generation to other.
Education today is more than what the school, colleges or universities alone can give.
Forms of education
(i) Formal education; refers to fulltime hierarchically structured and chronologically graded educational activities operating from pre-primary school to university level (Mushi, 2009). It also includes general academic studies, a variety of specialized programmes for full- time technical and professional training.
Unfortunately this is the type of education that is recognized by many people, thus a person who has never been in formal educational institution is considered as uneducated.
It has the following features
It is conducted in the institution by professional teachers, ability to read and write is the means for communicating knowledge and skills to learners, it has a well-structured curriculum with defined goals and objectives,
testing and measurements are used to promote learners to the next level and achievement is recognized by the award of certificates.
(ii) Non formal education
refers to any organized educational activity operating outside the established formal educational system targeting certain group in the population (Mushi, 2009).
The forms of education include: adult education, on-the-job training, farmers training, literacy programme, rural development programs, vocational training, cooperative and health education.
features Non formal education
less selective,
less expensive,
less elitist and programs are meant to meet specific needs of specific categories of people
it may or may not lead to formal certification
it may or may not be supported by the state
it focuses on a clearly defined purpose
is not compulsory
Characteristics of non-formal education by Thungu et al, (2010):
activities are flexible and therefore adaptable to different situations;
the cost are relatively low;
it is skill oriented; it serves the immediate needs for employment and increase productivity;
performance of learners may be assessed through marks or grades;
certificates to recognize achievement may or not be awarded;
it is content focused though not necessarily time-bound;
It is aimed at meeting the interest and aspirations of specific groups.
Informal education
Is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and attitudes from day-to-day experience as one interacts with his/her environment.
Informal education is a lifelong process that provides an individual with skills, attitudes, values and knowledge from daily experiences and through social interactions.
Agents of informal education include the family, religious bodies, the media, the state, and peer groups. They introduce the learner to the roles and behavior that are acceptable in the society.
Some features of informal education
It is unstructured;
Learning takes place unconsciously;
It is broad-based;
It is often aimed at imparting moral values;
It takes place anywhere and at any time.
History of education
History of education is the study of major educational developments in the society which took place in the past for the present and future generation.
History of education is the study of past developments of educational systems, theory and educational institutions within the general historical framework of political, social, economic, technological and cultural change.
History of education is the systematic study of educational development of a society from the past to the present. It is aimed at knowing what was done in the past so as to appreciate the present and plan for the future.
The reasons of studying History of education
To improve the quality of education and strengthening professional competence of teachers through critical examination of existing educational theories and practice in order to improve the future.
The study of history of education helps us to appreciate the various aspects of our past educational process so as to link them to the present;
History of education gives us the opportunity of studying other people’s educational ideas and programmes with the aim of developing ours;
It also gives us a solid foundation to plan for our present and future educational development
History of education guides us to give some positive solution to our present day educational problems;
It widens the scope and knowledge of the teacher and makes him more comfortable and competent in his class.
It helps us to understand some major trends and developments in our educational system;
It helps us to formulate and implement better philosophies of education;
Phases of history education
1st phase; Pre-colonial education and the emergence of Islamic and Christian education
2nd phase; Colonial education
3rd phase; post-colonial educational development to the present.
INDIGENOUS AFRICAN (PRE-COLONIAL) EDUCATION
Indigenous African education is a process of passing among the tribe members and from one generation to another the inherited knowledge, skills and values of the tribe/ society.
This was education about the tribal society they lived in even though there was no formal school and no teachers ( Nyerere, 1979).
Education in traditional African society could be said to be education for consolidating the society; it reinforce the cultural solidarity of the tribe.
Traditional African societies had no schools as we know them today. Every society had its own system of passing on to the young generation the values and beliefs which identified the society and ensured its continuity.
The Contents of Indigenous African Education
Education responded to the existing socio-economic, political and cultural practice of the community.
The content of education varied from one society to another depending on the natural environment, cultural norms and the needs of the society it served.
For example in pastoral areas, hunting and herding skills were emphasized, farming; tribes concentrated on skills relating to crops and plants and in coastal or lake areas, fishing and canoe making were practiced.
It was a process by which the youth learnt from their elders and parents about their society.
They learnt from their parents and other elders about the society they lived in, about the methods of farming and so on.
The education reflected the socio-economic, political and cultural life of Africans. There existed three categories of education according to Cochiti (1988) i.e. general education, Age- grade education and specialized education.
General education was provided to every member of the society and it comprised of civics, health care, history of the society, moral education, food production etc. It was offered to every member of the society.
Age- grade, individuals of the same age were brought together to share responsibilities, to work together. The entry to each grade being the initiation. The education provided included sex education, codes of good behavior, social responsibilities, warfare and courtship.
Specialized education, this type of education was offered to a few selected individual in the society. The skills offered included leadership, medicine, fishery, building, witchcraft, rain making, tinsmithery etc.
Forms of indigenous African Education
Indigenous African education was mainly informal type where by learning was a lifelong process related to the pattern of work in the society. However some aspects of indigenous African education were formal.
Formal education in pre-colonial society like informal education was directly connected to the purpose of the society.
Traditional African education was transmitted through various ways including language, music, dance, oral tradition, proverbs, myths, stories, and religion. For example social values and attitudes were transmitted through music, songs and dances.
Some songs and dances were used to discourage bad behavior like theft, witchcraft practices, and abusive language. Generally there were no clearly defined and common methods of instructing and no clear standardized methods of testing the learner for the purpose of graduation and certification
Education was acquired by children from the examples and behavior of elders in the society. Young people imitated the elders. Teacher was the only source of information and learners were required to conform to what teachers/ elders said.
Objectives of Indigenous African Education
i) To pass on the inherited knowledge and skills and values of the society from one generation to another.
ii) To consolidate the society through the preservation of cultural heritage of the society and transmission of codes of good behavior like obedience, respect, honesty which ensured the survival of the society.
iii) To prepare the individuals for life in their society i.e. it produced individuals who were respectful, integrated, sensitive and responsive to the needs of the society and its neighbors.
iv) To acquire specific vocational skills and to develop a health attitude towards honest labor.
v) To develop a sense of belonging and to participate in the activity of the family/community.
vi) To understand, appreciate and promote the cultural heritage of the community.
KEY PRINCIPLES OF FOUNDATIONS OF AFRICAN INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
Preparationism
This implies that the role of education was to prepare young boys and girls to take responsibilities in the society.
Functionalism
Indigenous African education was for immediate use in the society or what was taught to the youths was directly related to the activities of the society.
Communalism
Education insisted on communal living and working together. They worked together, owned the means of production together and the products of labor were equally distributed to each member of the community.
Perennialism
This philosophical base ensured that the traditional communities in Africa use education as a necessary tool for preserving the status quo of the tribe. Based on this fact it did not allow the progressive influence of on the mind of young people and so it was viewed as conservative in nature.
Holisticism
In this philosophical base a learner was required to acquire multiple skills. They were either not allowed to specialize in specific occupation, or very little room for specialization did exist.
Methods of Learning
(i) Through observation and repetition of what parents and elders did and encourage young ones to do it.
(ii) Through oral tradition method whereby knowledge was passed through stories, legends, folktales, songs, riddles and poetic devices.
The Strengths of Indigenous African Education
i) The education makes everybody a functional member of the society,
thereby minimizing unemployment and social unrest;
ii) It inculcates high level of discipline among the people;
iii) It unites every member of the society and bring peace and happiness
to all;
iv) There is the fear of God and ancestors which goes to check members character and behavior;
v) It transmits to the younger ones things considered by the society to be worthwhile;
vi) It provides physical, mental, social, moral and spiritual growth for the individual;
vii) ) It was taught in relation to the “concrete situation” i.e. it was geared to the needs of the community. Thus it was useful in solving community problems.
Viii) Every member of the society has the opportunity to receive education according to his or her ability and talent.
Weaknesses of Indigenous African Education
i)Traditional education has limited scope in terms of content and curriculum;
ii) It is mainly informal, hence limiting the span of knowledge;
iii) It does not have well defined structure, duration or time;
iv) Traditional education lacks uniform standard. The standard varies from teacher to teacher or community to community.
v) Certain members of tribe were prevented from eating certain kinds of food like eggs, fruits, milk and fish;
vi) It lacked proper methods of storing knowledge as it relied on memories of elders. It was not easy to estimate distance, weight, height, volume etc. because figures or letters were unknown.
The Influence of Indigenous African Education on the Post-Colonial Education System in Tanzania
Some aspects of the indigenous education continued to feature in the policy and Practice of education after independence. These aspects include:
The purpose of education
Like the indigenous African education, the purpose of education after independence was to pass on knowledge, skill and wisdom from one generation to another.
Integration of community education
Pre-colonial African education was organized with reference to socio-economic pursuit of the indigenous society. Similarly the Education for Self Reliance called for integration of education and the community life.
This was achieved by combining traditional education and the modern one so that education operates with reference to the society.
Education as a lifelong learning Process
Traditional African education was part of the community life as it took place all day and almost every day throughout life. After independence the government insisted that education provided in Tanzania had to be part of life as it had been in traditional societies.
Learning as a practical activity
Indigenous African Education was taught theoretically and practically. This idea was perpetuated in the post-independence period.
Nyerere emphasized the question of learning by doing when he said” the best way to learn sewing is to sew; the best way to learn farming is to farm; the best way to learn cooking is to cook; the best way to learn how to teach is to teach.
Emphasis on functionality
Indigenous African education was functional because the knowledge imparted was relevant in the development of socio-economic activities of the society. The idea of functional literacy has its origin to indigenous African education.
THE BEGINNING AND IMPACT OF ISLAM AND QURANIC SCHOOLS
In Tanzania, apart from indigenous African education, religious institutions also provided education for many years. Formal non-indigenous education was introduced by the Arabs from the time of their early contact with East Africa to the present.
Islamic education was provided through Koranic schools. The influence of Koranic school was most felt along the coastal areas, Zanzibar and along the major slave trade routes in the interior.
Koranic schools were established by the Arabs to offer religious instruction to Muslim children and promote the Islamic religious culture.
This was done through sharia memorization and mastering Arabs scripts so as to be able to read the Koran. The common learning institutions were called Madrasa
The teachings in Koranic schools were based on understanding the Koran and the fundamental tenets of Islam including: i) Belief on only one God called ‘Allah’ and Mohammad is the Prophet of God.
ii) Conducting five prayers daily.
iii) Pilgrimage ‘Hija’ to be conducted at Mecca in Medina city (for those who can afford to go there).
iv) Fasting in the Holy month of Ramadhan
v) Alms giving/Zakat
IMPACT OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION
i) It opened many opportunities to many Muslims; for example some Muslims were employed by the German colonial government as akida and liwalis.
ii) Koranic schools formed the basis of education for the coastal people and some people in the interior especially in the urban.
For example Kimambo and Temu, (1969) argued that some Tanzanian societies were already using Islamic teachers before Christian missionaries arrived to prepare people for administrative purposes.
iii) Islamic schools promoted human welfare since people were taught to live fairly with economic justices which were central teachings in Koran.
iv) It contributed to the establishment of German colonial rule because Islamic education produced graduates who helped the administration of the German colonial government.
EDUCATION IN ZANZIBAR FROM LATE 19TH TO EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Before British colonized Zanzibar parents educated their sons and daughters from the age of 6 years up to the age of 9-10 and in Quranic schools where Islamic knowledge using Arabic script was taught.
When girls reached the age of 9-10 years they were taken out of school to take over household tasks until they were married.
As a result of these reforms new schools called madras were established which in turn introduced new books and disciplines and the education was formalized and modeled to Egyptian education.
Madras played important role in the development of Islamic education in East Africa in the 20th century.
MODULE TWO
THE INTRODUCTION OF WESTERN EDUCATION AND ITS DEVELOPMENT AND PARTNERSHIP IN THE PROVISION OF EDUCATION
MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN EAST AFRICA
Christian religion was introduced in Tanganyika and elsewhere in East Africa almost eight century after the introduction of Islam and Islamic education. By the time missionaries arrived in Tanganyika in the 19th century Arabs had already been in the country for more or less seven centuries.
The Muslims had established themselves on the coast and quranic schools had been established throughout Islamic centres to offer religious instruction to muslim children.
Islam totally opposed formal education which was introduced by Christian missionaries.
Muslim religious authorities encouraged and even forced muslim children to attend madrasa (Quranic classes) which taught elimu akhera i.e heavenly or spiritual education.
Likewise the missionaries were not interested in admitting Muslim children to their schools unless they were ready to be converted.
For these reasons, missionaries became more interested in the region whose population was free from Islamic influence as well as areas which had more or less permanent settlements and
whose climatic conditions were more or less similar to that of their home countries. Such areas include Mbeya, Kilimanjaro and Bukoba which today lead in educational development.
These conflicting of religious interests led to the difference for the western type of formal education between Muslim Africans and the Christian Africans. This situation continued up to nineteen sixties (1960s).
European Christian missions and the respective areas they established themselves:
The Church Missionary Society (CMC) Kidugala – Iringa.
The United Free Church of Scotland. Tukuyu, Itete, Manow, Mwakaleli, Mwaya and Matema.
The Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) Musoma and Pare areas.
Evangilical Lutheran Mission- Machame areas in Moshi.
African Inland Mission- Tabora and Mwanza.
White Fathers- Lake Tanganyika area, Nyanza, Tabora and Ndala.
Holy Ghost Fathers – Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Bagamoyo and Morogoro.
Swiss Benedictine Fathers – Peramiho ( Songea) and Lindi.
Italian Fathers – Iringa, Mahenge and Dodoma
Belfield Mission – Vuga ( Lushoto).
The nature of penetration and the educational work of Christian mission in Tanganyika accounts for the educational inequalities along religious lines. However within would be christened communities some regions were more favored than others depending on:
Geographical location and specific goals of the mission;
Number and capability of the mission;
The response they advocated among communities in which they established themselves.
These missionary organizations set some schools in different parts of Tanganyika. For example Holly Ghost Fathers opened the first mission station with a nuclear of slaves in 1861 in Zanzibar. Other schools drew their pupils from among orphans, bankrupts, poor and misfit in the community.
Local leaders received missionaries and gave them the areas to construct schools but when they realized that mission education was denouncing their culture they drew their children from these schools.
Therefore formal Western type of education in Tanganyika and elsewhere in East Africa was introduced by missionary around 1860s (Mushi, 2009).
This education supplemented traditional African Education. Missionaries put efforts in primary education just to keep the Africans at the level that would cause little harm on economic and political ambitions of Europeans.
By 1914 missionaries had not less than 1000 bush schools with a total enrolment of 150,000 pupils most of these schools were in the interior without grant-in-aid except if they taught German.
The curriculum of early missionary schools
Gotneids (1976) state that each mission operated its own schools and used its own syllabus and the medium of instruction it wanted, however most of them used vernaculars and few of them used Kiswahili as the medium of instruction. The missionaries were not ready to use government curriculum.
The schools were divided into 3 streams
1. Brighter students. They learned the 3rs, geometry, geography, chemistry, Greek, and trigometry.
2. Industrial stream. This was for less academically capable students. They studied technical subjects, such as carpentry, craft trades, and carving.
3. Agricultural labor stream. This was for duller pupils for labor at the construction of cities and mission stations.
The time table was based on the stream as follows:
1. Academic group had: 1 hour academic activities;
hour religious study ½
The rest of the day were doing shamba work
2. Industrial stream spent 1 hour academic activities
religious study ½ hour
10 hours practical training.
3. Agricultural stream 1 hour 3rs
1 hour religious study
9 ½ manual work.
In this group some pupils remained permanently illiterate.
The Motives behind Missionary Education
According to Mushi (2009), there were three reasons for the establishment of mission schools. These include:
i) To spread Christian religion
ii) To introduce western economy
iii) To control Africans
To Spread Christian Religious Culture
The missionary viewed African as cruel and having no religion hence has to be saved together with his/her society and they regarded themselves as the bearer of the new ways of life. Mission schools, inculcated the new culture and way of life of a society they represented.
Education was used as an instrument for Christianization because the teaching of the 3rs and Christian religion was inseparable. Such education was provided through the churches, mission schools, colleges and vocational training centres.
To Introduce Western Economy
The Christian mission centres were used as a means of reproducing western culture and economy. They established commercial, agricultural and vocational centres and encouraged their converts to grow cash crops like coffee.
The taught their converts how to raise the crops and sometimes they distributed seedlings to parents through school children converts. Thus schools were used to facilitate the spread of commerce which promoted exploitation.
To Control Africans
Missionaries through education paved the way for colonial rule. According to Tibarondwa (1999), Christianity which was part of the basic education advocated peace and obedience.
Through this education African ruler, warriors and chiefs were softened and became obedient and receptive to colonial values.
Therefore these objectives sped up the establishment of schools which accelerated the process of exploitation. By the end of the 19th century there were 600 mission schools in Tanganyika with a total enrolment of 50,000 pupils. BY 1914 there were 1,000 schools with the total enrolment of over 150,000 pupils.These schools were for production and hence exploitation.
IMPACTS OF MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN TANZANIA
Some Positive aspects of Missionary
1. It played a role in the abolition of slave trade.
2 They conserved African languages including Kiswahili. They used vernaculars and they put them into writing scripts.
3. They rendered education services. They built schools and provided education. They supplemented government education where it was inadequate.
4. Economic opportunities. Where mission stations were built missionaries trained people about commercial farming, e.g. coffee, vegetables as well as cattle rearing and poultry care.
These activities benefited indigenous of the surrounding areas, e.g. Mbeya, Kilimanjaro and Bukoba.
5. Schools, hospitals and technical institutions built by early missionaries have been improved and are now important centres serving people of all beliefs.
6. Missionaries laid foundations of communication network in different areas in the interior part of the country. The colonial government used these foundations to construct railways and roads.
7. It laid foundations for few elites who struggled for independence.
8.They introduced Christianity in Tanganyika and other part of East Africa.
Negative Aspects
1) They destructed African education and technology.
2) It discriminated against non-Christian societies e.g. Muslims were discriminated in education and other social services unless the submitted to Christianity
3) Missionary education was geared to serve their interests thus Africans became their objects or tools for their system.
4) The focus of the school was religion;
5) there was lack of common syllabus and no standard textbooks; the few that were available were not relevant to the local people.
EDUCATION UNDER GERMAN COLONIAL RULE
The colonial period in Tanganyika began with the partition of Africa in the 19th century. Tanganyika was occupied by German and so became part of the German East African.
When the Germans took over Tanganyika, education for Africans was out of their thoughts. Their concern was:
1. The establishment of law and order
2. The opening up the country for trade and commerce.
The education offered to Africans aimed at:
i)producing Africans who will accept and implement colonial policies by making them serve, produce and enrich the colonial government by providing cheap labor, raw materials, markets and investment areas.
ii) implanting among Africans the notion of superiority of the whites and inferiority of the Africans so as to enhance the domination of Africans by the whites.
The first government schools were established along the coast because all colonial buildings were found along the coast e.g. Tanga school , Kilwa, Bagamoyo and Dar es salaam in 1880s.
The college was set first in Tanga, Korogwe College today then followed by Bagamoyo, Dar es salaam, Lindi. The majority of students were Swahili speakers.
By 1902 there were 4,000 students attending school. No a single girl attended school except missionary schools that trained girls. Children of administrators received education abroad.
Contribution
The education system laid a stable foundation of a national language Kiswahili since German administration often corresponded in Swahili.
The German laid a small but solid foundation for Tanzania education system. In 1903 there were 8 government schools and 15 mission schools.
Weakness
It did not educate one African girl because western education began along Muslim coast where customs dictated that girls not allowed be educated. It emphasized submissiveness not to enlightenment in the society.
EDUCATION UNDER BRITISH COLONIAL RULE 1919 – 1961
After the First World War Tanganyika became a trusteeship territory under the League of Nations. The British used indirect rule system, a system which integrated indigenous political structures into the central British Administrative structure.
Native administrative structures were run by local leaders. This system influenced the nature and development of education in Tanganyika.
After the war the education system built by the Germans collapsed and mission schools were affected too.
In 1920, River Smith, the Director of education was appointed from Zanzibar Administrative service. The tasks of the new director were:
i) To re-open the ex- German government schools
ii) To encourage missionaries to establish themselves in theirs.
Sir Horace Byatt (the first British Governor in Tanganyika) was in favor of having separate education system between the government and the missionary.
The East and Central African Phelps-Stokes Commission of 1924 made a detailed study on local conditions so that education could be improved. The commission came up with the following recommendations;
1. Partnership in Provision of Education
Partnership in the provision of education between the government and missions and missionaries were to be controlled and
financed by the government, therefore missionary basic education should lead to teacher training, technical training and secondary education.
All mission schools were to be registered by the colonial government, also were required to use government syllabuses.
These schools were to be inspected by the government school inspectors. They were also required to have qualified teachers who were recognized by the Director of education.
From 1925 the British colonial government began to finance voluntary agency schools regarding staffing and curriculum.
The aim of education on the part of government was to train manpower for economic development, missionary education was for Christianizing the whole country by education.
The British government needed to educate the children of the local elites to make their policy of indirect rule work.
They opened a special school at Tabora in 1924 for sons of chiefs. Their aim was to produce future administrators, clerks, and artisans.
They created a bold experiment at the Malangali government school whereby Africans were to be helped to preserve and modify their own culture until a satisfactory modification was made to the Europeanized environment.
Thus in 1926 the first native authority school was opened. Missionaries opposed native authority schools paid by African chiefs to train their own elites.
Therefore from 1930s to 1945 three main agencies provided education in the country, the colonial government, the missions and Native Authorities.
Quranic schools were not given grant-aid on the ground that they were purely religious institutions which gave no secular education.
2. Education for Adaptation
The education provided to Africans should be adapted to their rural environment that is it should aim at developing the people on their own lines and in accordance with their own values and customs refined where necessary.
It should enable the individual to improve his life and that of his community. Therefore, the development of agriculture, native industries, improvement of health,
training of local leaders to manage African affairs, character training were considered important in achieving the policy goals.
The curricular content consisted of health, home life training, agriculture and recreation so as to provide low-level labor supply the objective of which to produce docile and productive workers.
Religious and moral education together with secular subject were highly emphasized in the formation of habits important for the well-being of the colonial state.
Education for girls was promoted. This system was justified on the ground that it was best type of education for Africa since the majority were agricultural producers.
Content of the Syllabus
1. Agriculture was made the basis of education system. Parents saw agriculture as the road to give employment and they did not regard education as the means to improve their own life.
2. Kiswahili was made the medium of instruction in primary schools and English in secondary schools.
By 1945, vernaculars had disappeared in the education system both in government as well as non-government system.
EDUCATION IN ZANZIBAR 1919 – 1945
The government and voluntary agencies provided education in Zanzibar. The Christian missionaries made little or no impact except for few immigrants from the mainland.
The first director of education was appointed in 1907.
He made Swahili the medium of instruction and Quran was made integral part of the syllabus.
However, the integration of Western (secular) education with Quran education was not successful due to lack of interests on the part of administrators and religious conservatism of the people.
Parents did not believe that schools can effectively replace Quranic schools. Eight years later there were 800 Koranic schools with a total enrolment of over three times that of the government schools.
To make secular education acceptable to muslim parents, in 1940 the government did the following things:
1. Posting Quranic teacher in every government primary school.
2. Devoting the first two years of primary education to Quranic schools
3. Primary education was made free and each child was given a midday meal free of charge.
These attempts increased enrolment such that by 1945 there were 30 well attended government primary schools for boys and 7 for girls and one secondary school.
THE TEN YEARS EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT PLAN 1947-1956
The plan aimed at expansion of education for Africans, the focus being primary and middle school education, teacher education to provide teachers for primary and middle schools, establishment of technical education with well-equipped trade schools and enrolment of girls in schools.
It was introduced in response to economic effects caused by the Second World War. The British colonial government was trying to revive the economy which was damaged by the war.
Mass education was meant to stimulate mass production in agriculture with active participation of the masses. Skills in agricultural production, character training and hard working were highly encouraged.
The British colonial government concentrated on education for Africans.
Educational Administration
At the beginning of the plan the supervision and inspection of schools was the responsibility of the headmasters of government secondary school.
Later on with the expansion of both primary and secondary education the Provincial Education and his assistant District Education officers were appointed.
The Curriculum
The curriculum for all levels and syllabus for all subjects were revised so as to make them relate to the needs of agricultural society. The children were taught in theory and practice.
Problems in the implementation of the plan
Decline of the quality of education. In order to ensure that primary education expand STD I-IV were organized on a double session time table.
Therefore pupils were at school for only half the day in the first four years of their education.
The problem of dropout. Although many pupils were enrolled in school, many of them dropped out of school due to the traditional use of child labor at home and in the field. long distance walked to school, teaching in miserable buildings and ill-equipped classrooms.
Few girls and children of Muslim parents were undergoing formal education and many remained at home for fear of being converted to Christianity as a expense of modern and secular education.
Achievements of the Plan
1. Expansion of education at all levels.
2. Spread of Kiswahili language.
3. Improvement of the school curriculum.
4. Reorganization of educational administration
5. Mission, local authority and the government begun to be joined into education unity.
THE FIVE YEAR EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT PLAN 1957-1961
It was a plan for African Education.
It emphasized on the expansion of middle and secondary education system because such expansion is vital for social and economic development of Tanganyika.
provision of quality education to improve the ability of teachers
the establishment of Institute of education.
The introduction of unified teachers Services.
The need for agricultural, technical and commercial education.
Objectives of the plan
1. To create opportunity for more pupils to climb higher up the education ladder after completion of primary education.
2. To improve the quality of primary education by making std III and IV to have full day schooling instead of half day.
3. Introducing the teaching of English in std III-IV;
4.Improve teacher education and make closer supervision and inspection of schools;
5.Expansion of middle school (STD V-VIII) so as to reduce the number of pupils leaving schools after 4 years of half day schooling.
Increase the number of std IX, X and std XI-XII so as to increase the number of candidates eligible to take the school certificate examination.
The development of trade schools at Ifunda and Moshi as well as the Technical Institute of Dar es salaam.
Criticism
1. The education provided was too bookish.
2. Primary and middle school pupils spent much time on farm work.
3. All key posts of educational administration were filled by colonists.
4. The education system of our country was organized into racial bases.
However the 5 years educational development plan was not fully implemented because of lack of fund and political events of 1960s. In 1960 an elected government was already in the office and worried to introduce its own plans.
INEQUALITIES IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES: ORIGIN AND TRENDS IN TANZANIA
Throughout the colonial period chances of access to education were unequally distributed across the country. The imbalanced distribution of educational opportunities led to inequities in the socio-economic development of people.
The origin of imbalanced distribution of education includes four basic factors:
i) the missionary factors;
ii) the colonial government
iii) the local native; authorities;
iv) the cooperative unions.
The Missionary Factors
The nature of penetration and educational work of Christian missionaries accounts for the educational inequalities along religious and geographical lines. The missionaries were interested in non Islamic areas in regions where;
population were free from Islamic influences
the area had permanent settlements
the area had conducive climatic conditions for white people
Hence most mission stations were set up in areas of banana and coffee culture that is Kilimanjaro, Mbeya and Bukoba.
The conflicting religious interests among the Christian Africans and Muslim Africans also contributed to disparity in distribution of educational opportunities.
Within Christian communities educational disparities were caused by
Geographical location and the specific goals of missionaries
The number and capability of missions
The responses the evoked among the communities in which they established themselves.
The colonial government factor
The colonial government established schools in productive areas because the aim of colonialists was to get raw materials. The unproductive areas were neglected.
According to Ishumi et al (1980), the colonial government established central schools in all provinces except the southern provinces.
Girl’s education did not receive much attention throughout the colonial period leading to unequal distribution of government schools and gender biased in education.
Local Native Authorities
The institution of indirect rule the local native authorities were allowed to run their own affairs including provision of education at certain levels.
The cost of running these schools were met through local taxing on sales of cash crops, adult male tax etc.
Some districts such as Bukoba, Kilimanjaro, Mbeya, Upare, Nyanza and South Mara benefited from sales of cash crops. The finance enabled the district to build many schools while other districts were less able to do so.
The Cooperative Unions
The cooperative unions were influential in promoting secondary and higher level education. The cooperative unions had differential economic base and finance.
Strong cooperative unions prevailed in districts in which commercial agriculture had been stimulated and vice versa. A good example of cooperative unions was the Bukoba Cooperative Union and Kilimanjaro Cooperative Union.
These cooperative unions established a special fund to assist the educational costs of children of member parents. For example the B.C.U. had the B.C.U education fund which helped the development of education in various ways such as:
Assisting parents to pay school fees.
Assisting pupils who were not selected for further education after primary education to secure places in private schools. The B.C.U paid 60% of the total cost.
The B.C.U built two secondary schools namely Omumwani and Balumi which admitted children who did not secure places in public secondary schools.
Provide scholarship and grants to students from Buhaya pursuing higher education within E.A and abroad.
Supported non formal but productive educational schemes e. g construction of home craft centres at Maruku and Igabo and training courses at the Cooperative College of Moshi.
MODULE THREE
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE POST COLONIAL PERIOD AND REFORMS
During colonial period, education was offered on the basis of gender, religion and ethnicity.
Due to discrimination in provision of education only 15% of the populations out of 9 million people were literate by 1961 (Mushi, 2009).
Lack of education caused poverty, ignorance, economic dependence, diseases, hunger and exploitation to many people. Many people accepted these problems as the will of God hence they resisted changes.
People’s Expectations after Independence
Rural population expected the new government to provide them with new and improved socio-economic facilities. On the other hand urban expected to benefit from economic changes.
However the government found itself unable to meet people’s expectations. Since People resisted changes because of traditional beliefs and practices, the government saw the need to mobilize and encourage people to fight their beliefs and practices in order to improve their conditions of life.
The government believed that poverty, diseases and ignorance could be curbed through;
i) Encouraging people to live and work together
so as to facilitate the provision of services to the people, to help people to share the benefits of their efforts and to increase cooperative production, freedom and remove exploitation.
ii) Provision of adult education
The government believed that change could be realized through education. Thus adult education was needed so as to:
a) create awareness that change is possible;
b) help people understand the root causes of their problem;
c) make people conscious of their conditions;
d) help people understand the means by which constraint could be removed;
e) encourage people to live together in the village communities;
f) improve agricultural and industrial production;
g) make people reject certain traditional practices which were inappropriate for change;
h) help people prevent communicable diseases.
REFORMS IN EDUCATION FROM 1960s
Educational policies a historical perspective
Since independence, the Tanzanian education system has gone through a number of significant changes.
In order to appreciate the significance of the changes that have occurred in education sector after independence, there is a need to look at the country’s Economic Development Plans. Within development plans, the education system is automatically improved.
Development Plans:
The first three Years development Plan in 1962;
The First Five Years Development Plan in 1964;
The Second Five Years Development Plan in 1969;
The Third Five Years Development Plan in 1978; and the
The First Union Development Plan in 1981.
The relationship between development plans and educational policies:
The First Three Years Development Plan in 1962
Expansion of secondary education Act of 1962.
This expansion of secondary first and higher level education and technical education next in order to meet higher level manpower requirements.
As a result a new university college was opened at TANUs’ headquarters Lumumba street in Dar es salaam.
Teacher education received more attention due to the need to develop primary education and to improve its quality.
This expansion of secondary education which needed for more teachers;
Therefore, the institute of education was created as part of the new university college in order to improve the quality of teachers.
Other Policies and reforms were:
Abolition of racial discrimination and establishment of a single education system;
Transfer of the responsibility for primary education to local government;
Empowerment of the minister for education to set up board of governments for post primary Institutions;
Review of grants rules,
Registration of teachers and approval of owners of schools;
Provision of common terms and conditions for teachers through the establishment of the unified teachers’ services (UTS); now TSD regulations,
Promotion of Kiswahili as a national language and English medium of instructions.
The First Five Development Plan in 1964;
Policies and reforms were;
Expansion of primary education;
Expansion of adult education;
Expansion of training facilities for Grade A teachers;
Phasing out Grade C training programmes and initiating up grading programmes for existing Grade C teachers;
Abolition of secondary schools for fees;
Expansion of secondary education to the extent justifiable by the manpower requirements through the construction of more classrooms,
Conversion of some existing primary schools and colleges into secondary schools;
Primary education duration changed from 8 years to 7 years but the phasing out was in phases over 4 years period;
The UTS Central Board Regional Committees were instituted;
The need for curriculum reforms in order to integrate the theory with the acquisition of practical life skills of ESR.
Abolition of the Cambridge Examination Council and establishment of East Africa Examination Council instead, to which Tanzania became a member.
The Second Five Years Development Plan in 1969;
The plan had given birth to the Education Act of 1969;
Policies and Reforms were:
The Central Government paying directly all the teachers serving in public schools;
Adult literacy including functional education to be intensified;
Introduction of UPE (Musoma Resolution in 1974);
Work was made an integral part of education;
Primary and secondary education were made terminal and relevant to the needs of the country; diversification of secondary schools (I-IV);
Adult literacy and education were given more importance and financial;
Voluntary agency schools were nationalized;
Local education authorities were formed to run and manage primary schools;
The Third Five Years Development Plan in 1978
The Education Act No. 25 of 1978 was passed
Policies and Reforms were:
The establishment of a centralized administration of schools which gave powers to the Ministry of Education to promote National Education;
The education Act No. 25 of 1978 was amended in 1995
The Act came to be known as ‘An Act to amend the Education Act, 1978, to establish the Higher Education Accreditation Council, to provide the procedure for accreditation and other related matters (URT, 1995).
Policies under the Act were:
Making primary school enrolment and attendance compulsory for children ages 7 to 13 years;
The centralization of school curricula and syllabi;
Establishment of Education training boards;
Age for enrolment in pre-primary education to be 5 years;
Every pre-primary school to have a school committee;
Establishment of the High Education accreditation council Act.
The First Union Development Plan in 1981
An outstanding educational reform in this plan was in 1981, a Presidential Commission on Education (Headed by the late Hon. J. Makweta, MP)
was appointed to review the existing system of education and propose necessary changes needed to be met by the country towards the year 2000.
Major issues in the report were:
The establishment of Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC);
The establishment of the Tanzania Professional Teachers’ Association (TPTA);
The formulation of a National Policy for Science and Technology;
The introduction of Pre-primary Teacher Education Programme, as well as the expansion of secondary education.
NB: In 1984, the ministry of education prepared a Ten Years Development Programme for the Expansion of secondary education.
In 1985, the communities started the construction of Community Secondary Schools and fees for secondary education were re- introduced.
From 1990 Tanzania abandoned the policy socialism and self-reliance(Ujamaa) and adopted for conservative policy of economic liberation.
The major policy adopted in the late 1960s was the policy of socialism and self-reliance which was the reference point for most of the successive sectoral policies adopted between 1967 and early 1980s.
Tanzania’s economic crisis of last decade brought in more socio-economic and political challenges which necessitated the formulation of various policies including the SAPs of the 1980s which has both positive and negative effects.
With the adoption of the SAP of the 1980s, Tanzania has been transformed into market economy in seeming state of growth. Education is clearly identified as one of the strategies for combating poverty.
This has been articulated in the Development Vision 2025 and Poverty Eradication Strategy 2015: specifically, the poverty eradication agenda in education include:
Ensuring the right of all children to basic good quality education;
Equity by gender and special programmes to enroll and retain girls in schools and colleges;
Improvement of the quality of education and emphasis on science and technology;
Public subsidies or loans for the poor children who cannot afford school fees;
Encouraging public sector to be more active in the education sector;
Increased public allocation of more resources to the education sector;
Provision of life-skills to all children in schools;
Enhancement of greater community participation in education;
Strengthening adult literacy, numeracy and writing.
Features of the Education and Training Policy of 1995:
The process of formulating this policy started in 1993 and the policy was eventually adopted by Government in February 1995. This policy has a total of 149 statement is the most comprehensive statement on education ever issued by the Tanzania Government since independence.
The main policy thrusts are:
a) Decentralized education and training by empowering regions, districts and communities;
b)Improve the quality of education and training through strengthening in-service teacher training programmes; the supply of teaching and learning materials;
rehabilitation of school/college physical facilities; teachers’ programmes; research in education and training and restructuring the curriculum, examinations and certifications;
c)Expand the provision of education and training through liberalization of education and training and the promotion, strengthening of formal and non-formal, distance and out-of-school education programmes;
d) Promote access and equity through making access to basic education available to all citizens as a basic right, encouraging equitable distribution of educational institutions and resources; expanding and
improving girls’ education, screening for talented, gifted and disabled children so that they are given appropriate education and training and developing programmes to ensure access to education to disadvantaged social and cultural groups;
e)promote science and technology through intensification of vocational and training; rationalization of tertiary institutions, including the establishment of polytechnic education; strengthening science and technical and education and development of formal and non-formal programmes for the training of technologists;
f)broadening the base for the financing of education and training through cost- sharing measures involving individuals, communities, NGOs, parents and end-users and through the inclusion of education as an area of investment in the Investment and Promotion Act.
EDUCATION POLICIES AND PRACTICES IN THE CONTEXT OF LIBERALIZED
CRISIS OF EDUCATION IN THE 1980s AND 1990s
During the 1980s and early 1990s due to economic depression which affected the whole continent of Africa the national economy changed the government introduced a number of economic recovery programmes including 1982 SAP and ERP in 1986 and the Economic and Social Action Programme ESAP in 1989/90 – 1991/1992.
This trend affected the form and direction of education in the country. SAPs policy on education emphasized liberalization of education provision. The reforms addressed four key macro issues of access, quality, finance efficiency and greater role to be played by the private sector.
The pressure to introduce private schools originated from within the ruling party ( TANU) and the general population because of the falling standard of education.
By the mid-1980s public primary schools were in the state of collapse for they were characterized by lack of teaching and learning materials, unmotivated teachers, collapsing buildings, under-qualified teachers. Thus the quality of education became the major issue of concern of many parents in the country.
There emerged elite parents who saw that the education offered through public schools was too poor for their children. Thus, either their children are enrolled in the so called private “international schools”, English medium schools; or
in some cases the children are enrolled in primary schools outside the country.
The pressure from elite parents was supported by donors forced the government to allow the establishment of private primary schools in the country.
The increase of private primary schools was given impetus in 1992 with the repeal of section 30 of the 1978 Act and its amendment in 1995 which encouraged many individuals to open private schools in the country. From then education became a commodity and people began to invest as they would invest in any commercial activity.
The role of the government in education as instrument of efficiency was reduced. Thus the government phrase of education for all could no longer be sustained.
This then reduced the importance of mass education and the goal of equality in education relating to aspect of gender. The emphasis of the international aid community was on broad access to, efficiency and effectiveness.
In order to improve quality of education Cost sharing partnership in education with private and Non- Governmental Organizations, parents, religious groups and others was introduced to supplement government measures to improve the economy.
EFFECTS OF SAPS CONDITIONALITIES ON EDUCATION PROVISION AND DEVELOPMENT IN TANZANIA
1)The SAPs conditionalities led to growing inequality in access to education to all levels, inequality in access to the quality education as well as change in the direction and vision of education.
2. Decline of resources available to primary education subsector declined in 1994/95.
3. Total contributions for primary education overtook the contribution by the government (a sign of state withdrawal). The poor were being squeezed more and more thus leading to the threatened access in equity provision and consumption (Wort, 2000).
4. The number of primary schools decreased from 10960 in 1992/93 to 10911 in 1994/95 (Galabawa, 2001). This is due to decreased government support for the provision of social services including education as well as cost-sharing policies.
5. The high cost of private education is definitely forbidding the majority of parents who cannot enroll their children in quality education.
REVISION/OTHER IMPORTANT ASPECTS
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL POLICIES AND PLANNING ON EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
POLICY DEFINITION
A policy is a statement of intent.
A policy helps translate the intentions of government into action.
Friendrich (1963) defines policy as a proposed course of action within a given environment providing obstacles & opportunities which the policy is proposed to overcome & utilize.
Policy making is the 1st step in planning cycle and planners must appreciate the dynamics of policy formulation before they can design- implementation and evaluation procedures effectively.
FUNCTIONS OF POLICY
1.Improve decision making: good policy work relies on powerful tools such as the use of evidence.
2.Explain why things need to change: effective policy development, documentation & communication help government to comm. its intentions and explain its actions.
3.Policy helps us to focus on what is important.
4.Inform judgments and guide actions: policy guidelines help decision makers to plan, & solve problems.
INTERNATIONAL POLICIES ON EDUCATION
International policies in education are reflected in the:
Education for All and
Millennium Development Goals.
EDUCATION FOR ALL
Education For All is a global movement led by UNESCO, aiming to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015.
UNESCO has been mandated to lead the movement and coordinate the international efforts to reach Education for All.
Governments, development agencies, civil society, non-government organizations and the media are some of the partners working toward reaching these goals.
The EFA goals also contribute to the global pursuit of the eight MDGs, esp. MDG 2&3, by 2015.
EDUCATION FOR ALL-GOALS
1.Expand early childhood care and education.
2.Provide free and compulsory primary education to all.
3.Promote learning and life skills for young people and adults.
4.Increase adult literacy by 50 percent.
5.Achieve gender parity by 2005 and gender equality by 2015.
6.Improve the quality of education.
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
1.To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. To achieve universal primary education.
3.To promote gender equality and empowering women.
4.To reduce child mortality rates.
5.To improve maternal health.
6.To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
7.To ensure environmental sustainability.
8.To develop a global partnership for development.
Education vision of 2025 in Tanzania
Education should be treated as a strategic agent for mindset transformation and for the creation of a well-educated nation, sufficiently equipped with
the knowledge needed to competently and competitively to solve the development challenges which face the nation.
In this light, the education system should be restructured and transformed qualitatively with a focus on promoting creativity and problem solving.
Also education should promote science and technology education in order to attain the National Development Vision 2025.
Comments
Post a Comment