The national government in Tanzania plans to hire and deploy over 28,000 teachers in primary and secondary schools starting in January 2013. This move should reduce, by more than half, the shortage of teaching staff in government schools. (via Education International - Tanzania: Significant move to curb teacher shortage)
Dar Es Salaam — Though children attending private schools have been found to perform better than those going to public schools, their performance was far from better, a survey by Uwezo East Africa has established. Surveys conducted in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda on quality of primary education showed that in Tanzania and Uganda, pupils attending private schools performed relatively poorly.
The ability of schools to retain students is wanting, however. East African governments must do more to close the huge gap between the access to primary education and that of secondary education.
Only 27 per cent of East Africa’s youth are enrolled in secondary school at the age group when they should be — compared with a sub-Saharan average of 34.1 per cent, and a world average of 67 per cent.
Looking at the statistics, an inverse relationship is observed between the percentage of government expenditure on education and the number of years a child is expected to survive in the school system.
The progress has come with a lesson in the law of unintended consequences. Enrolment has grown so fast in Tanzania that the school system is creaking with overcrowded classrooms, shortages of books, teachers and toilets, and reports of corporal punishment being used to keep order. In short, it seems that quality has been sacrificed for quantity. (via Midterm report: Tanzania’s educational revolution needs investment | Global development | guardian.co.uk)
