EDUCATION SPECIAL REPORT: Hostile environment in schools: The past meets the present

Standard One pupils in class at Mutukula Primary School, Geita Region. PHOTO | FILE 

By Lucas Liganga

• The government’s rush to construct new secondary schools was not carried out in tandem with the provision of basic necessities to make the learning environment conducive

Between May 21 and 25, 2007, I carried out a five-day survey on Teaching and Learning Processes in Secondary Schools in Same District, Kilimanjaro Region.

The aim was to establish how teachers do their work, the methods they use, how and whether pupils are involved in the learning process and the role of parents in their children’s education.

I visited three secondary schools—Kwakoko, Kibacha and Kasepombe—all on the outskirts of the district. Kwakoko and Kasepombe were then newly-built schools in the government’s drive to absorb the massive number of pupils completing primary education. Kibacha was built in 2004.

A growing number of public schools are built by communities with the assistance of the government. The situation is more or less the same in most schools in Tanzania today.

I interviewed teachers, both qualified and non-qualified, and a handful of students whose views were largely representative of those of their schoolmates. My survey established that the government’s rush to construct new secondary schools was not carried out in tandem with the provision of basic necessities to make the learning environment conducive.

Basic necessities, including teaching aides such as textbooks for both teachers and students, were unavailable.

Most of the schools had no qualified teachers, which could lead to a generation of half-baked students who cannot cope in a globalised world. Most of the teachers had undergone the one-month crash programme for Form VI leavers who generally scored low pass marks.

To add insult to injury, almost all the teachers interviewed accused the government of not taking care of them—a euphemism implying they were not given incentives to boost their morale.

The hard way

The students were also learning the hard way: They had no textbooks and had to walk long distances to and from school, meaning they were too tired to concentrate on their studies. Moreover, they learned on empty stomachs.

With 70 Form I students, Kasepombe Secondary School was one of those built under the supervision of the  government to absorb the high number of pupils completing primary education under the five-year (2002-2006) Primary Education Development Plan (PEDP).

The new secondary schools were part of implementation of the government’s five-year (2004-2009) Secondary Education Development Plan (SEDP) that aimed at improving the quality of secondary education and expanding enrolment to 50 per cent by 2010. This entailed a rise in the number of pupils from 430, 000 in 2004 to two million by 2010.