Change national educational curriculum into life skills, urges the don

DURING the era of socialism in the first phase government, primary school leavers were proud after having been selected to join secondary school education in the country, and for those who missed the opportunity resort to seek for the admissions in private secondary schools which were few by then. The concept means that during that time, government schools were valued to the utmost standards in terms of the provision of better quality education and other things than private schools as related in the general educational curriculum of both ordinary and advanced secondary school. Unlike before, today after 50 years of independence, the trend has changed as most parents prefers to send their children to privately owned secondary schools if need be, depending on the availability of money and economic and financial position that determines their capability. As the educational system in Tanzania is changing as years goes by, most parents whose children prepares to undertake early secondary education prefers mostly to take them to privately owned schools rather than public ones even if are selected  to go there with ambition that would get quality education. Recent educational research activities have shown that, there is neglect on students once selected to pursue their secondary education in government secondary schools, and instead students whose parents are economically and financially able tend to send their children to private schools. Research has discovered that students whose parents are poor and not able enough to afford high school fees charged by private secondary schools prefers to remain in public schools mainly due to their low economic resource power as they are not able to afford such a high educational expenses. Reasons why parents who are well economically prefers to have their children enrolled in private schools in the country is well stated with evidences which shows that the private educational sector in the country has advanced due to investments since early 1990s after economic liberation. Before 1985, the government was the major operator but after the economic liberation, the public and members of the community have to support education by contributing in one way or another in order to make schools operate and equip with modern educational learning materials. The individual contribution to educational system in the country began to slow down the pace of public schools’ development which largely depends on the availability of government funds in order to cater for essential educational needs. Essentially, as the number of primary school leavers increases in the country year after year, the demand for secondary schools and other facilities such as electricity, water, amenities and other educational needs also increases in public schools. Narrating the trend of education and the possible consequences that resulted into poor education in the country, an educational expert and a senior lecturer from the School of Education of the University of Dar es Salaam Professor Akundaeli Mbise said early this week in Dar es Salaam that, “unless the national educational curriculum is changed otherwise Tanzania will continue to lag behind in terms of education”. Speaking in an exclusive interview Professor Mbise said that, the government needs to look for the teachers’ training curriculum that promotes innovation and creativity that makes teachers become innovators rather than people who transfer knowledge. The basic idea in this concept is that, Prof. Mbise is on the view of the fact that, there should be a building curriculum that is full of entrepreneurship life skills if applied would help students outside the school, or prepares them for self employment and meet other challenges of the 21^st century. Narrating the downtrend of the educational system in the country, Prof. Mbise categorized the reasons in three major factors which he said are the major cause of underdevelopment and urged the government to take appropriate measures in order to remedy the escalating situation to save the future generation Remuneration and teachers’ motivation in public schools has been a subject of debate in education sector and this is a prime cause of poor education in the country. “Teachers are the most resources, but are demoralized when are not paid well, there is a likelihood of getting poor education quality” he said. The learning resources such as books and in modern life styles computers plays the part, poor dilapidated classrooms, lack of essential working facilities, inadequate water supplies, poor electricity supplies in urban centers coupled by high costs of paraffin in rural areas, all these if compounded together with others are common problems affecting education sector, said Prof. Mbise Lack of support from the communities in the building of social facilities such as water boreholes, classroom renovations and other facilities like amenities which have to be supported by the community, and since the community is not responsible enough then the quality would definitely deteriorates. It is very shaming to note that, the community members have not seen the importance of this in order to change their lives in most parts of the country bearing in mind the fact that, such expenses could be met by the government, but due to poverty the situation becomes worse. Public schools suffer so much because parents do not push their children for studies and this is because of little motivation for studies. But in private schools they have an idea for education as investors in private sectors takes care of students and equip them with the necessary teaching materials. Private schools are properly managed and supervised as their owners have to make a follow up and see what their consumers and members of the community would want them to do. Unlike in private schools, public schools have no supervisors to look after students. Teachers are trying to push them to study but find it very difficulty as their parents are not doing that. Comparing the educational system of the neighboring Kenya and Ugandan countries, Pro. Mbise noted that, “the two countries are more advanced than Tanzania as they started to build their system earlier though are very expensive in private schools, but have very high quality education” However, he said that, teachers in these countries have their students pushed on by their parents from their homes. He mentioned the Harambee philosophy being used by Kenyans since independence and is still in practice. The philosophy he said has helped many Kenyans as it is a joint community efforts to let their children acquire education which in return is for their benefits. Unlike in Tanzania which in the past had a self reliance education policy which he noted could not work effectively, and this is because of the fact that, the country is not committed fully into valuing education to the community. “If people are able to contribute for wedding why not education” he queried. In order to restore the dignity once attained in the past, the government cannot run away from investing honest efforts and resources in education. In this case, every person has a role to play especially parents who have a greater role to push in their children. The community must make sure that, teachers whom they have entrusted with the responsibilities to sharpen those fresh brains and are properly prepared for academic knowledge and skills have their schools improved as everybody sends their children to them to get knowledge. Professor Mbise has suggested that, the government should embark on the issue of creating a conducive teaching environment for teachers and students as well, by this he insists that, teachers must get enough motivation and good environment with full facilities available for their living despite of the fact that such incentives are not given priority by the government.