Is Co-Education a basis for students’ educational curriculum development

Tanzania government intends to revisit all public secondary schools which were converted to high schools, with the view of modifying them to admit Form One to Form Four students. Under the plan, furthermore, all initially girls-exclusive schools but which currently admit students of both gender for secondary school education will be reviewed. This issue was tabled in Parliament yesterday as a revelation by the Minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government – TAMISEMI), Mr George Simbachawene, in response to a supplementary question posed by Mtwara-Rural MP Ms Hawa Ghasia (CCM). “I honestly admit that we didn’t do our homework more effectively,” Mr Simbachawene said, elaborating: “When the government resolved to transform most of the junior public secondary schools, we didn’t pay much attention to the question of infrastructure.” He elaborated further that most of secondary schools that admitted both boys and girls were transformed to admit high school seniors, leaving facilities like hostels and classrooms unattended. Ms Ghasia cited Loleza, Ndanda and Mtwara girls in Mtwara Region, which were upgraded to higher schools but failed to use the facilities fully. “This has in turn been contributing to child marriages, as some girls are not admitted to secondary schools immediately. The existing schools are higher secondary schools that entail passing the Form Four examinations by the aspirants,” she said. She urged the government to consider taking comprehensive measures, including giving leeway to the schools to admit juniors for secondary education. “These schools have enough classrooms and hostels to accommodate more students but they have been limited to only take on board those joining high secondary education wings,” she said. In another development, the Deputy Minister in the ministry, Mr Suleiman Jaffo, told the august House that the government was similarly considering reconverting Mpanda Secondary School which used to admit Form One to Form Four students but now admits only Form Five and Six students. Mr Jaffo, who was responding to a basic question from Kavuu MP Dr Pudensiana Kikwembe, said the school was among seven high schools in Katavi Region.

Remove cattle herders out of national park-Government orders

It is something extra-ordinary to hear that cattle herders as well as farmers take on their activities at a national park which has been reserved for wildlife. This is a strange matter that people should observe at all cost as it is against the laws governing wildlife environmental conservation. The habit has become so notorious in some parts in the country whereby farmers and cattle herders who invaded the vast wildlife corridor linking the Tarangire National Park and Lake Manyara ecosystem have been ordered to vacate the area or face forcible removal in the next two weeks Babati District Commissioner (DC), Engineer Raymond Mushi, has announced that it’s now more than a year since the trespassers were ordered to vacate the area but they do not seem to care. Those are important wildlife and natural resource conservation areas ... and the only way to save both Tarangire and Lake Manyara parks is to let the wild savannah revert to its natural settings,” said Engineer Mushi. At least 18 families belonging to the Barbaig pastoralists live within the wildlife corridor as well as hundreds of illegal fishermen who have been scooping fish from Lake Manyara which is essentially a conserved lake and backbone of the corresponding park. 

An expert in animal and plant conservation, Mr Lucas Ole-Mukusi, said the presence of unaccounted people was fuelling cases of poaching, illegal logging of trees and destruction of the lake environment. “… and that’s not to mention the fact that people are being attacked by wild animals when the beasts cross backand- forth between Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Parks,” said Ole-Mukusi, adding that proper land use would follow after humans leave the area. Ole-Mukusi, who is also the ruling party’s charman for Manyara Region, argued that there’s need to save the Tarangire ecosystem, which is home to Northern Zone’s breeding area for elephants as well as ensuring that Lake Manyara environment, another breeding spot for the rare pink flamingos, were maintained. The chairman of Vilima- Vitatu Village, Mr Erasto Belela, said already the government has set aside more than 500 acres for the nomadic Barbaig once they vacate the Tarangire- Manyara corridor. “But the Barbaig have refused to leave this area … they claim the alternative land given to them is not adequate for them and their cattle … and that it’s not as fertile as the Vilima- Vitatu location,” the village chairman said.

Rate of HIV infections in Tanzania has reduced

Poverty stricken situation are among the factors which has been noted to be promoting the increased rate of HIV infections in various parts in the country. It has come to the general understanding that, the young females have a tendency to marry old men, and some become sexually active before turning 15. In spite of the growing situation in the country, the number of new HIV infections in Tanzania has dropped by 35 per cent between 2011 and 2016, from an estimated 80,000 to 55,000. The decrease has been attributed to enhanced public awareness campaigns, availability and effective use of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) and male circumcision, among other factors. Tanzania Commission for Aids (TACAIDS) Executive Director Dr Leonard Maboko, noted yesterday in Dar es Salaam, however, that despite the encouraging trend, further preventive measures are still needed, including voluntary health testing, especially for the youth, who are most affected group. He was speaking during the “Global Prevention Coalition: National Stakeholders’ Consultation on HIV Prevention” meeting which gathered participants from across the world to discuss further techniques towards curbing new transmissions. The good news about the downward trend comes at a time when the State recently announced that reliance on donors to finance programmes aimed at fighting the disease is set to go down by 36 per cent from 97 per cent within three years of operation of the AIDS Trust Fund that was introduced at the end of last year. The Trust Fund is vital as it aims at mobilising financial resources within the country for the anti-AIDS/ HIV drive. Among the expected sources of income for the AIDS Fund would be contributions by the government, donations by private and public institutions and fund raising events. Dr Maboko clarified that HIV prevalence was still higher among the key and vulnerable population (KVP), including men having sex with fellow men (MSM), people who inject drugs (PWID), female sex workers (FSW) and adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). “Prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission is one of the areas in which we have been doing very well. But the situation is not yet stable among youth and the more affected group is young females than men,” he said. United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Country Director and Representative, Dr Leo Zeken, chipped in a note that low ability in decision making was a drawback amongst young females. He explained that studies had indicated how young Tanzanian females had been forced to marry men far older than themselves, triggered by various reasons, including poverty.  “It is in this way that young girls have been lured to get into sexual intercourse with those older males at very early ages, sometimes before 15 years. Thus, we propose intensive HIV public awareness campaigns as an initial step; other measures will come second,” said the Country Director. He said that 40 per cent of females got married before turning 18, pointing out that despite the fact that awareness campaigns were a cross-cutting issue, media should play a frontline role on the community awareness sensitization front.

NECTA is optimistic to have lessened cheats in exams

The National Examination Council of Tanzania (NECTA) has expressed its optimism over the research it conducted recently which has assured safety against any exams cheatings and other forms of misconduct. The call by the NECTA has come when a total of 917,072 candidates are expected to sit the two-day 2017 Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) in the country. The NECTA’s Executive Secretary, Dr Charles Msonde, gave the warning in Dar es Salaam yesterday, saying cheats would face severe punishment from relevant authorities. Dr Msonde also urged regional and municipal examination committees to ensure that examination centres were conducive for the exercise and invigilators plus other staff discharged their duties ethically. He said all was set for the vital PSLE which commenced at centres spread across the country and featuring 917,072 candidates -- 47.19 per cent being boys and girls forming 52.81 per cent. The figure of candidates reflects a considerable increase of 121,311 pupils above the 795,761 for 2016. The PSLE candidates will be examined in Kiswahili, English language, Science, Mathematics and Social studies, whereby 882,249 registered candidates will write their exams in Kiswahili language except for the English Language subject. Some 34,823 candidates will write their examinations in English language, and 1,326 will be visual impaired candidates. In last year’s PSLE results, NECTA announced that 555,291 out of 789,479 candidates, who sat the 2016 examination, had passed, which was equivalent to a 70.3 per cent pass rate, 2.52 per cent higher than the 2015 results. There was an improvement in science subject performance by 4 per cent compared to the previous year whereas performance in Kiswahili, English and Mathematics declined by between 0.39 and 12.51 per cent. The best candidate in the previous national exam was Japhet Stephano from Kwema Primary School in Shinyanga while his classmates Jamal Athuman and Enock Bundala emerged second and third, respectively. Justine Gerald and Shabani Mavunde from Tusiime Primary School in Dar es Salaam became the fourth and fifth best pupils, respectively. Others (positions in brackets) were Jacob Wagine (6), Isaac John Isaac (7), Daniel Kitundu (8), Benjamin Shabu (9), all from Kwema Primary School and Azad Ayatullah (10) from Kaizirege Primary School in Kagera Region. The list of top 10 schools with their regions in brackets in descending order include Kwema (Shinyanga), Rocken Hill Primary School (Shinyanga), Mugini (Mwanza), Fountain of Joy (Dar es Salaam), Tusiime (Dar es Salaam), Mudio Islamic (Kilimanjaro), Atlas (Dar es Salaam), St Achileus (Kagera), Gift Skilfull (Dar es Salaam) and Carmel (Morogoro).

Crop experts widens up their knowledge to save cassava plant

In what seems to be the move to help the majority consumers of a cassava plant in the clountrey and all over the world, botanical scientists are struggling the breakthrough of the cassava crop from the verge of extinction. From their research point of view, they have identified the first ever genetic markers associated with resistance to two deadly cassava viral diseases in Tanzania’s grown varieties. The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), in a statement availed to media houses over the week end has identified the two varieties as Namikonga and Albert. Mostly grown by Tanzanian farmers, the varieties are capable of withstanding the devastating Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) and Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD), unlike other varieties. A team of scientists that has been studying the varieties’ DNA has successfully identified the genetic markers linked to their resistance to each of the viral diseases. The markers can be used to speed up the often long and expensive conventional breeding for cassava varieties with dual resistance to the diseases. “We are very happy with the findings of our studies which are a result of over six years of research. “It is an important milestone in the efforts to revive cassava production in East, Central and Southern Africa where the two diseases remain a serious problem, threatening the region’s food security,” said Morag Ferguson, a molecular breeder at IITA. Ferguson said for West Africa, where there is great fear of CBSD spreading and with devastating effects on the food security, the markers can assist in pre-emptive breeding. Namikonga and Albert, which are genetically related, have been grown by farmers in areas that are hotspots for the two viral diseases for many decades and have shown high resistance despite being subjected to the diseases for a long period.

Cassava tuber

Namikonga is tolerant to CBSD but highly susceptible to CMD while in contrast, Albert is highly susceptible to CBSD but resistant to CMD. The international team, drawing scientists from Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, and the United States, crossed the two Tanzanian varieties and studied a large population of the progeny over two seasons in two disease hotspots in the country. “The studies have enabled us to better understand the location of genes we suspect are associated with resistance to CBSD in the DNA of the farmer-preferred cassava variety, Namikonga, and CMD in the variety Albert,” noted Ms Esther Masumba, the molecular breeder from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. She added, “Once validated, this will help speed up breeding through marker-assisted selection (MAS) which shortens the breeding cycle and reduces the offspring population that breeders have to work with. Breeders will be able to quickly narrow down from the thousands of offspring to only those with the desired markers.” She was part of the research team and conducted the study as part of her PhD studies at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Most of the cassava breeding programmes in Africa use purely conventional breeding methods that are laborious and expensive due to long breeding cycles and the need for large field trials. The application of molecular markers in breeding and selection of crop varieties can both reduce breeding time and costs. The research team will now continue to validate these markers for their applicability in marker assisted breeding (MAB).