Brain drain on science teachers in Tanzania increases

Tanzania’s public secondary schools still face shortage of 667 Science and Mathematics teachers, with the government succeeding to recruit only 3,462 teachers out of the advertised 4,129 job slots. Majority applicants could not be hired due to failure to meet the prescribed minimum requirements, the Minister of State in President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Governments), Mr George Simbachawene, said last week. The minister said despite the re advertisement, only 381 teachers met the requirements, adding to the first batch of 3,081 teachers recruited in the first advertisement. “All new teachers and lab technicians whose names appear on our website should report to the District Executive Directors (DEDs)’s office in their respective working stations from July 17, with their original birth, academic and professional certificates,” said the minister. He said academic certificates of all applicants for the applied posts that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology advertised last April, were scrutinized to establish any forgery. Mr Simbachawene said in the re-advertised posts, the government considered applicants who graduated before 2015 to get the balance of 1,048 teachers, saying after verification of their academic certificates, only 381 candidates sailed through. But, the minister declined to go into details about the number of applicants and those who failed in the verification, saying the matter is under the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, which advertised the posts. “As the minister responsible for Regional Administration and Local Governments, my role on the job posts is to request permits from the Ministry of Public Service Management. But, the Ministry of Education advertises the posts,” he explained. He warned those who will not report to their working stations after pocketing transport allowances, saying the law will take its course against the defaulting new teachers and lab technicians. “They (new teachers and lab technicians) should go to their working stations after reporting to DED offices and not to the headquarters of municipal councils,” he insisted. As for Arts teachers, Mr Simbachawene said public secondary schools have excess of over 7,000 Arts teachers, saying the government was currently working on the shortage of science teachers.