“Even in absence of supplies and infrastructure teachers can teach under trees, as long as they don’t suffer from financial setbacks and well motivated through various incentives while students sit on stones.”
This was Abraham Shafur’s remark during a recent Form VI students’ graduation ceremony at his school. Shafur is no ordinary person - a professional teacher, currently the Headmaster of Dar es Salaam’s St Matthew’s Secondary School.
Recognising teacher’s role, his school organised a tour of Dubai for 25 teachers last year, aimed at giving them relevant experience in their profession. He says such a move can contribute significantly to real meaning of Big Result Now (BRN) initiative.
According to Shafur, St Mathew’s spent Sh58 million for the project. A similar project is being considered for this year as well.
Shafur’s views are in line with those of Rakesh Rajan, head of TWAWEZA, a Kiswahili word that can simply be translated as “we can make it happen,” focusing on large-scale change in East Africa. The plan is about lasting change requires bottom-up action.
Rajan has been advocating for teachers’ profession upgrading and firmly focusing on learning outcomesrather than schooling inputs. He stresses that teachers and activists alike should track and care about children’s competence rather than ‘numbers of desks.’
It is about ‘how a few people have done better despite facing the same constraints as others’ and understand the secret to their success. “Teachers and students who work hard and perform well in the most difficult circumstances need to be celebrated, listened to, and emulated,” Rajan adds.
TWAWEZA deals with primary schools almost country-wide. It advocates for enough government and education stakeholders’ efforts on improving learning situations at grass-roots level - primary schools.
According to: “Are Our Children Learning?” an annual learning report for 2012” in Tanzania ‘children are in school but they are not learning’ as most Standard Three children do not master Standard Two work.
The report says ‘one out of 10 children can understand an English story, one out of four can understand a Kiswahili story, and one out of ten can perform basic multiplication.’
It further reveals that by the time children reach Standard Seven, a full five years after they should have mastered standard to work; five out of 10 children can understand an English story, eight out of 10 can understand a Kiswahili story, and nine out of 10 also can perform basic multiplication.
According to the report, schoolchildren performances are down owing to various reasons mainly low level of professionalism among teachers.
The findings show there are stark disparities between urban and rural areas in which children in urban areas continually outperform their rural peers.
It states that the pass rate among 13 year-olds for the Kiswahili and numeracy tests combined was 71 per cent in urban settings compared with 51 percent for the children of the same age in rural areas.
Rajan says there should be “learning and innovative environment of openness where there is free speech and critique…where ideas travel and can be both challenged and celebrated.”
On her part Zaida Mgalla, the Country Coordinator with Uwezo programme in (TWAWEZA) admits that as budget allocations for education have increased annually, the progress in terms of enrolment and class rooms construction have been impressive. But, she adds, despite attending school, many children are not being equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
She further states that, more children are in school in Tanzania than ever before. In September 2010, the country received the United Nations Millennium Award for impressive strides toward attaining universal primary education, with a Net Enrolment Rate (NER) of about 95 per cent.
“In particular, National Form Two and Form Four results for 2012 reveal that learning outcomes are poor. Of course, the problems begin long before secondary school examinations.
“Government statistics, national examinations and parents’ perceptions all point to a marked decline in the quality of education offered to our children,” says Mgalla.
The majority of children are not acquiring basic competencies in their early schooling years, and this poor performance undermines higher levels of learning, according to her.
Among invited guests at the graduation ceremony at St Matthew’s was Paulina Mkonongo, the Director of Secondary Schools in Tanzania. Officiating on the occasion, she revealed that upgrading teachers’ professions will be a priority, next to the current teachers’ grievances.
Commenting on the fact that private-owned schools always outperform public ones, she said: “We appreciate the work done by private schools … it results from teachers’ qualifications, on top of being well equipped.
“We also accept advice on that the government should remove disparities between the schools but settling teachers’ concerns is most the prioritised way forward to BRN goals attainment.”
She advised the students to take science seriously, stating that this is government emphasis,mentioning that by next year all secondary schools would have science laboratories to curb the deficit, not only in schools but also in other sectors.
Mkonongo said: “Imagine in the health sector, the number of doctors is below 30 percent; the same applies to nurses, in gas and oil sector and others. We therefore urge you students to eradicate the mentality that science subjects are difficult.”
According to the headmaster, out of 410 students who sat for Form Six examination at St Matthew’s last year, 380 joined various universities within the country and abroad.
A total of 412 students are registered for this year’s examination in May said the school’s government president, Brian Robert, said when reading a speech to the guests on behalf of colleagues.
This was Abraham Shafur’s remark during a recent Form VI students’ graduation ceremony at his school. Shafur is no ordinary person - a professional teacher, currently the Headmaster of Dar es Salaam’s St Matthew’s Secondary School.
Recognising teacher’s role, his school organised a tour of Dubai for 25 teachers last year, aimed at giving them relevant experience in their profession. He says such a move can contribute significantly to real meaning of Big Result Now (BRN) initiative.
According to Shafur, St Mathew’s spent Sh58 million for the project. A similar project is being considered for this year as well.
Shafur’s views are in line with those of Rakesh Rajan, head of TWAWEZA, a Kiswahili word that can simply be translated as “we can make it happen,” focusing on large-scale change in East Africa. The plan is about lasting change requires bottom-up action.
Rajan has been advocating for teachers’ profession upgrading and firmly focusing on learning outcomesrather than schooling inputs. He stresses that teachers and activists alike should track and care about children’s competence rather than ‘numbers of desks.’
It is about ‘how a few people have done better despite facing the same constraints as others’ and understand the secret to their success. “Teachers and students who work hard and perform well in the most difficult circumstances need to be celebrated, listened to, and emulated,” Rajan adds.
TWAWEZA deals with primary schools almost country-wide. It advocates for enough government and education stakeholders’ efforts on improving learning situations at grass-roots level - primary schools.
According to: “Are Our Children Learning?” an annual learning report for 2012” in Tanzania ‘children are in school but they are not learning’ as most Standard Three children do not master Standard Two work.
The report says ‘one out of 10 children can understand an English story, one out of four can understand a Kiswahili story, and one out of ten can perform basic multiplication.’
It further reveals that by the time children reach Standard Seven, a full five years after they should have mastered standard to work; five out of 10 children can understand an English story, eight out of 10 can understand a Kiswahili story, and nine out of 10 also can perform basic multiplication.
According to the report, schoolchildren performances are down owing to various reasons mainly low level of professionalism among teachers.
The findings show there are stark disparities between urban and rural areas in which children in urban areas continually outperform their rural peers.
It states that the pass rate among 13 year-olds for the Kiswahili and numeracy tests combined was 71 per cent in urban settings compared with 51 percent for the children of the same age in rural areas.
Rajan says there should be “learning and innovative environment of openness where there is free speech and critique…where ideas travel and can be both challenged and celebrated.”
On her part Zaida Mgalla, the Country Coordinator with Uwezo programme in (TWAWEZA) admits that as budget allocations for education have increased annually, the progress in terms of enrolment and class rooms construction have been impressive. But, she adds, despite attending school, many children are not being equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
She further states that, more children are in school in Tanzania than ever before. In September 2010, the country received the United Nations Millennium Award for impressive strides toward attaining universal primary education, with a Net Enrolment Rate (NER) of about 95 per cent.
“In particular, National Form Two and Form Four results for 2012 reveal that learning outcomes are poor. Of course, the problems begin long before secondary school examinations.
“Government statistics, national examinations and parents’ perceptions all point to a marked decline in the quality of education offered to our children,” says Mgalla.
The majority of children are not acquiring basic competencies in their early schooling years, and this poor performance undermines higher levels of learning, according to her.
Among invited guests at the graduation ceremony at St Matthew’s was Paulina Mkonongo, the Director of Secondary Schools in Tanzania. Officiating on the occasion, she revealed that upgrading teachers’ professions will be a priority, next to the current teachers’ grievances.
Commenting on the fact that private-owned schools always outperform public ones, she said: “We appreciate the work done by private schools … it results from teachers’ qualifications, on top of being well equipped.
“We also accept advice on that the government should remove disparities between the schools but settling teachers’ concerns is most the prioritised way forward to BRN goals attainment.”
She advised the students to take science seriously, stating that this is government emphasis,mentioning that by next year all secondary schools would have science laboratories to curb the deficit, not only in schools but also in other sectors.
Mkonongo said: “Imagine in the health sector, the number of doctors is below 30 percent; the same applies to nurses, in gas and oil sector and others. We therefore urge you students to eradicate the mentality that science subjects are difficult.”
According to the headmaster, out of 410 students who sat for Form Six examination at St Matthew’s last year, 380 joined various universities within the country and abroad.
A total of 412 students are registered for this year’s examination in May said the school’s government president, Brian Robert, said when reading a speech to the guests on behalf of colleagues.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
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