A new trend shows most students opt for public schools, owners of non-government schools and colleges noted in a meeting with government authorities in Dar es Salaam recently.
They said the trend has negative impact on private schools given that the policy is not clear on where the private schools would get students for admission.
Citing a recent random sample of 75,000 school candidates who completed primary schools education, the owners said only 12,000 candidates were enrolled in private schools while 42,000 candidates joined public schools.
The Secretary General of Tanzania Association of Managers and Owners of Non-Government Schools and Colleges (TAMONGSCO) Benjamin Nkonya made the observation at a meeting with Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Prof Sifuni Mchome.
Given the serious mass failure only few candidates are selected to join secondary education, especially in science subjects for lack of facilities and poor background of students.
Nkonya said about 70 per cent of primary school leavers who were offered learning places in private secondary schools ignored the offer, opting to join public schools.
He appealed for policy review to ensure fairness between private and public schools.
However, Mchome said private school owners should establish public-private partnership to resolve the challenges. “Improvement of education depends on us all; on how we can address them,” he stressed.
On ‘unfairness’ Mchome said the policy is not intend to grab students from private schools but to create room for the government and private schools to work together.
Private schools have responsibility of improving the education system with educational inputs like books, teachers and learning infrastructure, he added. “It’s time for action and not propaganda as the perfection has never been a solution,” he state.
He said school fees discourage candidates to acquire good education and called for better strategies to provide affordable education, pointing out that the government assists private schools’ efforts in providing quality education.
The 2013 Form Four National Examination results showed little difference in pass rates between private and public schools.
Private schools are still amongst the top ten but the difference in pass rates compared to public schools such as Ilboru, Mzumbe, Kibaha, Tabora Boys is slight.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
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