DAR ES SALAAM: AFTER the government approved the new Education and Training Policy 2023 edition, the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) has said that it has completed preparing textbooks for classes which begin to execute the new education curriculum in the next academic year.
The remark was made yesterday in Dar es Salaam by TIE Managing Director, Dr Aneth Komba at the signing ceremony of the agreement to translate textbooks for students with hearing impairment.
The signing was done between TIE and the Tanzania Sign Language Translation Development Organisation (TSLDO) ‘BILAT.’
“Following the curriculum improvements, TIE has completed the work of preparing textbooks for the preprimary, primary and secondary education levels for classes that will start implementing the new curriculum in 2024,” she revealed.
She also said pupils who will start using the new curriculum next year include those in pre-primary education, Standard One and Three.
In particular, she noted that the institute has planned to complete the process of approving supplementary books so that they can be ready before the new academic year.
Regarding the event, Dr Komba said the agreement signed to translate textbooks into sign language is in line with the government’s intention of ensuring every child in the country gets the right to education.
“This partnership between TIE and TSLDO is a continuation of the sincere intention of the government to ensure every Tanzanian child gets his or her basic right to get quality education,” she emphasised.
“We (TIE) did not have the expertise to translate the textbooks into sign language, TSLTDO has such expertise… TIE has made decisions to cooperate with them and we are ready to perform all the duties as stated in the partnership document,” she added.
In a related development, she noted that the government recognises and makes various efforts to ensure that it provides the right to education to every Tanzanian regardless of their status.
Adding: “Regarding this, the government has been allocating funds in every financial year to prepare teaching and learning equipment specifically for students with special needs.
For her part, Director for Special Needs at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Magreth Matonya said the agreement signed is one of the implementations of the new Education and Training Policy of 2014, 2023 edition which requires all children with special needs to be able to learn according to their needs.
For his part, TSLTDO President, Bishop Sensor Msimbete commended the government for entrusting them with the responsibility of translating the textbooks.
“We appreciate the trust shown by the government through TIE for entrusting us this heavy but important role of translating textbooks for our schools in the country purposely reaching the hearing-impaired students,” he insisted.
