Govt ready for school reopening
DAR ES SALAAM: AS schools reopen on Tuesday, the government has assured the public it is prepared to accommodate all new and continuing students in the 2026 academic year.
The preparations include the construction of 277 new schools, 2,429 primary school classrooms, 64 classrooms for special needs education, 930 pre-primary classrooms and more than 9,388 pit latrines. The projects were implemented using over 196.7bn/- allocated during the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years, as part of efforts to improve education infrastructure nationwide.
According to a statement released yesterday by the Head of the Government Communication Unit at the Prime Minister’s Office–Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO-RALG), Ms Roida Andusamile, more than 14.1bn/- in capitation grants was disbursed in December 2025 to support teaching and learning activities.
Ms Andusamile called upon Regional Commissioners, District Commissioners, council leaders and executives, in collaboration with education stakeholders, to ensure that all students, including those with special needs, report to school on January 13, 2026, without any obstacles.
“With regard to Standard One enrolment, data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in 2026 a total of 1,950,783 children are of school-entry age, including 984,502 boys and 966,281 girls,” said Ms Andusamile.
She explained that this is in line with the 2014 Education and Training Policy (2023 edition), which stipulates that children aged six years should be enrolled in Standard One.
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On secondary education, Ms Andusamile said that a total of 937,581 students comprising 508,477 girls and 429,104 boys, including 3,228 students with special needs (1,544 girls and 1,684 boys), have been selected and assigned to 5,230 government secondary schools at ward level and boarding schools to begin Form One studies in 2026, as announced by the Ministry.
She further said that in December last year, the government released 28.4bn/- for school operational fund. Through these funds, education infrastructure has been improved by constructing 234 ward-level secondary schools, 74 ward-level vocational schools and 29 regional vocational schools.
Other developments she said, include the construction of 596 classrooms, 3,186 toilet facilities, seven zonal boys’ secondary schools, completion of 123 laboratory buildings and the procurement of Information and Communication Technology and laboratory equipment, at a cost of 283bn/-.
The PMO-RALG has also reminded all Tanzanians to adhere to government directives issued under Education Circular No. 3 of 2016 on the implementation of Fee-Free Basic Education, which clearly outlines the responsibilities of all stakeholders in ensuring the provision of quality education.
“Government continues to allocate funds for various education services. In the 2025/26 financial year, a total of 510.9bn/- has been set aside, equivalent to 42.5/- disbursed directly to schools every month,” said Ms Andusamile.
