THE ROAD TO ELECTION : Fee-free education breaks barriers, builds just society

TANZANIA: THE story of free education in Tanzania is a compelling narrative worth revisiting. Education serves as a transformative force, driving economic development, societal progress and individual empowerment. Its significance is unquestionable.

When education is universally accessible, it has the potential to dismantle social and economic barriers, leading to a more equitable and just society. Education serves as a fundamental tool for personal and social development, playing a pivotal role in breaking the cycle of poverty.

Nevertheless, the high cost of education has historically posed a barrier, hindering access for some families. Acknowledging this challenge, the ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), has taken proactive measures to guarantee free education for all children in the country.

Recognising education as a fundamental right for every individual, CCM outlined in its 2020-2025 election manifesto a commitment to prioritise the delivery of free, quality and standardised education from primary to secondary levels, while strengthening systems and pushing for more allocation of fund for higher learning students through the Higher Education Students’ Loans Board (HESLB).

In implementing the manifesto and fee free education programme, the government through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has been strengthening primary, secondary and teachers’ education.

Improving the quality and accessibility of primary and secondary education has been a top priority for the government. Investments have been made in infrastructure development, teacher training and the availability of quality learning materials.

The Minister for the docket, Professor Adolf Mkenda said when tabling 1.96tri/- budget for the 2024/2025 Financial Year that the budget has been increasing year after year, purposely to ensure improved education for all Tanzanian learners.

The budget has increased by almosty 200bn/- from previous 1.67tri/- in the 2023/2024 fiscal year.

Parliament’s Education, Culture and Sports committee Chairperson Husna Sekiboko said that when the committee analysed the ministry’s development budget, it found that the estimates had increased by 68 per cent, indicating that the government prioritised projects implemented by the ministry.

The increase in the education budget and provision of free fee education is in line with the implementation of the CCM 2020-2025 election manifesto and the national Development Vision 2025.

As of April 2024, the government has successfully managed to implement a number of projects under the free fee education policy as stipulated in the party manifesto and National Development Vision 2025. In the 2023/2024 financial year, the government disbursed 766.1bn/- to continue funding the fee free basic and secondary education programme.

At least 1,206,995 students out of 1,397,370 students who completed standard seven in 2023 were selected to join secondary education in January 2024. The number equal to 86.4 per cent of the total number of students who completed primary education in 2023.

Moreover, as of January, this year, over 1,877,000 pupils were enrolled for pre-primary education on which, 934,560 were boys and 942,924 were girls.

Furthermore, a total of 1,729,180 pupils enrolled for standard one in public primary schools across the country. The number comprised 860,870 boys and 868,310 girls.

The number of students who enroll for secondary education has been increasing tremendously every year, due to proper implementation of fee free education policy. In January 2023, a total of 1,073,941 students enrolled in secondary education across the country of which, 514,846 were boys and 559,095 were girls.

The number of students increased by 166,139, which was 18 per cent from 907,802 students, who were selected to join secondary school education in 2022.

The increased number of students enrolling in pre-primary, primary and secondary education is in line with the directives and implementation of the 2020-2025 CCM manifesto and the nation development plan 2021/2022-2025/2026.

The manifesto emphasised the continuation of providing fee-free education in the country, to enable all children to get education from pre-primary level to advanced secondary education.

“CCM emphasises on the continuation of the fee-free education policy to enable all qualified children to enroll in primary and secondary education without any problem,” reads part of the document.

Moreover, the manifesto prioritised the construction and improvement of infrastructure to enable the smooth and good environment for providing education. Also, the manifesto stressed on the involvement of the private sector and religious institution in ensuring the proper provision of education in the country.

Recently, Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Mkenda highlighted that under President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan’s leadership, four new teachers’ colleges have been established, including those in Ngorongoro, Kabanga, Mhonda and Sumbawanga.

The government now operates 35 teachers’ colleges following recent education reforms. These colleges are being specialised; for example, Marangu Teachers’ College now focuses on languages like Arabic, French and Chinese. Butimba College specialises in sports and Kleruu offers technical training.

The new policy has eliminated certificate-level training for teachers, allowing current certificate holders to advance to diploma levels before phasing out certificates entirely.

The increase in teachers’ colleges and other education facilities all indicate the good results from the implementation of fee free education that has increased the enrolment and number of students who complete both primary and secondary schools.

According to the CCM election manifesto 2020-2025, the party is committed to increasing opportunities in the education sector, particularly for science, language and technical subjects, to produce enough qualified teachers. The manifesto also pledged to enhance primary school teacher quality by introducing a Diploma in Primary Education and strengthening science and technical teacher training.

Some education stakeholders who spoke to the ‘Daily News’ said the government has successfully recorded achievements in the education sector through the fee-free policy, which has enabled the majority of Tanzanian children to enrol in studies.

Dr Joseph Chakupewa, a lecturer at Mkwawa University College of Education said fee free education programme has offered an opportunity for all Tanzanian children to study for free.

He said the fee free education has provided relief to parents and guardians who were going through financial difficulties to take their children to school.

“It is a big relief to parents and students, there is no fear of being sent back home for not paying school fees,” he noted.

He added that the removal of school fees has stimulated performance among students who study in public schools, a situation that poses a threat to private-owned schools.

“Many public secondary schools are doing well in their final national examination, this poses a threat to privately owned schools as parents now opt to enrol their children in public schools,” said Dr Chakupewa.

However, he advised the allocation of more teachers especially in rural areas and improvement of infrastructure to accommodate the bigger number of students, which is growing every year.

The University of Dodoma Lecturer, Dr Paul Loisulie commended the government move in offering fee free education.

“The government is currently implementing the 2014 education and training policy. Therefore, fee-free education is a programme to implement the education and training policy of 2014,” he said.

Dr Loisulie said fee free education has enabled access to education for every child in the country. “Fee-free education has brought people together, children from low earning families have been connected to the mainstream system,” he noted.

Mr Athuman Shomvi, a parent and resident of Mbezi Mwisho commended the government for implementing fee free education saying every child has been given a platform to show his ability and shape his future.

“Some of us had no financial muscle to pay school fees for our children, with this policy, we are only buying uniforms and providing bus fare to our children, this is a big relief,” he noted.