Three countries learn from TZ education policy execution

DODOMA: THE Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Wilson Mahera, held discussions with Permanent Secretaries from the Ministries of Education of Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, who are in the country for a learning visit.

The visit by the executives from the three countries aimed at learning how the Education Policy is implemented through cooperation between the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the President’s Office for Regional Administration and Local Government and stakeholders, particularly the partnership with Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) in reinstating girls who had dropped out of school.

The meeting was held recently in Dodoma and was attended by the Deputy Permanent Secretary from the President’s Office for Regional Administration and Local Government, Mr Atupele Mwambene and the Commissioner for Education, Dr Lyabwene Mtahabwa.

Recently the government made improvements in certain areas of the Education and Training Policy to offer skillsbased education instead of only academic education while the mandatory education will be extended to 10 years instead of the current seven.

Announcing the changes, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said that the implementation will begin in 2027, along with the abolishment of the Standard VII exam, which will be replaced by a Standard 6 assessment for transition to mandatory secondary education.

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Providing updates on the approval of the 2014 Education and Training Policy, 2023 Edition and curricula for Preprimary, Primary, Secondary and Teacher Education levels in November last year the changes were initiated after identifying various challenges in the education sector.

The challenges include the education system focusing too much on general education, lacking opportunities for education and training tailored to specific needs and not meeting learning demands suited to different environments.

He said “the curricula not meeting the needs of economic, social, scientific and technological changes, the inefficiency of the education quality control and certification system and a shortage of skilled labor”. PM added, “these challenges led to the need for us to improve our education policy to meet current and future demands.” Explaining the areas improved in the policy he said, “the education and training policy has undergone changes compared to the previous policy by increasing opportunities for vocational education (technical and vocational training), which will start being offered from Form One.”

He said that the assessment and evaluation system has been enhanced to focus on the competencies needed at each level, with the goal of ongoing assessment and the use of various methods to evaluate students progress in learning