Why teacher motivation matters for 3Rs success

DODOMA: Tanzania understands that human capabilities and social development are crucial for driving its socio-economic transformation and achieving the goals of Tanzania Development Vision 2050 (Dira 2050).

Through Dira 2050’s Pillar Two, which focuses on human capabilities and social development, Tanzania aims to become a nation where every child is holistically nurtured, protected, and given the foundation to thrive through equitable access to quality healthcare, early childhood development opportunities, and a well-structured, independent pre-primary education system.

To realize the targets specified in Pillar Two of the Vision, in January 2026 President Samia Suluhu Hassan launched the Scientific Strategic Framework for Foundational Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (3Rs), which sets a new direction for early childhood and primary education in Tanzania.

During the launch of the dossier at the well-attended event in Dar es Salaam, the Head of State issued various directives, including one requiring the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the President’s Office–Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), and other relevant sector ministries to work closely to ensure the framework is fully and effectively implemented so that it delivers tangible and lasting benefits to learners and the nation at large.

President Samia also called on parents and guardians to fully cooperate with the government, saying the success of the programme depends on collective responsibility. Launching the framework is one step; realizing its objectives requires accountable public and private sectors, civil society organizations, and the community to develop various programmes to accelerate development of the education sector, specifically in the 3Rs.

Despite impressive work in developing education-based policies and strategies to strengthen human capabilities and social development, teachers are important stakeholders. Several studies have highlighted that when teachers are well-motivated, the country can realize its 3Rs target.

The Learning Project, which provides incentives and bonuses to teachers of Grades One to Three to strengthen pupils’ skills in Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic (the “3Rs”) in 265 primary schools across the country, has positively impacted the education sector, leading to improved performance in the Grade Four National Examinations in public schools under the initiative.

How incentivized teachers’ schools performed 

A case study drawn from the Learning Project, jointly executed by Twaweza and the LearnImpact Institute, shows that providing motivation and bonuses to teachers of lower primary classes has improved performance among participating students.

Amon Sebyiga, Head Teacher of Dodoma-Makulu Primary School in Dodoma Region, admits that incentivizing teachers has significantly boosted understanding among pupils in Grades One to Three, and their performance has improved.

Citing recent performance, the Head Teacher says that in the Grade Four examination in 2024, out of 248 pupils, only 16 failed. Last year (2025), out of 247 pupils, only six failed. He attributes this improvement to teacher motivation, proving that motivated teachers can do better and help the nation realize the 3Rs.

On his part, Ward Education Officer for Dodoma Makulu, Yasin Mponda, said the KiuFunza project, which helps accelerate children’s learning in reading, writing, and arithmetic by motivating teachers, has produced positive results by increasing both performance and understanding.

Students of Dodoma Makulu Primary School who studied under the project, Leila Msangi and Marther Rajabu, said at different times that the project helped them learn to read, write, and count diligently because their teachers were highly committed and motivated.

Bether Majengo, a teacher at Dodoma Makulu Primary School says giving teachers incentives and bonuses has increased their enthusiasm for teaching children through songs and games, helping students understand better and perform well.

Regarding the matter, Michael Kamkulu, Executive Director of the LearnImpact Institute, which funds the project, said the initiative is being implemented in 265 schools across 10 regions of the country, with Dodoma serving as a pilot area where incentives and bonuses are being tested in five schools.

According to the Director, the project runs for three years, and after conducting an evaluation, they found that participating schools recorded a 20 percent increase in performance compared to schools not in the programme.

 “This project provides incentives to teachers and bonuses to schools whose students perform best after competitions are held to identify top-performing schools and teachers,” he says.

In February 2025, head teachers and subject teachers in 265 primary schools in 11 regions of Tanzania received a total of 401m/- through their respective bank accounts as a performance bonus.

The bonus had been promised in March 2024 and was conditional on significantly improving the reading and numeracy skills of their early-grade students, as measured independently at the end of the 2024 school year.

The performance bonus is administered through a programme called KiuFunza – Kiu ya Kujifunza – a collaboration between the Government of Tanzania and Twaweza East Africa that is supported by the private Hempel Foundation of Denmark. KiuFunza improves foundational reading and numeracy for young students in Grades 1, 2, and 3. The vision of the programme is to get all children in Tanzania to read and calculate by the age of 10.

The 265 schools currently in the programme were selected from the poorest-performing districts in Tanzania, according to Standard Four National Assessment data.

This year, a total of 1,036 subject teachers were paid 334.4m/-. Subject teachers received an average of 323,000/- (± USD 128), which is 3.4 percent of the average teacher’s annual salary. The amount received by each teacher is based on the number of students in their class who master basic reading and numeracy skills — including reading stories, addition, and subtraction — as required by the national curriculum.

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The Twaweza report says some 272 head teachers received almost 67m/- in total for their supporting role in student performance.

As a result of the KiuFunza incentives, pass rates in the 265 schools have already started to improve. In November 2024, students in KiuFunza schools showed large learning improvements across all skills assessed in reading and numeracy, compared to a randomly selected control group of primary schools. KiuFunza students did 22 percent better in reading and 24 percent better in maths compared to students in control schools.

“Our evidence shows that these students are more likely to stay in school and sit the Primary School Leaving Examination. KiuFunza helps teachers feel appreciated for their work and they become more focused on student learning,” states Twaweza’s statement issued last year.

While the government expects ‘big results’ from the newly launched 3Rs framework, Twaweza, through its Learning Project, proposes that the provision of incentives and bonuses to teachers can be ‘the way to go’, as it has been tested in various primary schools across the country.

Since bonuses are considered among the factors that can motivate teachers to perform well, as Twaweza’s studies prove, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory sums up the matter by explaining human motivation.

Under the theory, Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, identified five aspects needed to motivate workers: physiological needs, security and safety needs, love and belonging, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. Maslow recognized that a number of different motivating forces, or needs, influence human behavior, and he created the hierarchy of needs to understand how these different forces work in relation to one another.

It is also well-explained on the JWU Main Site that extrinsic motivation focuses on tangible rewards that an employee may get from a job is another means of motivating staff to perform extraordinarily. This includes a person’s salary, benefits, bonuses, and other incentives.