Education System in Tanzania

Problems and frustrations I talked about last time did not get us down for long. We had a wonderful group of fellow volunteers to share with, and we had tons of fun together so if spirits dropped it didn't last long. Tanzanians seem to be that way as well, so maybe it rubbed off on us. I'm in Zanzibar now with a couple fellow volunteers and new friends, but I'm still trying to catch you all up on the rest of my time in Arusha. Some things I want to remember and that I think are interesting and important to share. So on to the education system...

The private schools are the best, but most cannot afford them and can only attend the govt schools, if they do attend school. Some cannot even afford that, and for the Maasai, for instance, many children aren't sent to school for fear of brainwashing or kids turning their backs on their culture and way of life. The teachers in the govt schools are often poorly trained and the pay is very low. Teaching methods don't leave much room for creativity or free thinking and are very dry and dull with a lot of rote and repitition. Kids might be able to copy or read English aloud from what is written on the board, but comprehension and retention is minimal. Sometimes there is punishment and ridicule for mistakes.

A teacher may be assigned to teach a subject on which he/she has very little expertise. At one school, the volunteers found that a teacher teaching numbers up to 20 in English was omitting 16. The kids would count aloud "13, 14, 15, 17,..." Ineffective teaching of English seems to be the most problematic of all. All subjects are taught in Swahili in primary school, and English is taught as a subject. Then in secondary school everything is taught in English. This is partly because Swahili lacks the vocabulary for higher levels of mathematics, science, etc. As a result of this many kids don't do well in secondary school or fail out altogether. And kids who don't do well but make it through often then become teachers...vicious cycle. It is not uncommon to find a kid just out of school who can barely speak English, so that says a lot about the quality of the education.

English is an extremely valuable asset for the workforce after school. Some of the better jobs are in the tourism industry and frequently require the ability to speak English. Many of the CCS staff and recommended cab drivers, for example, were forced to learn some English to get those positions. It has been very interesting talking to them and hearing that they learned some basic English to get the jobs and have sinced learned a great deal of their English just from talking to volunteers. It's an interesting residual effect of volunteerism, an aspect of cultural exchange.