rest of the country, I only see the Biblical apocalypse! We are on the
verge of being doomed! If I was Minister for Education, I would in
fact resign; not because I have any direct connection to such abysmal
results, but, as Mzee Mwinyi did as Minister of Home Affairs in 1975,
I would do so to show what accountability means.
What stands out is the yawning question: How can this country move to
greater heights of development and achieve a great leap forward in
transformation with these kinds of Form IV results? I think the The
President himself has to step forward and speak to the Tanzanian
people about the situation and give them a sense of what is going on
and what will be done and done quickly to improve it.
It can be noted that in 1983, the President of the US, upon being
informed that the US education system was trailing way back countries
like Finland, Norway, Taiwan and even South Korea at that time decided
to appoint a High Level Commission of top US education Professors to
analyse what was going on and recommend what needed to be done to
redress and improve the situation.
In 1984, that Commission issued its report which, curiously, was
titled: A Nation at Risk. And indeed, the US was at risk as it was
losing competitive edge. And In spite of having world class
Universities like Harvard, MIT, Yale , Stanford, Columbia, Princenton
and UC- LA and Berkeley, the basic education-primary and secondary-was
found to be way inferior.
In my view, our Nation is in an even worse RISK today. In fact, all
the recent reports about us-Doing Business Reports of the World Bank,
Financial Times, World Competitiveness Reports of the World Economic
Forum etc, paint a common bleak and miserable picture about how we
manage and lead our economy. Look, education, and quality education at
that, is central to whatever we conceive in getting Tanzania to
transform itself. We can build thousands of miles of tarmac roads and
our Social Security Funds can invest in several high rise buildings,
build Kigamboni Bridge and develop a new Kigamboni City, Bagamoyo Port
etc, but without developing our human capacities, our country will
only head to an apocalypse, God forbid!
Bold decisions are thus required to address this serious condition. My
friend Hon. Mbatia thinks that a Bunge Select Committee could address
such ICU condition. It is a joke whilst respecting his audacity to
call for a broad curriculum review.
The problem is just too deep seated and requires a broad, multifaceted
review and even total overhaul of our education system. This is not
work for our politicians and legislators for heaven's sake. We need
Tanzanian reputed experts in education to be at the forefront of such
an undertaking. And we need to trust our own national experts.
Big question in all this is : Who is thinking about these bold
decisions and what they entail for the future of our country? Partisan
politics in this area can only harm our progress. Tanzania needs a
broad social compact above such politics on a matter of this
importance and criticality.
Those who think that we are in a state of business as usual in this
country are grossly mistaken.These 2012 Form IV Exam results reflect
the state of our national social, economic and psychological
condition. There are no easy answers.
The Minister for Education defencelessly thought there could be. We
cannot play politics with the future of our country and especially of
our children who have to face a brave new world beyond Tanzanian
borders. If there is a matter that requires a broad based coalition of
societal pressure for change it is this one.
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