Blame game as Form 4 results sink in

Dar es Salaam. The mass failure in the 2012 Form 4 examinations has triggered a national outcry, with educationalists describing it as disastrous enough to shake the foundations of the government’s thinking on education.
The results announced two days ago pointed to a 60 percent failure rate.
Now stakeholders are warning that the government should see this as a wake-up call and not imagine that doing more of the same thing that it has done in the past decade will somehow improve future results.
“That would be sheer folly,” fumed the head of Twaweza, Mr Rakesh Rajani. “There is absolutely no other way to interpret it (the shocking results).”
On Monday, the government announced that nearly six out of every 10 students who sat last year’s National Form 4 examinations failed, with the number of students who scored Division Zero rising from 31.94 per cent in 2011.
A total of 240,903 students out of 397,126 students who sat the 2012 National Form 4 exams failed, according to the results announced by the minister of Education and Vocational Training, Dr Shukuru Kawambwa.
What was required, Mr Rajani said, was a complete rethink of the education agenda, adding: “Since 2002, we have been building classrooms and getting teachers certified. It has not worked. Examination results have got worse.”
Instead, he said, the government and education stakeholders needed to get a better grip on what drives quality and learning, considering that evidence from other countries suggests it is not inputs such as classrooms, formally certified teachers or even books that make the difference.
He added: “We need to get over our fixation with inputs. We need to innovate and think about incentives and experiment with new ideas based on solid evidence—for example, paying teachers a bonus for every child who passes with a Division I or II (cash on delivery).”
He commended the National Examinations Council of Tanzania (Necta), though, saying the results suggest that Necta is probably doing a good job of tightening the screws on cheating and in making sure that the results are not fiddled with even when they are a national embarrassment.
“If this is indeed the case, Necta deserves credit for not succumbing to pressure to cook the results to give a more positive picture,” he said.
Mr James Mbatia, the chairman of NCCR-Mageuzi, who early this month moved a private motion in Parliament asking the House to form a select committee to come up with recommendations that would save the education sector from further decline, yesterday appealed to President Jakaya Kikwete to form a commission of experts to look into the education crisis.
He told a news conference that the President needed a quick and serious intervention, adding that he was ready to volunteer.
Mr Mbatia said the examination results proved right his recent private motion on education. “It is now an open secret that the country lacks an education curriculum to direct both the teachers and pupils,” he added.
In his private motion, which had the support of MPs from both the ruling CCM and the opposition, Mr Mbatia said the ministry of Education and Vocational Training does not have credible and cohesive school curricula.

Kawambwa ‘should resign’
Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) shadow minister for Education and Vocational Training, Ms Susan Lyimo, termed the results a national disaster. Ms Lyimo told a news conference that it was high time Dr Kawambwa and his team resigned because they have shamed the nation.
Most leaders did not care about education in the country because their children are in prestigious schools overseas, she added, and the root of the mass failure could be a go-slow by teachers who are demanding payment of their outstanding arrears.
In Arusha, there were calls on Dr Kawambwa to resign while one of the civic leaders suggested that the results be scrapped and the exercise repeated.

Poorly equipped schools
“There is nothing surprising in the results,” lamented Elibariki Mangi from Babati. “The schools are poorly equipped and don’t have enough teachers. Moreover, we have lowered the secondary school entry marks.”
He said many secondary schools lacked teaching equipment and laboratories. Some have only a few teachers, with some subjects not being taught at all.
Business consultant Simon Mapolu said everyone should be concerned because the results reflected a host of problems facing the education sector, including a skewed student/teacher ratio and shortage of books and other teaching aids.
A tourism sector official, Cyrill Akko, said the poor Form 4 results were the result of teacher strikes over the poor working environment and apparent neglect by society. “The government has no option but to sit down with the teachers and seek a solution to the education crisis,” he said on the phone.
Mr Gesso Bajuta, a councillor from Endamillay ward in Mbulu district, Manyara region, said the situation was worse in ward secondary schools and pleaded with the authorities to salvage them.
According to the executive director of Sikika, Mr Irenei Kiria, trends showed that Tanzania was likely to have an uneducated workforce unable to cope with the competitive job market and education should not be politicised.
He added: “If the education system is not overhauled, the nation will have a large number of uneducated citizens.”
The Tanzania Teachers Union President, Mr Gratian Mukoba, dismissed the idea that the recent teachers’ strike had something to do with the poor examination results. He put the blame squarely with the government which, he said, did not have a competent monitoring system.
Ms Mary Kitunga, the director of Soma, a non-governmental organisation, said the problem started in primary schools, where there was “overpopulation of pupils” in classrooms.
According to Mr Bonas Ndimbo, the president of the Tanzania Heads of Schools Association, the examination results have left thousands of Form 4 leavers with an uncertain future. HakiElimu said in a statement that the results were a clear indication of weaknesses in the education system.
Reported by Fariji Msonsa, Mulemwa Mulemwa, Raymond Kaminyoge and Alex Bitekeye in Dar es Slaam and Zephania Ubwani in Arusha