My Bad

Alas, I have yet again failed to plan my time wisely and do not have an original, amazing, magnificent blog entry to share with you this week regarding the progress of the observation period in Msaranga - shame on me!!  But that may be a good thing....

I am hugely busy there, waking up at the crack of dawn and going home so busted-tired, I can barely eat dinner and scrub the red dust from my skin and hair, let alone sit upright and transcribe my notes.  I've typed up the ones from Monday, February 4th, but the other five days I've observed, not just yet - nearly 70 pages in total now!  Still, they are forthcoming and I can't wait to share some of my findings with you all.

In the meantime, have a look at this newsflash from the Pan African News Agency dated February 9th, 2013.

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Education featured at the top of debate in the Tanzanian Parliament during a week when lawmakers focused on shortcomings in the Education and Vocational Training Ministry’s curricula for primary and secondary schools. 

Writing under the headline "Which Way Should Tanzania Take Toward Quality Education?" The Guardian daily wrote that at one point in time, the education curriculum had focused on developing critical and creative thinking, communication, numeracy, literacy, personal and social life skills, and independent learning among students. 

However, the paper observed that there have since been indications of the syllabi of various subjects in primary and secondary schools being altered, apparently with a view to helping students better cope with global technological changes.
 
The Guardian asked, "Who would find cause to complain were the new syllabi to involve greater and wider use of computers and the internet as a way of facilitating not only teaching but also learning?"
 
But the paper wondered, "If the new syllabi were implemented as expected, how many schools would have found themselves adequately equipped to absorb and benefit from the changes as many of them lacked computers, let alone internet connection. 

"The nation has yet to provide enough schools with enough teaching facilities and aids such as classrooms, books, desks and laboratory equipment, all of which would be required irrespective of the type of curriculum.

"What is most at stake here is availability of the requisite resources.  Making adjustments to the curriculum alone cannot promise much difference in the standard of education and training offered in the country. 

"We need resources for training more teachers especially for deployment in remote parts of the country.  As we have long observed, a mere increase in the number of schools does not do us much good," The Guardian said.