Hapa Ni Kazi Tu

This simple Swahili phrase has the general meaning of "It's time for hard work, nothing else."  It was a campaign slogan employed by new Tanzanian President John Magufuli and it reflects his austere style of governance, namely that the time for meaningless and wasteful shenanigans is over, there's a new sheriff in town.

I personally love the phrase and Hyasinta and I often repeat it to each other with various inflections - righteously, indignantly, jokingly - depending on context.

Just as Magufuli is determined to bring about change for the nation with kazi tu, so are we, the teachers of Toa Nafasi, determined to bring about change for the Standard One students of Msaranga, Msandaka, Mnazi, and Kiboriloni Primary Schools.

I think we are on the right track.  Though this year is still young and the process of expansion has uncovered fresh and frustrating new challenges, we now have the data from our colleague, Angi Stone-MacDonald, which reflects the results of the program on the Standard One kids from 2015.

Though they have only been tested twice and there was a gap of nearly a year between the assessments, due to Vumi's death last July, we can see that these guys are on the up-and-up, for the most part.  Those who have not progressed much, approximately six children out of fifty, are either still enrolled in tuition or receiving services from the Gabriella Center.  We are hopeful that by their third test, which will likely take place in June or July this year, they will have reached even further heights.

Vumi, wherever you are, be proud of the work you did with this last group.  And know that we are carrying on, in your name and honor, HAPA NI KAZI TU.

Meet the Parents

Greetings everyone, and here's hoping all of you are well.  March has come in like a lion over here in these parts with the rains starting to fall and the heat of the "winter" sun finally abating somewhat.

We at The Toa Nafasi Project have been extremely busy since the beginning of the year, expanding the program into three additional schools as well as Msaranga Primary which remains our home base.

In all four schools, our work is in various stages of progress, with Msaranga leading the way as the teachers, parents, and community at large are already familiar with what we are trying to do.  We have finished observing and testing all the Standard One kids and divided them into preliminary groupings so we know who we will be working with.  The real findings will come once Angi gets her hands on the tests and can manipulate the results into hardcore data, but she does not arrive in Tanzania until May.  So, in order as to not lose momentum, Hyasinta and I have gone over each observation form and test, and formed what we call vikundi or groups whereby those with no problems whatsoever continue on as they were; those with mild issues, we will start with a general tuition and see how they come along; and those who lack any foundation of the basic concepts whatsoever, we will enroll in Toa Nafasi and work with in small clusters or one-on-one.

We have done the same for the Standard One students at Msandaka and Mnazi Primary Schools as well, and at all three schools we have created teams of teachers to begin the process of tuition with these preliminary vikundi we've made up.

The teacher teams we also took care in devising with longer tenured teachers paired with newbies, and strengths and weaknesses divided.  For instance, Teacher Dorcas is not a great assessor as she tends to extract the answers from the students and the whole purpose of the test is to discover the child's true capabilities.  But she is AMAZING with the kids and they love to learn from her playful spirit in the classroom.  So, we paired her with Mama Mshiu in order to offset Dorcas's young cheerfulness with some good old-fashioned ukali or severity which Mama has in spades!

The only school at which we have not even begun our work is Kiboriloni and that is because there was a delay in receiving the all-important kibali (permit) from the Moshi Municipal Council.  We now have it but are still missing the even more all-important stamp on it so in due course, we will begin the same process there.

This past Monday at Msaranga, Hyasinta and I began the time-consuming and sometimes sensitive task of conducting parent interviews for those kids in our third kikundi, those whom we want to enroll at Toa.  We have just under 40 children, by far the most out of all the schools, and sent letters home with the kids asking that the parents come the following day.  This part of the task always takes extra time as many of the parents are reluctant to come to school, perhaps thinking that they will be asked for overdue fees or there is some other shida that they would rather avoid.  In addition, to get a parent to take time off from work to deal with their kids' school issues is tough, especially now in the time of planting crops.  Then, there is a sense that teachers handle the responsibility of raising a child at school and the parents do the same at home and that those two veins don't have much crossover.  Toa Nafasi is trying to change this, but it's slow-going.

During the interview process, Hyasinta does the bulk of the talking while I take notes.  (In past years, it was Vumi, who had developed a certain uncanny knack for the job, but Hyasinta is coming along nicely and we make a good team.)  The questionnaire itself (also developed by Angi in addition to the assessment and various teaching methodologies that we use in the classroom) is a mishmash of inquiries ranging from whether the child can see, hear, and talk as well as use the bathroom, dress, and tell the weather unassisted.  We then move on to how high the child can count, if he/she write or just scribble, and whether he/she can read.  Next is the knowledge and avoidance of dangerous situations, ability to do various common household chores, and whether the child prefers to play with friends or alone.  Finally, we come to some really interesting questions, which I find are often left unanswered in this Swahili context.  Can the child engage in self-stimulating activities?  Can he/she initiate conversation?  Does he/she get frustrated easily?  Does he/she show more than one emotion?  Will he/she explore new environments?  Good stuff like that.

This is the part I find most difficult because Tanzanians tend not to really think about these kinds of thing and are so literal that when you provide an example, they latch onto that rather than to the behavior behind it.  Point in case: For the question regarding new environments, Hyasinta usually says something about if the mama buys a new pot for the house, will the child notice and say "Hey, where'd that pot come from?"  Ummmm....  Then, the parent will respond, "Of course my child will ask about a new pot!  IT'S A NEW POT!!"  Errrr....  Then, I have to try to think of other, less literal ways of trying to get the message across, ones that have little to do with new pots as this example seems to really make imaginations run away.  Plus, there's the fact that a pot is not really an environment, new or not.... unless you are a potato.

Another toughie is the question about whether the child can follow two-step instructions.  Vumi used to say as example, "If you send your child to the store to buy salt and onions, will he/she come back with both, or only just one?"  No-kay, but I was too tired/uninspired to ever really correct her.  Now, with Hyasinta, I told her to try an example of a task whereby the child must accomplish Step 1 before even attempting Step 2.  "Like what?" Hyasinta asks.  I had a hard time thinking of something appropriate and mentioned following a recipe, like to cook beans, you gotta boil them first, then add oil, spices, and vegetables.  "But kids don't cook beans," Hyasinta says.  This is true.  So, how about this: does the child know, when getting dressed, to start with his/her underwear and then work outwards to sweater, socks, and shoes?  "OF COURSE MY CHILD PUTS ON HIS UNDERWEAR FIRST!  OBVI!!" the parent will exclaim, looking around with a nervous chuckle as if we've discovered a whole gang of kids who wear their underwear on the outside.  Again.... lost in translation....

The idea that the mfano (example) becomes the actual meat of the question is a telltale sign of how Tanzanian minds (at least in this tiny, remote village) have been programmed to work.  There is very little exploration of connotation; rather, everything is taken at face value with no analysis, no discussion of meaning.  This makes it tough for a champion expounder like me, who could go on for eons about the meaning of pretty much anything from the plot of Game of Thrones to the effect of a potential Trump presidency.  (Actually, those two mifano are probably more closely linked than we all think....  "You know nothing, American public....")

Anyway, you get my drift.  These kinds of mushy-gushy, touchy-feely questions are really tough to translate and it will take time for Hyasinta and I to develop a proper set of examples that will carry us through the years.  For now, however, pots and panties will do just fine.

Lastly on the questionnaire, there is a space for the delicate questions regarding the mama's pregnancy and delivery, the child's milestones, life at home, and any other things the parent might want to bring to our attention.  It's here where we find out whether Mama drinks, whether Baba beats her, if they're still together, if there's any illness in the family, and whether the child has any other atypical habits such as bed-wetting or thumb-sucking (NO JUDGMENT HERE: I sucked my own left thumb for ages, so I fully understand how delicious and hard it is to give up that short, stubby, opposable digit!)

Generally, the parents are cooperative and appreciative and usually I find that they think their kids know more than they do, so it's really good to show the parents the child's assessment and explain where exactly they are falling behind and could use our support.  We also get a lot of good information about the kids.  For EXAMPLE: This one is an orphan, left by her HIV+ mama and drunkard baba and being raised by bibi (grandmother); that one fell out of his crib at three months and was never the same after.  Things like that.  This information helps us to know what next steps to take.

Once all the interviews are done, we will know if there are any students who need referral appointments, whether it be at KCMC for eyesight or hearing or Gabriella for further special education assessment or behavior modification.  We tell the parents that all costs associated with their child's care will be covered by Toa Nafasi but that they must communicate and cooperate with us if they want their child to receive our services.  Hence, the slow and steady welding together of "school" and "home" in order to raise some healthy, happy kids!

Below, check out the hojaji (questionnaire) in Swahili and also our Swahili language brochure, which we give to each parent to take with them.  All in a day's work!

"Too Much Politics"

Hi everybody, hope all is well.  My apologies again for the delay in posting but Carla and Barbara have just left and I needed to take some "me time" to put the house (and my life!) back in order!!

To that end, no original content for today's entry, but an interesting article reprinted from the Daily News titled "Too Much Politics in Education Will Not Do Tanzania and Its People Any Good."

Amen.

It is written by Dr. Gastor Mapunda, a senior lecturer in the College of Humanities at the University of Dar es Salaam, and I gotta say, he makes a lot of sense.

I can especially relate after last week when some of the wazee (old men) on my Tanzanian Board of Directors tried to say they should be involved in the hiring of Toa Nafasi teachers.  Heck, even I don't hire the teachers; I leave that up to Hyasinta and Mama Mshiu.

Part of the successful running of this organization is knowing when I need to step up and do things myself, and when I can delegate the responsibility to others.  Especially when those others know better than me what is necessary to complete the task at hand!

 

Is it a coincidence that one of these meddlesome wazee is a diwani (local councilman) and a low-level politician?!  Methinks HAPANA!! (NO!!)

 

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It is generally understandable and acknowledged that the provision of education in any country is necessarily politically motivated and controlled.

It is actually surprising when people keep on saying that politics should not interfere with education - this is outright impossible.  The role of politics is unavoidable in religion, in the army, in the economy, and so in education.  What I do not condone though is too much politics in the aspects of education which are technical.  Those should be left to the professionals, who are the technocrats.

To put my argument in perspective, I will give examples explicating how education should in a way be politically driven and motivated.

During the colonial times in Tanzania, the education provided was meant to train personnel in areas relevant to skills and attitudes necessary to the running of the colonial government, including their economy.

In this regard, both the content and the values inculcated were those that specifically painted colorfully the colonial governments and their homelands as the best on earth.

In the schools, children were made to sing "God bless the Queen;" in the literature classes, children were made to learn the Shakespearean literature; the history which was taught was that glorifying the might of Europe while at the same time denigrating Africa.  But when the political landscape changed after independence, we saw how politics changed the educational outlook.

In the schools, even the songs changed, let alone the language of instruction and the content of some subjects.  Examples of subjects whose contents were either changed or modified include History, Literature, and Geography.

In this regard, the role of politics is seen as that of aligning the education system to the national philosophy, policies, and development goals in the general sense.

The political direction after independence was geared towards decolonizing Tanzania.  In this regard, Nyerere's regime worked hard to undo all the imprints of colonialism in education.

However, more recently Tanzania has witnessed political events in the education sector which negatively affect its proper functioning.

At the onset, my argument in this article is that while politics are unavoidable in education, they should be limited only to the more general levels, particularly regarding administrative levels, but not to the specific ones needing technical and professional attendance.

For example, for some reason, the government decided to make Standard Four and Standard Seven national examinations multiple-choice.

So candidates are expected to only choose the letter of the correct answer.  In some schools, teachers are already seeing incapable pupils excelling in those examinations.

Some of the most serious problems with such examinations are that guesswork and peeping, among other practices, can easily be done.  Teachers teach their learners how to arrive at the correct answers, and not just the answer.

So, within the multiple-choice mode of examinations is a political decision, possibly aimed at covering for the growing number of students against the number of teachers, which is small.

The solution cannot be setting all multiple-choice examinations, but recruiting more teachers.  This kind of decision is an improper political decision in education.

Another inappropriate political decision in the Tanzania's education system, relates to the 2005 change in syllabi, from knowledge-based to the so-called competence-based.

When this syllabus was introduced in 2005 by the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE), the overall reasoning behind the change was that learners were to show ability in applying what they learned in the classroom.

They were expected to be able to apply, not to simply cram and remember details.  They argued that Tanzanian learners should be capable of competing with other learners in other parts of the world.

Generally, I have no problem with this decision; it would actually have been very nice to do so, if chances allowed.

But practically, the change was made prematurely and impressionistically, and Tanzania was not yet ready for the kind of change made.  Such a decision should have involved a sizeable number of technocrats; not just the small sample of teachers involved.

The teachers who were supposed to implement the new syllabi, that is, the competence-based syllabi, were not trained to do so.

Besides, it was realized in a workshop held in Morogoro in 2008 that in some parts of the country, up to that year, that is 2008, some teachers had not yet seen the 2005 syllabi.  This means that in some schools students were still being taught in the old syllabus.

Relatedly, if not, consequently, the year 2012 saw the worst ever performance in the certificate of secondary examinations.  The more intriguing act of politics interfering with education was witnessed when the government handled the 2012 mass failures.  Instead of dealing with the root causes, it decided to politically change the performance, in the guise of standardization.

This was followed by changing the examinations reporting system, from division to grade performance average (GPA), with a view to lowering the different categories.  Superfluously, the use of GPA made Tanzanians believe that things were moving in the right direction.

This was, again a wrong political action regarding education.  I would like to end my article by urging politicians to not jump into technocratic decisions without involving the technocrats.  The consequences of doing so are terribly horrendous on the nation.

Snapchat

Hello, my dearest readers, and a BIG pole sana for not providing an original blog entry lately.  I have been extremely busy in school and with Mama and her friend (and Toa Nafasi board member!) Barbara Finkelstein.  It has been an exciting time, entering into the new schools as planned and hosting Mama and Barbara after hours, but also a bit exhausting.  I have discovered that I am actually not Superwoman and have allowed myself a few days' off to rest and relax and gear up for what is bound to be another busy week.

Still, I don't want to leave my loyal viewers without any idea of what we've been up to in these parts, so this entry is gonna be Snapchat-style with a mishmash of our comings and goings, happenings at school and at home, and just the general shenanigans that we've gotten ourselves into.... and out of!  Enjoy!!

Teacher Clara reads the *classic* Sungura ni Mbaya ("The Rabbit Is Bad") to a group of enthralled students.  Check out the open-mouthed agog of the little bugger front and right!

Fridays remain "Fundays" in Msaranga.  This week, I introduced the Etch A Sketch to which Mama Mshiu and Hyasinta took an immediate interest.

I think Teachers Imelda, Rose C., and Rose A. were more frustrated by the toy than anything else!

We also made paper crowns for pirates and princesses which the kids loved.  So did Mama and Barbara and Barbara's "handler," Jackie.

 

Hyasinta gives Clara a break from the umpteenth reading of Sungura and takes on the task herself.

But not everyday is Friday.  Earlier in the week, Clara taught new teachers, Rose C. and Sara, how to do assessments.

Meanwhile, in the world of politics, new president Magufuli made sure the public heard his stance on some matters of great importance.

And my mom bagged a giant bug.

Over a driving rain, Gasto played motivational speaker and talked to all the teachers, old and new, about the ethos of Toa Nafasi: cooperation, love of children, and strengthening education.

Last weekend, Mama and I went to Arusha where we heard famed primatologist Jane Goodall speak about her work with the chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park in Kigoma, Tanzania.

We also did some shopping at the Cultural Heritage Center where I struggled to pick out a "Pumba" to go with my "Timon."  See: http://toanafasi.blogspot.com/2015/04/post-party-depression.html for point of reference....

I also had a hard time picking out a new Uru bracelet to go with the one I got last year after trekking Kili.  I actually really like the way my existing one looks alone with my "Vumilia" bracelet which I had made for myself and all the teachers to honor Vumi.

Last but certainly not least, I have a new man in my life!  His name is Drogo after the mythical warlord of Game of Thrones fame.  We haven't known each other long, but we fell in love immediately.  He makes me feel like a true Khaleesi!  And Mama approves!!

That's the haps for now, kids, more next week!!

Disability Not Inability

In 2013, on December 3rd - the International Day of Persons with Disabilities - Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, stated: "Disability is part of the human condition; almost everyone will be temporarily or permanently impaired at some point in life.  There are currently more than a billion people with disabilities around the world – that's around 15% of the population of the planet.

Many of the challenges for persons with disabilities are obvious, such as physical obstacles.  But a major challenge is one that may be unseen and can, at times, seem almost insurmountable: the ignorance and misconception about disability that fuels stigma and discrimination.

Let’s focus on what many of us already know - that fairness to  persons with disabilities is not charity, just good sense.  Let's stress that they have equal rights and are valuable resources that are good for the bottom line.  Above all, let's spread the word – that disability is NOT inability."

Two and a half years later, in this week's Tanzania Daily News, reporter Iddy Mwema reported: "The Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office responsible for People with Disabilities, Dr. Abdallah Possi has implored the media to ensure fair coverage on people with disabilities and avoid using discriminatory words against them.

He said people with disabilities have the same right to receive information as any other citizen in the country and therefore he directed television stations to provide sign translators during education programs and important events of national interest like parliamentary proceedings and the president's speeches.

He cited the Persons with Disabilities Act No. 9 of 2010 section 55 (1) which states that 'All television stations shall provide a sign language inset or subtitles in all newscasts, education programs and other programs covering national events.'

According to him, the Minister responsible for people with disabilities shall direct media houses to use sign insets and proper words that will not show any sign of discrimination to the group and requested the media to immediately start implementing the Act.

'Media houses have been champions in various group movements including the gender equality movement and the media should direct the same efforts as well by having a good number of education programs to educate people with disabilities and the society in general,' he said.

He referred to one report that showed a state of discrimination.  This is when people with albinism fought at State House.  'I was there that day and what I saw was people fighting and not albinos fighting as it was reported by most of the media the next day.  Why albinos?  We should change this kind of reporting,' he said emotionally.

The Name Game

Hi everyone, and hope this blog post finds you all well.  This past week has been one of the busiest of my ENTIRE life, I think, as Mama is here and I have been spending time with her everyday, but also because we started the Kipindi cha Utafiti (Observation Period) at Msaranga Primary School.
 
After re-testing the kids in the program from 2015 for the second time (nearly all 50+ of them have made dramatic improvements), and using that experience as an example of the Assessment Phase to the new teachers, we started the process of the Project anew with Phase One - Observation - of the Standard One students for the academic year 2016.  Again, we are using Msaranga as an example so the new girls can watch and learn from me, Hyasinta, and the others who have been around longer.
 
We went in and first took down all the kids' names and then had them stand for photographs so we could more easily identify each child by face and designation.  This seems a simple task on the surface, but actually here in Tanzania, it's not such an easy feat.
 
Names are a very interesting concept here, a fluid one, whereby a child might have multiple names and multiple ways of spelling each.  Rather than first name, middle and last, people are known by first name, jina la baba (father's name), and jina la ukoo (clan name).  Because there are relatively few clans in Kilimanjaro (maybe 20 or 30 really popular ones), the clan name is not such a great differentiator.  You hear these same names over and over again - Ngowi, Kessy, Macha, Swai - kind of like in Korean (Kim, Lee, Park, etc) and Chinese (Wang, Chung, Chu, etc.) cultures.
 
So we like to go off the child's first name followed by the name of the father.  For example, if I was a Tanzanian, I would be Sarah David rather than Sarah Alix Rosenbloom as I am known in America.  I have tried explaining to Tanzanians that Rosenbloom is not a clan name and rather a family name, but this distinction is difficult to explain and I'm not sure anyone cares.
 
Problems arise for various reasons while we are doing this census-taking, many of them revolving around this issue of names.  The kids are unused to the primary school classroom, having just entered in January: wearing a uniform, being away from home for the whole day, under the supervision of new teachers with big sticks and lots of others in the room, making noise and creating a lot of confusion, expected to do tasks that they are unfamiliar with.  Then, we come in, a bunch of other Tanzanian teachers and some weird mzungu (me!), asking a lot of questions and doing things that are even more unexpected.  They tend to clam up and speak in fearful whispers, or they act out and try to get my attention, anticipating zawadi (gifts) from the white girl.  It's hard to observe them naturally as my mere presence in the classroom is unnatural.

If we ask them their names, we usually get a slow-blinking, open-mouthed gape followed by the tiniest whisper which of course leads to mistakes and confusion.  Jennifer becomes Janet.  Barnaba becomes Baraka.  And on and on.  In addition, checking against the teacher's logs or seeing what the parents have written on their children's notebooks may not offer the clarification one might think.  Written language is fluid here and names can have multiple spellings.  Jennifer --> Jenifer --> Jenifa --> Jenipha.
 
Then, even if we say a thousand times that we want their first name and their father's name only, we will get a lot of crazy answers.  Sometimes the names are simple like "Alex Emanuel."  We have had two of those in the past two years.  Other times, names are more exotic as in "Kelvin Kidogola" and we have to determine whether the child has given us some foreign clan name or if the baba has a more locally derived first name.
 
There's also the issue of the kids having more than one name themselves.  Lots of families give their children two first names, one for home and one for school.  And to make things even more confusing, these names might be very similar.  This year, we have a "Jordan Bariki" whose school name is "Jackson."  To heap another bewilderment on top of the pile, Jordan/Jackson is a twin.  The brother's name?  "Johnson Bariki."  Not sure if that's his school name or home....

Finally, kids loooove getting their photos taken so if we go in one day and do the rounds, the next day when we come back, we ask if we had missed anyone the day before and the kids love to trick us and say they didn't get their photos taken so we have to do it again!  This creates confusion and frustration for ME as the picture-taking is not meant to be fun and games but rather a comprehensive way of knowing how many and who we are dealing with.  But since they're kids and they're cute as hell, they get a free pass on this bad behavior.  It's just annoying after a long day at school, and then attending to my mom, to have to go through 150 or so photos to make sure there are no duplicates and no one has pulled the wool over my eyes!

After matching up the kids' photos and names, we then try to observe each child individually so we have a clue of what we're working with prior to assessing them.  Sometimes, the Standard One teachers are able to point out who they have identified as a slow learner or who doesn't hear or see well.  This year, we have a few kids who will definitely need the support of the Project, either via our pullout program of extra tutoring or through referral appointments at the eye doctor or hearing clinic.

With forms in hand, we make the rounds in the classroom, looking for issues with motor skills, behavior, adaptive skills, self-management, and social skills.  If a child shows up to school very dirty or is quiet and keeps to himself as opposed to playing with friends, we might make a note of these red flags as well as the child's academic proclivities.  We have pretty much finished this process at Msaranga Primary so this coming week, Hyasinta has divided the teachers (my Taylor Swift girl squad!) into small teams, some of whom will go into the new schools to do Observation there, others who will remain with us at Msaranga to begin the next step, Assessment.

We are looking at another VERY busy week and I am both happy about that as well as mildly fearful.  But I know that I am not alone, the teachers are behind me, and with Vumi guiding us from above, we cannot fail.  In addition to observing at the new schools and testing in Msaranga, we have a child headed to Gabriella for Therapy Week and one of the new girls will go with him and his dad.  Thursday, we have two kids to attend the eye clinic at KCMC and Hyasinta and I will take them along with their parents as we do not do referral appointments without the presence of a guardian.  I think my mom will also come with us so she can experience firsthand the glory of the Tanzanian health system!  (http://toanafasi.blogspot.com/2013/07/early-childhood-into-woods-and-baked.html, http://toanafasi.blogspot.com/2013/08/tx.html, http://toanafasi.blogspot.com/2014/09/its-fun-to-stay-at-kcmc.html, http://toanafasi.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-wax-pack-versus-babies-with-scabies.html)

For now, check out the photos and videos below of Observation from last week.  Feel my pain?  Just kidding, it's hard work, but soooo worthwhile.  More anon!

 

 

 

The English Patient

Hello, dear readers, and many greetings from Moshi!  Mama has arrived in town and I have been busy the last couple days settling her in and accommodating her needs.  Because she has been here many times before, it's not so difficult, but I have not had time to write up any original content for this week's post, so instead I am reprinting an article from the Guardian about Magufuli's plan to remove foreign teachers from the Tanzanian school system.

Ostensibly a good idea (the promotion of the local population into important and consistent work is always great), the general consensus from the masses is that Tanzania is not quite ready for such change.  The country still needs the guidance of foreigners in such positions as English teachers because our own workforce is not yet competent to take over.

Ain't no shame in this game, but perhaps Magufuli would be best advised to set up a system in which Kenyan and other East African teachers in Tanzania were able to support their Tanzanian counterparts, get them up to speed with the language and any other subjects they might not be fully adept at, and then have a schedule whereby, polepole, the foreigners made their exits rather than all at once, and under such negative circumstances.  Check it out!
 
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The country's education system is feared to plunge into darkness following the government's decision to send packing foreign teachers employed in private English-medium schools.

Various education stakeholders interviewed by the Guardian on Sunday expressed their fears, warning that the sector would deteriorate further because few Tanzanian teachers were capable of teaching in such schools.

In recent months, the government has been deporting unskilled foreign workers, including teachers employed in various private schools in the country, in a move calculated at freeing up the jobs for locals.

However, several education stakeholders said this would affect both students' and schools' performance, making it hard for the country to have quality experts in the near future.

According to them, private school owners had no option but to hire foreign teachers due to the acute shortage of local teachers qualified to work in English-medium schools.

Tanzania Association of Managers and Owners of Non-Government Schools and Colleges (TAMONGSCO) Secretary General, Benjamin Nkonya, told the Guardian on Sunday that the decision to deport foreign teachers would have serious impact on private schools.

"The decision made by the government will have a major negative impact on private English-medium schools since many Tanzanian teachers are not competent in English and Science studies compared to foreigners," he told this newspaper in an interview.

He said teacher colleges in the country did not train enough primary school tutors who focused on English studies, rather most of them prepared tutors for history and geography studies.

According to him, Tanzania had a shortage of teachers as there were currently only 27,000 employed local teachers, which was equivalent to 40 percent of the actual demand, adding that the deportation of foreign teachers would compound the situation.

He said that up to December of last year, about 3,500 teachers from Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Zambia faced expulsion in a crackdown on illegal immigrants in the country, and the number of tutors who volunteered to leave the country had now reached 5,500 by January of this year.

He also called on the government to reduce fees imposed on foreign teachers to work in the country, citing Kenya which allowed teachers from Tanzania to teach Kiswahili in its schools without charging them residence fees.  
 
Nkonya said most private schools could ill afford the $2,000 fee for a two-year work permit and Tsh2 million charged for work permits for foreign teachers.

Bonaventura Godfrey, a program manager for research and analysis at HakiElimu, said the challenge in education was how to get Tanzanians who could teach a child to understand, write, and speak fluent English and do well in science subjects.

He said although the government had heavily invested in increasing the number of teachers, many teacher colleges in the country focused on geography and history studies.

"Deportation of foreign teachers will gravely affect many private English-medium schools since there are no substitute teachers in the country who can teach English language.  If we don't have the requisite expertise inside, we must import from outside," he said.

He said that other countries with similar economies as Tanzania imported teachers from outside because it would require a huge investment in order for local teachers to become competent in the English language; failing this, Kiswahili should be used in all the subjects.  
 
"The government and private school owners must sit together and look into how they can solve this crisis and identify the actual needs.  Since they have taken the step to deport foreign teachers, there must be substitute teachers to train the pupils," he said. 

For her part, Tanzania Education Network (TenMet) Coordinator, Catherine Sekwao, said although there was shortage of science and English teachers in the country,  it was not a good enough reason for Tanzania to allow illegal immigrants to work without permits.

She said deportation of foreign teachers would not affect all the schools in the country.  However, most private English-medium schools would be affected as they mainly hired foreigners, adding that even some Tanzanian teachers from public schools were competent in the English language.

"Primary schoolteachers are supposed to learn and be able teach any subject, depending on the directive from their supervisor.  
 
Due to this, it is possible for some of them to be incompetent; however, some of them are very fluent in English and they are in public schools," she said. 

Commenting on the issue, Tanzania Teachers Union (TTU) President, Gratian Mukoba, said it was advisable for the government to go slowly on the matter because Tanzania is a signatory to Commonwealth and East Africa Community agreements which require member states to exchange experts.

He said the shortage of English and science teachers was not in their numbers alone, but that most were incompetent.  
 
"For instance, a certain school may have more than three English teachers but none of them can write one good, straight sentence," he said.

Mukoba said that before the 1970s, Tanzania had competent English teachers, but later on the number decreased due to the adoption of jargon words.  He said currently there were few teachers who could write and speak fluent English.

"We  are not against the government decision to deport illegal immigrants but, in the education sector, if we want to have children who are well-trained, there is a need to have foreigners who will help us to teach the future generation," he said.