by KELVIN MATHAYO
We are now witnessing an upsurge in the number of educational institutions in our country. This is true in relation to schools and universities, which proliferate every other day.
The proprietors of such institutions set up branches in practically every part of the country, and the number of students who enrol in colleges increases swiftly, as does that of university graduates.
This is no problem at all. Every right-thinking person would, no doubt, commend the efforts by our government and other stakeholders to give education to all Tanzanians.
Until 2004 there were only three public universities in the country.
I need not mention them because they are, I suppose, well known. But due to the burgeoning demand for higher education, the government decided to set up more higher learning institutions and to promote those which were university colleges to fully-fledged universities.
Hence, Ardhi University, Muhimbili University of Health Sciences and others became autonomous universities.
Thanks to our government! At the lower level, the government and private stakeholders have established new schools in response to the growing need for education among the Tanzanians.
So, we are better off now than we were in 2004, or before then.
There are, nonetheless, two knotty problems that bedevil our education system.
It seems as though there is no clear educational goal we want to achieve. Of course, the number of educated people increases daily, but virtually all those who receive education do so because they happen to have been to school or something. It seems that the government lacks a philosophy of education.
This makes one ask oneself such important questions as: why do we educate our citizens? Is education just a means to getting a job? Is our education just intended to give people certificates of various sorts? Frankly speaking, I am completely baffled by our current education system.
During Nyerere’s reign as president of this ‘Oasis of Peace’ the philosophy of education was quite clear and good. Nyerere intended to make us a self-reliant people.
To what extent that is true is open to debate, but it should be noted that education for self-reliance wasn’t any worse than the muddled, jumbled education system of today.
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