Post Primary Education and Training a Synthesis of Findings

TANZANIA

THE POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION AND TRAINING STUDY

SYNTHESIS OF CONSULTANT’S REPORTS

Prepared for the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education

and the World Bank

January 2003

Contents

Introduction 3

Conclusions and Recommendations 4

Section 1.Financing Education12

Section 2.Labour Market for Graduates of the Educational System16

Section 3.Cost and Financing of Educational Institutions21

Section 4.Secondary Education25

Section 5.Vocational Education and Training32

Annex 5A.Folk Development Colleges39

Section 6.Tertiary and Higher Education42

Introduction

Since Independence, priority within the education sector in Tanzania has been given to basic education as the means for forging wide-spread commitment to national ideals and empowering the population through the skills of literacy. Basic education has been seen as a right; with the provision of post-basic education linked closely to projected labour market needs. This approach restricted the growth of enrolments in secondary and tertiary education and led to Tanzania having one of the most vocationally oriented secondary education systems in low income countries.

In spite of basic education having been the priority over the past four decades, Tanzania has still not achieved universal entry to class 1 and is some way off achieving universal completion of this cycle of schooling. However, with the development and implementation of the Primary Education Development Programme from 2001, these objectives are on the way to being achieved. While several obstacles remain, and will perhaps do so for a number of years, the focus of analysis, strategy and policy development needs now to shift to secondary and tertiary education. As an important step towards this, the Government in 2001 commissioned a set of seven studies, undertaken by Tanzanian consultants, within the framework of a Study of Post-Primary Education and Training. Four of the studies focused on the sub sectors of secondary education; vocational education and training; the Folk Development Colleges; and (non-university) tertiary education and training. The remaining three studies covered areas relevant for each of the sub sectors: the labour market, macroeconomic performance and the financing of education, and (through case studies) the unit costs of selected educational institutions. The authors and titles of the individual reports are:

Dr. G.D. Mjema. Macroeconomic Analysis of Post-Primary Education in Tanzania.

Dr. J.L.M. Shitundu. Analysis of Labour Market Linkage and External Efficiency of Post-Primary Education and Training.

Dr. M. Assad. Analytical Work on Costs and Financing of Post-primary Education and Training.

Professor K.M. O-saki and Dr. A.F. Njabili. Secondary Education Sector Analysis.

Dr. J.N.S. Mutanyatta. Analysis of the Folk Development Colleges.

Dr. A. Athumani. Analysis of the Vocational Education Sub-Sector.

Professor I.M. Omari. Relevance, Efficiency and Effectiveness of Tertiary and Higher Education and Training in Tanzania.

Each of the reports from the studies is self standing and each has been considered within the government in inter-ministerial workshops. This paper is a synthesis of these reports, focusing largely on the principal findings, implications and policy recommendations.

Conclusions and Recommendations

This report summarises, chapter by chapter, the findings of seven separate studies of post primary education and training in Tanzania. In this section, the conclusions and recommendations are amalgamated.

Education financing

The main conclusions and recommendations from the study of Education Financing are:

• The distribution of public education expenditures appears to be unbalanced with the allocation for secondary education very low and that of higher education, particularly the universities, very high. This reflects a combination of the Government’s (and donors’ focus) on universalising primary schooling, a conscious decision to restrict secondary education to a small group of publicly supported primary leavers and to those who can afford private provision, and a high unit cost of university education. The new drive to raise the educational levels of the labour force and expand post primary education requires a greater recognition of the interdependencies of the various levels of the system and a more balanced allocation of public resources.

• Around half of the enrolments in secondary education are privately provided and funded entirely by households. In post secondary education there is some cost sharing but the overall division between public and private provision and funding is very different, and is dominated by the public sector. Measures are needed to encourage more non-government universities and a larger share of the costs of university education need to be borne by those households which can afford to do so. The benefit incidence studies suggest that most of the students are from the 20 percent wealthiest households.

• Apart from teacher salaries and, in the case of secondary education, boarding costs, public expenditures have been low. Higher and, important, guaranteed levels of funding are required for non salary items of expenditure at all levels of the system including a part which can be used flexibly by schools and colleges. The per student subventions to schools in the new Primary Education Development Programme are an important step in this direction.

• Expansion of the education sector is vital both for increasing economic growth and for reducing poverty. But the lower unit costs at each level of post primary education in surrounding countries suggest that there are opportunities for their reduction in Tanzania.

• Finally, the prevalence and spread of HIV/AIDS is having serious negative economic effects. The education system is pivotal. It is seriously affected through the impact on teachers and on children who lose one or more of their parents, and at the same time is potentially the main channel for altering behaviours to limit the spread of the virus.

Labour market

From the Labour Force Survey 2000/01, the special survey of employing organizations and tracer studies of secondary school and university graduates, the messages which emerge from the Labour Market study include:

• Most secondary school leavers obtain additional training before they enter the labour market. If this is required, then any expansion of the secondary school system will also need to consider the implications for the provision of training courses.

• Private institutions have become more important than public ones in providing training. Their further encouragement and development will need sensitive arrangements. Since a majority of secondary school leavers now pay the full costs of their training, the issue of university fees needs to be raised once again.

• The two important trends in the labour market are the falling share of public sector employment and the increase in self employment. The changes in both of these even over just five years are large and the implications for post primary schooling need to be considered.

• The unemployment rate among those traced is low and, so far at least, the growth of self employment among secondary leavers appears to be in productive activities. While incomes are lower than those in wage employment, the relatively large proportion who employ others is encouraging.

• The income differential associated with three years of university education appears to be very high suggesting the need for expansion and for students to repay a large part of society’s investment.

Overall, the important changes in the employment prospects of the graduates of the secondary and higher education sub-systems even over a period when economic growth rates have been modest suggests that if the objective of higher growth in the future is met, even greater changes will occur. The current trends in reduced public sector employment, more opportunities in new technology and in service sectors, and further expansion of the informal sector and of small firms are all likely to accelerate. For the education and training sectors in general to respond, increased amounts, and further dissemination of, labour market information is needed. This should be a priority. The collection of the key data collected for the Integrated Labour Force Survey, and through the tracer study and the employer survey, needs to be regularized and merged with that emerging from the Labour Exchange Centres. In addition to the suggestions made above, further thought needs to be given to:

• designing a training and employment policy that eases the transition from school to work for secondary graduates and a work experience program for vocationally trained people.

• extending business and entrepreneurship training at all levels of the system and encouraging and providing the skills for self employment.

• increasing linkages between school and training institutions on the one hand and employing organizations on the other through involving employers in the process of curriculum updating and encouraging them to allow students to undertake practical training in their enterprises.

Cost and financing

Much of the data gathered for the Cost and Financing study are imperfect. This situation is reflected in the set of conclusions and recommendations.

• Across institutions, the financial and accounting data are sparse and of low quality. The implication is that such data do not provide an input to decision making and consequently decisions are often poorly informed. Particularly in the VET and the tertiary and higher education sectors where some degree of autonomy is anticipated and where the trend is for a greater degree of decentralized decision making, this lack of basic information should be of concern. It suggests that little or no attention is being paid to institutions’ cost effectiveness which in turn suggests that little strategic planning is occurring. Further, operational decisions such as whether to purchase or rent a photocopier, or to contract-out the service are similarly not being based on relevant information.

• Low student: staff ratios are prevalent, particularly in government institutions. Across each of the differently owned sets of secondary schools, the ratio averages around 20:1. This is much lower than ratios in surrounding countries. The reason is partly a mix of relatively low enrolments combined with a large number of teaching subjects each of which requires a specialist teacher. Across both VET and tertiary institutions the ratios are even smaller. Most are below 10:1 and in some extreme cases reach 1:1. This situation again suggests a lack of importance being given to the cost of providing education and training.

• Although the overall basic financial data are of low quality, the statistically significant finding that the higher the level of enrolments the lower the unit costs is borne out by a cursory examination of those data which intuitively do appear to be accurate. The overall situation in Tanzania in the VET and tertiary sub sectors is characterized by a large number of small institutions with low student: staff ratios. What is surprising is that the non faith-based private institutions have extremely low enrolments and that even the larger faith-based ones have enrolments considerably smaller than government institutions.

• One of the few conclusions from the financial data which can be accorded legitimacy is that Government secondary schools have much higher unit costs than either community or most private schools. There are obvious reasons for this: community schools employ teachers with lower qualifications, few are boarding and the government secondary schools have a broader set of infrastructure. In the case of the private schools, a majority are non-boarding. The issue is more regarding the socio-economic composition of the student body in the government schools and the appropriateness of the levels of subsidy which this small body of students is receiving.

• On average a VETA-owned training institution appears to have twice the revenue per student as those under other forms of ownership. At the same time, their fee income is a very small part of total expenditures – six percent compared to over 50 percent in non-government institutions.

• According to the financial statements which have a greater level of validity than the survey results, there are substantial differences in costs and sources of revenue within sets of similar institutions, including VETA centres, Folk Development Colleges and Agriculture colleges.

• The cost of vocational education and training centres and tertiary level education appears to be far higher than for secondary education. Mainly this is due to lower student: staff ratios.

Three principal recommendation were made in the report:

A mandatory and robust record keeping and reporting system which has a uniform core base with add-ons for each specific type of institution needs to be introduced and enforced across all public institutions in all sub-sectors, linked to budgetary allocations.

• Even in the absence of accurate financial data it is apparent from the student: staff ratios that unit costs are high in many institutions. If it is not possible or desirable to expand enrolments in these, a rationalization programme involving mergers and closures is recommended. For example, according to the survey, some of the FDCs and the agricultural colleges are operating with severe under-capacity.

• Government institutions need to increase the ratio of revenues not derived from government. The major sources are payments made by students and income from production or from the sale of services. Fees and other payments in practice vary quite considerably across post primary institutions and could be rationalized taking into account considerations of both equity, including the different backgrounds of students attending different types of institution, and the government’s desire to influence potential students’ education and training decisions. In the VET and tertiary institutions, a greater focus on full fee short courses would generate margins to cover some of the fixed costs.

Secondary education

In order for the Tanzanian economy to be competitive in the 21st century, there is a need to both increase enrolments in secondary education and improve the quality. At the same time as the Government considers its expansion strategy, however, there is a need to be cautious and to expand only at a pace which guarantees that the quality of education will not fall. This, in particular, implies developing strategies for training more diploma and graduate teachers. To expand and improve secondary education, various approaches, some of which can be combined, are available including:

• Utilize existing schools more optimally. A more optimal utilization of existing schools and existing facilities could be achieved through raising the pupil: teacher ratio to 30:1 in all schools. To be effective, this approach would first require a major rationalization of the curriculum requirements, and then the construction of new classrooms, laboratories and so on, to enable the existing teachers to have sufficient teaching space in the schools.

• Expand existing schools. Depending on the area being available for additional buildings, schools could be expanded to take up to 2000 students. To be effective, this would require an upgrading of the management skills of many head teachers, and additional non-teaching support.

• Expand the overall number of schools. This could be achieved by building new government schools, enabling poor communities to access additional funds, and creating an enabling environment for non government organizations and individuals to build more schools or to enrol more students in existing ones. Seminaries, for example, provide a good education but at present to very few students. There is a pressing need to assess the projected classroom requirements of each region and to plan how these requirements will be filled.

• Review teacher placement and utilization. To promote both equity and efficiency, the allocation of teachers across regions and schools requires review and, in turn, reallocations. Allocations above the national norm should be justified explicitly.

• Adequately resource all existing and new schools. Building new schools and expanding existing ones is a waste of resources if they are not sufficiently well equipped for their purposes. There is a need to ensure that all schools, especially the existing community schools, are well resourced with relevant teaching and learning materials (including books), standard teaching and learning rooms and sufficient well trained and motivated teachers.

• Develop the potential of distance learning. There is also a need to develop a teaching and learning support process including a distance learning approach. This could improve the quality of all teachers by making better teaching resources available to them.

• Improve the relationships between school and the workplace. The curriculum review which will be essential for lowering the teacher-pupil ratio also needs to address the realities of the labour market and to emphasize the skills required for self-employment, employment creation and income generation.

• Reduce the unit cost of educating a secondary school child. In many schools, especially government schools, teachers are in classrooms for a shorter period than the norm allows. Raising the teacher: pupil ratio in schools from 20:1 to 30:1 over the next three years would reduce the unit cost and at the same time enable teachers, especially well trained ones, to be more efficiently utilized. This would require a revised curriculum with a smaller core, and an increase in the number of periods taught by each teacher per week.

• Support poor families through grants and scholarships for able children who otherwise could not afford to continue their education.

• Increase the number of trained teachers, especially graduates. This would require attracting the best students into teaching through improved salaries and better working conditions, and also expanding training facilities for producing graduate teachers through the expansion of the Post Graduate Diploma programme, the creation of constituent colleges of education, and/or the establishment of a fully-fledged University of Education. At the same time, the need for a full time four year course for university students and a full time two year course for diploma students could be re-assessed.

• Revise both the curriculum and textbooks. Curriculum revision is essential for reducing unit costs and for responding to the changing labour market. It will also be required as enrolments are expanded and the student population becomes more heterogeneous. At the same time, textbooks will require revision and be made more user friendly and relevant to the local culture while retaining their quality. Similarly, supplementary teaching materials will need to be developed which could be made available online for teachers through a teacher resource centre. Reform of the present examinations at the end of Forms 2, 4 and 6 is also necessary with the objective of placing more emphasis on testing critical thinking and focusing less on memorization of facts.

• Expand the opportunities for the professional development of teachers. No education system can rise above the level of its teachers. Within the Ministry of Education there is need to ensure that a Professional Development Department is established to co-ordinate regular in-service education and training of teachers in collaboration with Teacher Education Department as recommended in the Teacher Education Master plan. Annual or biannual in-service training opportunities need to be made available.

• Review the current management structure of secondary education. The focus of this review would be on the decentralization of aspects of management such as the functioning of schools and the monitoring of quality, the hiring and allocation of teachers and some aspects of school expenditure.

For a variety of reasons there is a need to expand significantly the secondary education sub-sector. However, there are various risks in doing this. These include inadequate funding, insufficient capacities in school management, and the quality of new teachers developed through accelerated programmers. With regard to management capacity and teacher training, very clear programs will need to be devised prior to allowing a surge in enrolments into Form I. Regarding funding, external borrowing could be minimized by the Government investing its own resources in secondary education as much as possible, through increasing both the share of secondary education in total education expenditure and total education expenditure as a share of total government expenditure. In a situation where local resources are not sufficient, borrowing should be undertaken for high priority activities such as the expansion of training facilities, acquisition of resource materials such as textbooks and science apparatus, and the construction of new schools in locations where there is a clearly demonstrated need.