THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
SPEECH OF THE MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING PROF. JUMANNE MAGHEMBE (MP)
AS PRESENTED IN PARLIAMENT
BUDGET ESTIMATES FOR 2009/2010
Dodoma July 2009
INTRODUCTION:
Motion:
1. Honourable Speaker, I would like to move a motion that your esteemed Parliament, after considering the report tabled by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Social Services, agree to pass budget estimates for the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training for the year 2009/2010.
Condolence, congratulations and gratitude
2. Honourable Speaker, I would first like to join my colleagues in conveying messages of condolence to families of the late Honourable Chacha Wangwe, Honourable Richard Said Nyaulawa and Honourable Faustine Kabuzi Rwilomba who died during the 2008/09 financial year. Condolences should also go to all Tanzanians and the family of renowned scholar, the late Prof. Haroub Othman and Sheikh Suleiman Gorogosi who was the Deputy Mufti of Tanzania. May God rest the souls of the departed in peace.
3. Honourable Speaker, I would like to congratulate Honourable Charles Mwera for being elected as Tarime MP, Honourable Pastor Luckson Mwanjale for being elected as Mbeya Rural MP, Honourable Lorensia Bukwimba for being elected as Busanda MP and Honourable Oscar Rwegasira Mukasa for being elected as MP for Biharamulo West.
4. Honourable Speaker, I thank the Deputy Ministers for Education and Vocational Training, Honourable Gaudentia Mugosi Kabaka, who is also Special Seats MP from Mara Region and Hon. Mwantumu Bakari Mahiza, Special Seats MP from Tanga Region for a job well done, their cooperation, faithfulness and diligence.
I also thank the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Prof. Hamisi Omar Dihenga, the Deputy Permanent Secretary, Selestine Muhochi Gesimba and the acting Commissioner for Education, Leonard Ryoba Musaroche, directors from all departments, university heads, institutions and councils under the ministry, teachers, lecturers, professors and all employees for the cooperation they accorded me in ensuring successful implementation of my duties including preparation of this budget.
I would also like to thank Prof. Mayunga Nkunya (Chairman) and all members of the National Education Advisory Council for their advice.
Special thanks should go to all members of workers unions at Ditsrict, regional and national levels for their advice in tackling issues to do with workers. I am requesting for such cooperation to be advanced in 2009/2010.
5. Honourable Speaker, I thank the Prime Minister and the Minister for Finance and Economy for their budget speeches, which shed light on the Government budget trend, economy and development in general, and the Government activities and their trend during 2009/10.
In that case, my budget speech will expound on estimates covering the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, which currently oversees pre-primary, primary, secondary education, teaching, adult education, informal education, higher education and vocational training.
6. Honourable Speaker, May I take this opportunity to thank the Parliamentary Committee for Social Services led by its Chairman
Hon. Omari Shaban Kwaangw',(MP for Babati) for analysing and debating the 2008/09 budget estimates and the 2009/10 as well.
I would like to assure you august House that my ministry has considered all recommendations by the Committee and it will continue receiving recommendations from honourable MPs to improve on the quality of education offered in the country.
Let me take this opportunity to thank my family for the love and cooperation they have shown me in my work. I also thank my Mwanga constituents for the cooperation they are according me in implementing my duties as their MP and also in implementing the CCM Manifesto.
Structure of the Ministry
7. Honourable Speaker, The ministry comprises nine departments including, Primary Education, Secondary, Higher Education, Teaching, Schools Inspection, Adult Education, Informal Education, Vocational Training and Technical Education, Administration and Human Resource and Policy and Planning.
The ministry also oversees the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU), National Council for Technical Education (NACTE), Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA), Tanzania Education Authority (TEA), Higher Education Students’ Loans Board (HESLB), Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE), Institute of Adult Education (IAE), Tanganyika Library Services Board (TLSB), Dakawa Development Centre, Agency for the Educational Development Management (ADEM) and the National Exemination Council of Tanzania (NECTA).
REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2008/09 BUDGET AND EXPECTATIONS IN 2009/10
8. Honourable Speaker, Let me now give an evaluation of the 2008/09 budget and later give highlights on the income and expenditure in 2009/2010.
Income for 2008/2009
9. Honourable Speaker, In 2008/09 the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training had planned to collect Government revenues amounting to 3.574 billion Shillings by June 2009. 15.01 Billion Shillings was collected hence surpassing the target by 319.98 per cent. This situation was caused by the ministry assuming that the transfer of secondary schools from the Central Government to the local governments would have been completed within the planned time frame; hence it was not included in the budget estimates.
Expenditure for 2008/2009
Honourable Speaker, During the financial year 2008/09, my ministry was allocated 480.475 Billion Shillings for Recurrent Expenditure. Out of that figure, 273.504 Billion Shillings was for salaries while 206.971 Billion Shillings was for Other Expenditure.
Up to June 2009, salaries were 272.912 Billion Shillings (99.78%) and Other Expenditure 205.887 (99.48%). Total Recurrent Expenditure (salaries and other expenditure) totaled 478.799 Billion Shillings as of June 2009 (99.65%).
Honourable Speaker, The Development Budget for 2008/2009 was 128.446 Billion Shillings. By June 2009, 85.064 Billion Shillings (66.226%) had been spent out of which 57.442 Billion Shillings was internally sourced while 27.622 Billion Shillings was externally sourced.
12. After that general review of the budget that I made earlier, the following is now an implementation report for the office of the Commissioner for Education, each department and institutions under the ministry.
Administration and Human Resource Department
13. Honourable Speaker, The Department for Administration and Human Resource oversees issues to do with administration, recruitment, remuneration and development of employees. It also supervises issues to law, regulations, Public Service Procedures and issues to do with the Public Service Reforms Programme in the ministry.
14. Honourable Speaker, during the year 2008/09 the Department for Administration and Human Resource implemented the following:
(a) Coordinating and implementing short and long term training programmes for civil servants in the ministry;
(b) Offering Open Performance Review and Appraisal System (OPRAS) training to 416 civil servants at the head quarters;
(c) Confirming the employment of 201 civil servants and coordinating promotions of 6,592 teachers and 124 civil servants who are not teachers;
(d) Reviewing Customer Service contracts to improve of services offered;
(e) Employing 3,241 new civil servants out of which 3,217 were teachers and other civil servants were 24 and issuing 337 employment permits for 337 expatriates;
(f) Reviewing the structure of the ministry to improve on performance; and
(g) Completing the draft for restoring the structure of cadres under the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training and presenting the draft to the President’s Office (Public Service Management) for further action.
Payment of internal debts
15. Honourable Speaker, during the year 2008/2009, my ministry incurred huge internal debts including teachers arrears, suppliers payments and house allowance for lecturers at universities.
(a) Teachers’ claims
During the year 2008/09, the Government reviewed teachers’ grades and paid salary arrears amounting to Shillings 7,564,230,962.91. By March 2009, the Government went through teachers’ claims and paid 3,202 teachers debts that resulted from leaves, treatment, training and transfers for secondary school teachers, teachers training colleges, and the schools’ inspection office worth 1,175,492,157.
After those steps, the Government sent a team of experts in all Government secondary schools, training colleges, and schools’ inspection offices in the country where they interviewed teachers one by one to ascertain their claims. This job was completed on 15 June, 2009. During the exercise, total claims presented before the verification exercise amounted to 22.8 billion shillings. The claims were handed over to the office of the Controller and Auditor General for verification before they are presented to the Treasury for payment.
(b) Suppliers’ claims
By March 2008, claims by food suppliers in secondary schools and training colleges totalled 11.67 Billion Shillings while suppliers for teaching and learning equipment including those for labaratory and chemicals amounted to 3.89 Billion Shillings. The Government, in dealing with the situation, verified all debts owed to food suppliers as up to March 2008 and paid all of them. Claims for food supplies from April to December 2008 and supplies for teaching equipment worth 17.69 Billion Shillings have been verified and presented to Treasury for payment.
The Government also set aside 2.03 Billion Shillings every month from January to June 2009 for payment of food for students directly to avoid accumulation of debts.
(c) University lecturers’ claims
From 2005/2006 to 2008/2009, payment of house allowances afor university lecturers and professors was sot done effectively as funds allocated for Other Expenditure were not enough to meet those needs. This has caused accumulation of those allowances. In 2008/2009, the Government paid all the pending claims up to June 2009. A total of 17.05 Billion Shillings was paid during the exercise.
Policy and Planning Department
16. Honourable Speaker, The department for Policy and Planning issues expertise and services in implementation, follow up and evaluation of the Education and Training Policy.
17. Honourable Speaker, In 2008/2009, the Department for Policy and Planning implemented the following:
(a) Coordination of review of the Education and Training Policy, Education and Technical Training Policy of 1996 and the Higher Education Policy 1999 and preparing a draft policy for Education and Training. A draft comprising al those policies is ready and will be taken to education stakeholders for more input;
(b) Improving on collection and maintaining an education database in 28 district councils on trial basis, purchase of computers and IT equipment, offering computer and database training to various district officials and dealing with equipment and database and TEHAMA experts from 14 regions in collaboration with the United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO);and
(c) Reviewing expenditure in every department and institution under the ministry, coordinating the work plan and cash flow within the ministry.
Information, Education and Communication Department
18. Honourable Speaker, the Department for Information, Education and Communication has the responsibility of offering expertise advice on information and communication and collaborating with the media and other stakeholders within the education sector in sensitising the public to implement educational development programmes.
19. Honourable Speaker, in offering education to the public and enhancing good governance, openness and accountability, the ministry has improved the department for Information, Education and Communication.
20. Honourable Speaker, in 2008/2009, the Information, Education and Communication Department implemented the following;
(a) Coordinating 85 reports on development of education to the community and other stakeholders and enhancing their participation;
(b) Preparing and issuing 10 slots and 30 TV and radio programmes explaining on implementation of education plans;
(c) Preparing, printing and distributing 50,000 calendars educating the community on successes of implementation of the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP);
(d) Preparing and printing 100,000 copies of the publication of the Education Sector Development Programme (Ed-SDP) and distributing the copies in educational zones.
Office of the Commissioner for Education
21. Honourable Speaker, In order to discharge responsibilities effectively, the ministry has the office for the Commissioner for Education, which coordinates Pre-primary Education, Primary, Secondary, Teaching, Adult Education and Informal Education. Its roles include controlling the quality of education, establishing curriculums, administering of examinations, library services, leadership training and providing education.
22. Honourable Speaker, in 2008/2009, the Office of the Commissioner for Education implemented the following;
(a) Completing the write up for the expanding of Special and Participatory Education.
(b) Purchasing and distributing equipment worth 773.394 Billion Shillings for teaching and learning purposes; this also included teaching aides for special schools 228 of them being primary and 24 secondary schools;
(c) Registering 242 Government schools that were built through public effort, 132 private schools including five pre-primary ones 61 pre-primary and primary 59 secondary schools, and seven teachers training colleges.
(d) Analysing the international report on quality of education in 15 countries within South and East Africa (SACMEQ Research Project III);
(e) Issuing 315 Teaching Licenses to various graduates who applied for teaching: 65 of them had Masters Degree, 180 First degree, 39 Diploma, seven had certificate in teaching while 24 were form six graduates.
(f) Meeting expenses for offering training on Counselling to 200 facilitators from 200 primary schools and 200 new secondary school teachers from Lake and Central Zone;
(g) Offering training to 76 teachers and 24 schools’ inspectors on environmental education for sustainable development and use of the teaching guide on environmental issues in primary schools;
(h) Offering training on peer education and counselling to 300 teachers who teach subjects to do with HIV/Aids education;
(i) Preparing and broadcasting 52 programmes on ‘Improving Education’ and 52 programmes for participatory teaching techniques, 456 programmes for English, Science, Kiswahili Standard V, VI and VII; History, Geography and Civic education for Standard III, IV and V; and Life Skills for Standard VI and VII; and preparing 50 Video clips for Science and Mathematics.
(j) Preparing a guide for Peer Education for form three and four;
(k) Coordinating Standard VII Examinations, Form IV, VI plus certificate and Diploma in Teaching (Appendix No 3 gives a summary of the results);
(l) Coordinating views and recommendations on how to avoid pregnancies in school and the possibility of returning primary and secondary students who get pregnant to school after delivery;
(m) Offering training on leadership and administering of education at various levels of education.
Primary Education Department
23. Honourable Speaker, In implementing the CCM Manifesto of 2005, pre-primary school and primary pupils from government and private schools have increased from 638,591 in 2005 (319,974 girls) to 896,146 (450, 279 girls same as 50.25%) in 2009 including 2,208 with special needs.