Project Database

EFAIDS Programme

Country:	Tanzania
Start Date:	2006-01-01
Deadline:	2010-12-31
Host organisations:	Tanzania Teachers' Union (TTU)
Co-operating organisations:	Education International (EI) World Health Organisation (WHO) Education Development Center (EDC)
Related Links:	Research paper: In Search of Teachers in Tanzania
Grouping:	EI Education For All-HIV/AIDS Prevention (EFAIDS) Programme

This project is still in progress.

Project Summary:

Since 2000 Tanzania has made massive strides towards the target of universal primary education, but this increase in enrolment has created other challenges for an under-resourced education sector. Pupil teacher ratio is high at 52 percent, teaching and learning material are in short supply and there is a low transition rate to secondary school. The TTU is committed to working to redress these issues through their work in the EFAIDS Programme.

Activities in 2008

The Tanzanian Teachers’ Union emphasised advocacy and communication while continuing with their training activities.

TTU trained Master Trainers in the area of Psychosocial Care and Support. These Master Trainers are classroom teachers or school inspectors, and with their closer link and greater outreach to teachers and students in the classroom setting TTU are confident of achieving progress on equitable access to quality teaching, reducing absenteeism and drop out, and off-setting psychological stress amongst teachers and students. Through the training, the Master Trainers complemented their previous training and acquired the skill to diagnose and support vulnerable teachers and students.

Under the coopeeration between the EI EFAIDS Programme and the University of Amsterdam, TTU worked to support Master’s student Herman Kruijer, in his research on the issue of the shortage of teachers in primary schools in Tanzania. The motives of student teachers entering the teaching profession and their perspectives on teaching as a career formed the basis of the research.

The TTU also engaged in extensive advocacy to defend and improve in-service teacher education programmes. This was born out of necessity, as government policy to reduce the duration and scope of pre-service teacher education programmes has endangered the provision of quality education. TTU are sensitive to the fact that a lack of human resources and financial investment in the education system means that new teachers are insufficiently mentored, and TTU have pledged to defend the primacy of adequate professional development programmes. The TTU strongly contest a parallel system whereby secondary school graduates receive one month’s training before being sent to teach in the classrooms. The use of such para-teachers provides yet another barrier to quality education. In an effort to stimulate constructive debate and feasible solutions, the TTU coordinated a three-day National Stakeholder Conference workshop that brought together 35 participants which included not only teachers and unionists, but also representatives of civil society and the ministry of education. The conference provided an opportunity for the stakeholders to share information and debate and analyse the situation, and to this end 4 papers (2 governmental, 2 independent) were presented on the practices, challenges and possibility of achieving Quality Education by 2015.

TTU also lobbied for the right of marginalised groups to access education. Posters supporting inclusive education for children with disabilities and children from vulnerable communities were widely distributed. The TTU specifically highlighted the importance of the right of albino children to learning and recreational facilities. Tanzania has a significant albino minority who suffer persecution.

Similar projects elsewhere in the region:

Common Name:	Tanzania
Official Name:	United Republic of Tanzania