Tanzania Education

I am working on preparing finals for the three classes trying to gauge which questions are too easy and too hard. I have gained a better understanding of the Tanzania educational systems being here, both for secondary school and university. Both have some common differences with education in the US.

They use standard percentages for grading and mastery expectation is low.
Tumaini's Standard for grading is:

A 80 - 100 %
B+ 70 - 79 %
B 60 - 69 %
C 50 - 59 %
D 40 - 49 %
E 0 - 39 %

The catalog says that the instructor can do some adjustment based on the performance distribution for the class but the concept of using a curve is not common.

Students must pass with a C or better in all their courses to count for graduation. If students have a D or E they take a supplemental examination (a retake of a different or even the same final) in the next term where they have a second chance. If they pass the supplemental exam they will be awarded a C for the course, otherwise they will need to retake it. There is a lot of pressure here for both the university and the students because student loans must be repaid for failed courses and both the students and university are dependent on these loans.

Secondary Schools are evaluated with 2 week national examinations that occur after form II, after form IV, and after Form VI (Secondary school is 4 to 6 years after 7 years of primary). Form IV is called O-level for Ordinary level and many students leave at this point with a diploma. These graduates can go to teaching colleges and become primary school teachers. Other students continue with Form V and VI which is called A-level and can go from there to university. Passing grades for each subject in the exams is 30 % or better. All students take the mathematics exams and fewer than half will pass with this grade. They are allowed to have two failed subjects to continue in school, otherwise they have to repeat the last Form.

Passing at 30% seems like a pretty low threshold but this shows the disconnect between an ambitious syllabus and its implementation in Tanzania secondary schools. I have books of sample exam questions from past exams for Math and Chemistry and the mathematics exam is very difficult. I doubt that US HS students would do that much better, especially if we gave it to all students and not just the math and science students. Most Tanzanian secondary schools have a severe shortage of text books and teachers, especially teachers prepared to teach mathematics and science.

With few resources, students are dependent on what they hear from the instructor in the classroom. This continues at the University where they also do not have text books other than photocopied materials or some electronic materials that are subject to availability of computers. I think the shortage of resources limits their ability to learn independently, or at least causes them to not try to seek out ways to learn. They become accustomed to listening to the teacher and writing down what they say in their notebooks which become their text books and then memorizing this information for the examinations. At Tumaini they have about 20 - 22 hours of scheduled class each week which is almost double what we would have in the US so the time for work outside of class is much less. There are individuals who do go to the library and read and learn on their own and the divide between these students and the rest of the class keeps growing.

The University system is dependent on the government loan program that provides 40% - 100% of student tuition fees. Tumaini, as a private university, has relatively high tuition fees of about 2,000,000 tsh or about $1500. Government loans are interest free and will be repaid with a 5% salary deduction after the students graduate. Many students will become teachers in Secondary schools with salaries in the range of 150,000 to 500,000 per month or about $150 - $350 so the loans will be slow to be repaid. The other issue in Tanzania right now is expansion of the Government University in the capital city of Dodoma. It has grown in three years to 17,000 students and is headed to 40,000 - 45,000 students in the next couple years. This growth has consumed most of the government resources and caused severe competition for students and faculty. What impact this growth and the sustainability of the loan program will have on schools like Tumaini remain to be seen.