the situation of early childhood education in tanzania: the case of
TRANSCRIPT
C
I
-
THE SITUATION OF EARLY CHILDHOOD
EDUCATION IN TANZANIA
THE CASE OF TEMEKE DISTRICT
A Draft Report Prepared for UNESCO Dar es Salaam
by: A.N. Kweka
E. Binagi
V. Kainamula
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
--
BAKWATA . CCM CSDP : DCC ECE .** EFA ETP GDP GNP HHD ILOS IYC LDC LHD MHD MCDWC
MOEC NCCR NGO NS NS NYC PCE RC SSA TAPA TANU TIE TTC TPDF TV UNDP UNESCO
UNICEF UN URT UWT YWCA
Baraza la Kiislam Tanzania Chama cha Mapinduzi Child Survival Development and Protection Day Care Centres Early Childhood Education Education for All Education and Training Policy Gross Domestic Product Gross National Product High Human Development International Languages Orientation International Year of the Child Least Developed Contries Low Human Development Medium Human Development Ministry of Community Development Women and Children Ministry of Education and Culture National Convention for Construction and Reform Non Governmental Organization National Service Nursery School National Year of the Child Presidential Commission on Education Roman Catholic Sub - Sahara Africa Tanganyika African Parents Association Tanganyika Africa National Union Tanzania Institute of Education Teacher Training College Tanzania People’s Defence Force Television United Nations Development Programme United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization United Nations Children’s Fund United Nations United Republic of Tanzania Umoja wa Wanawake Tanzania Young Women Christian Association
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study would not have been possible without the help and advice of
many people.
Special thanks are due to UNESCO for providing a grant which made it
possible for this study to be undertaken.
We extend our heartfelt gratitudes to officials in different government
departments and non governmental organizations who offered us
valuable support and information.
Our appreciation should also go to teachers of nursery schools/pre-
school centres and the parents of pre-school children who devoted their
valuable time to talk to us.
We thankfully acknowledge the outstanding support services offered by
many people particularly the secretaries - Gloria Zambi, Felicia Swai
and Grace Tetty.
. . . ill
. .._.^_ ll__l- -__.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the situation of early
childhood education in Tanzania through literature survey and field
work research in Temeke District. The results of this study were to
identify problems areas that needed to be solved in order to promote
accessibility and raise the quality of early childhood education in the
country.
Chapter One looks at the framework of analysis for studies on the child
in Tanzania by focusing on the economic base and its political and
ideological superstructure. It is however, pointed out that this
framework should not be taken rigidly out of the historical experiences
of different groups of people and enabling them to make various choices
and establish priorities. The child in Tanzania finds himself/herself in a
poor economic base with social services which are unreliable and
sometimes risky. Child care, therefore, emphaisezes survival needs such
as adequate food consumption, health services, and a healthy and safe
environment.
Chapter Two surveys literature on early childhood education in
Tanzania. It was observed that the terms Uday care centres” and
“nursery schools” were used interchangeably by most people although
the Ministry of Education and Culture maintained that nursery schools
were for children between 3 and 6 years of age. and were to be
registered by the Ministry of Education. Day care centres were for
children below 3 years of age. However, the Ministry of Education and
Culture was hestant to register and providing supporting services until
in the 1990s when they began to register pre-schools and provided
guidelines, training of pre-primary school teachers, and curriculum
development for these institutions. The 1995 Education and Training
Policy shows the Ministry in promoting pre-primary education for
children of 5 and 6 years of age.
iv
Chapter Three shows how this study was organized through literature
survey and field work research. Visits to six wards out of 16 wards in
Temeke District were made and interviews with local government
leaders, educators, NGOs, pre-school teachers, owners/managers and
parents were conducted.
Chapter Four comes out with findings on family education and the
practice of pre-schools in Temeke. It was found out that in 3 rural wards
there were no pre-schools while in urban wards there were over 8 pre-
schools in each ward. Not many pre-schools had been registered as
many did not have title deeds to land, buildings and qualified teachers.
Pre-schools were owned and managed by government ministries/
institutions, NGOs including political parties, and individuals. Fees
charged ranged from Tsh.5,000/= to Tsh.60.000/= per annum and
depended on the quality of those institutions. The quality of most pre-
schools was low due to lack of trained teachers, lack of buildings and
other facilities, teaching materials, poor management, and lack of
supervision or evaluation.
Chapter Five provides conclusions and recommendations for supporting
services in early childhood education. The most important
recommendations are:
i)
ii)
iii)
There is need for a clear policy on pre-school education. The 1995
Education and Training Policy is at variance with practice of three
ministries registering pre-schools.
There is a need to increase enrolments in pre-schools. It was
estimated that about 60% of children enrolled in Std. I in Temeke
District did not go through pre-schools. In the three rural wards
there were no pre-schools.
The government should provide an enabling environment for the
registration of pre-schools. This includes the provision of land for
pre-schools in appropriate locations and providing monitoring and
V
supervisory services to all pre-schools. Training of inspectors for
pre-primary education should be given priority.
iv) There was a need for adequate teacher training in pre-school
education. Training for three months or less was not adequate for
pre-school teachers. Well trained teachers would prepare better
teaching materials and would be conversant with the pre-school
curriculum.
4 Efforts to improve early childhood education should go hand in
hand with programmes of poverty alleviation.
a) There is an urgent need to study all institutions providing pre-
school teacher training in Tanzania to scrutinize the curriculum
and find out existing problems in order to suggest ways of
improving the quality of pre-school education in the country.
4 There is also an urgent need to study child rearing practices in
rural areas of Tanzania in order to find out the type of cooperation
between men and women in child care and education.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE
List of Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~........................................ ii
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
Chapter One:
Chapter Two:
Chapter Three:
Chapter Four:
Chapter Five:
Bibliography
Appendix:
List of Tables
1.1
2.1
2.2
3.1
3.2
4.1
4.2
5.1
The Child in Tanzania . . . . . . . . . . ..*............................. 1
The Concept of Early Childhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Education in Tanzania
Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Early Childhood Education in s............................. 33 Temeke District
Supporting Services in Early . . . . . . . . . ..**................... 52 Childhood Education
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 List of People Inteviewed . ..*..................*.........,..... 61
Page
Human Development Profile in the Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
of the World Economy
Management of Day Care Centres by . . . ..*.*...........................*. 13 Different Insitutions 1997
Number of Day Care Centres by Agencies 1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Divisions and Wards in Temeke District . . . . ..*.......................... 26 Wards and Local Administrative Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.............a...... 28 Day Care Centres in Temeke District 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*....a.. 39 Number of Pi-e-schools in Temeke District 1997... . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . 40 Enrolment of Children at Chang’ombe TIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...*.... 53 Nursery School 1997
List of Figures/Maps
1.1 Framework of Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3.1 Map of Dar es Salaam City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
vii
-
--_- .- .- .--~-.~-
CHAPTER ONE
THE CHILD IN TANZANIA Learning begins at birth. This calls for early childhood care and initial education. These can be provided through arrangements involving families. communities. or institution programmes, as appropriate.
World Declaration on Education for All
The Framework of Analysis
An understanding of the situation of the child is based on an analysis of
the economic structure and its accompanying political and ideological
superstructure (UNICEF, 1990:3). In this case the framework illustrates
how maternal, infant and child deaths together with malnutrition are
caused by inadequate food consumption and diseases.
FIgurel
MATERNAL, YOUNG CHILD DEATH AND MALNUTRITION
I I 1 I I I
INADEQUATE FOOD I I I DESEASES
CONSUMPTION I I
*j @i&j +I I I I b-------------,
I
-1 - -----------;
OTHER CONSUMPTION
I
I
I I I
POLITICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL SUPERSTRUCTURE
ECONOMIC STRUCTURE
L
1
These are in turn caused by a chain of weaknesses at some levels down
below. The greatest advantage of this framework is that it allows one to
look at the whole society in which the child is found. This same
framework could be modified to show a positive situation where there is
child development as a result of adequate food consumption and health
care based on favourable factors down below (Leach, 1995:3). But the
most important thing to remember is that at each level there is a
struggle by human beings to improve the system in order to meet their
needs for survival and development. It should not also be forgotten that
in this struggle there are social as well as natural constraints which
need to be solved by individuals or communities through careful
assessment and analysis.
However, this framework should not be taken rigidly out of its historical
context or else one will not be able to explain why two or more societies
at the same level of economic development have different priorities for
early childhood education. For example societies with religious
organizations tend to think of how to prepare the young souls early
enough by sending them to either Sunday schools (Christians) or
madrassa (Moslems). But there are times also when religions institutions
decide to provide academic education in the struggle for national
resources and the economic base cannot provide the best explanations.
There are similar efforts by governments too to promote pre-school
education not because of economic development but because that is the
practice in other countries. In the 1990s the whole world was looking at
education as a human right, starting at birth. This puts pressure on poor
countries to change their priorities on investment and national
development. The Ministry of Education and Culture in Tanzania began
to organize pre-primary education in the 1990s mainly due to such
outside support or influence rather than from internal struggles alone.
The relationship between economic base and superstructure cannot
therefore explain every thing and therefore one must look at history,
local and international, to explain the development of different
educational institutions. In this study we cannot ignore the process of
liberalization culminating in the Jomtien Conference on Education for
-
__-. -. - ~..I-_. --1- _-_. -.- -
2
.“. . _“_---
All as we investigate the situation of pre-schools in one district in
Tanzania.
Terms of Reference/Study Objectives
The present study which was carried out in Temeke sub-urban District
of Dar es Salaam, was intended to be a pilot study on the situation of
needs for training in early childhood education and the extent to which
these needs have been or are being met. The researchers were required
to undertake the following tasks:
l analyse the concept of early childhood education situating it within
the context of Tanzania:
l undertake a critical and analytic literature review of the status of
early childhood education in Tanzania relating this to the 1995
Education and Training Policy of mainland Tanzania:
l assess and analyse the situation of early childhood formal and non-
formal education in Temeke District in Dar es Salaam, highlighting
inter alia what is being done and with what impact as well as the
quantitative and qualitative Constraints being encountered in the
provision of Early Childhood Education;
l make recommendations to key actors/stake holders as well as to
Tanzania’s Development Partners with a view to improving Early
Childhood Educational provision as well as capacities for this
purpose:
l suggest strategies, techniques and approaches relevant/specific to
the needs of Temeke communities in the promotion of Early
Childhood Education and with reference to the findings of the study:
and
l suggest Programme/Project ideas that could be articulated for extra-
budgetary funding in pursuance of the findings, conclusions and
recommendations of the study.
The Tanzanian Context
Tanzania is characterized by a great diversity of physical and climatic
conditions which favour the production of crops such as: coffee, cotton,
3
- --.
sisal, tea, cashewnuts, groundnut, maize, millet, coconuts, yams,
bananas and vegetables. Animal husbandry is practised throughout the
country by both pastoralists and agro-pastoralist. Fishing is common on
the coast as well as in the great lakes of Victoria, Tanganyika and Nyasa.
Tree planting and sale of timber locally and for export is now becoming
an important industry. Tanzania is potentially rich in minerals
particularly gold, diamond, Tanzanite, coal, iron and natural gas.
Unfortunately, Tanzania has not been able to exploit its natural
resources for development. The economy has for a long time been
dominated by small-holder agricultural production with low level of
technological improvements. In 1994 it had a GDP of 3.4 (USD billions)
coming from agriculture (57%). industry 17% and services 25% (UNDP,
1997: 201). Its GNP annual growth rate was 2.7% between 1980 and
1993. At the same time its annual population growth was 3.1% between
I960 and 1994. The GNP per capita annual growth rate between 1980
and 1993 was 0.1% (UNDP, 1994: 203).
The urban population of Tanzania grew from 5% in 1960 to 24% in
1994. It is expected to rise to 28% in the year 2000. This means about
76% of Tanzanians lived in the rural areas where the small-holder hand-
hoe agriculture was the main occupation. The process of urbanization in
Tanzania is high and is not related to growth of industrialization or lack
of fertile land in the rural areas. Only 3.2% of its land was arable of
which 5% was irrigated. This means that with the amount of water
available in rivers and lakes, much more land could be cultivated
through irrigation. Land availability is not a limitation for food
production or other conditions for child survival (UNICEF, 1990: 10 1).
There are four main agro-economic zones in Tanzania, as follows:
Zone 1: Semi-arid central area of Tanzania.
Rainfall: Less than 500 mm
Dominant food crops: Sorghum, millet and sometimes maize.
Main activities: Farming and livestock.
Representative areas: Lowland areas in Dodoma. Singida, Arusha
and Iringa regions.
4
Zone 2:
Rainfall:
Dominant food crops:
Main activities:
Representative areas:
Mostly in the coastal area
Between 500 - 1000 mm.
Rice, maize, cassava and groundnut.
Agriculture, fishing and poultry keeping
Mtwara, Lindi. Coast, Morogoro, Tanga and
Ruvuma regions.
Zone 3: Mostly in the north and western part of
Tanzania
Rainfall:
Dominant food crops:
Main activities:
Representative area:
Between 500 - 1000 mm.
Cassava, maize, peas, sweet potatoes.
Intensive agriculture with animal husbandry
(cattle, sheep goats and poultry).
Mwanza, Mara, Shinyanga Tabora, Kigoma
and Rukwa Regions.
Zone 4:
Rainfall:
Dominant food crops:
Main activities:
Mostly in the highland areas.
Above 1500 mm.
Bananas, maize, beans and Irish potatoes.
Agriculture with livestock keeping (cattle,
sheep, goats and pigs).
Representative areas: Highlands around Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Tanga,
Mbeya, Iringa and Kagera regions.
It is ironical that those regions which might be considered to have
adverse ecological conditions such as Dodoma, Singida, Tabora and
Arusha (with less than 500 mm of rainfall) have lower than average
infant and child mortality rates. Iringa, Mbeya, Rukwa and Ruvuma
regions have highly favourable conditions for food production but have
highest rates of infant mortality (UNICEF, 1990: 102). There could be
various explanations to this. The first is that those semi-arid areas are
good for livestock keeping and their child feeding practices include
foods with more protein. The second reason is that semi-arid areas
pose fewer problems connected with water-borne diseases. Another
reason for this irony is that commercialization of agriculture in the
5
fertile regions have adversely changed the child rearing practices -
with parents concentrating on how to get money rather than how to
prepare nutritious meals for the children.
What this amounts to is that Tanzania could produce much more to
feed its population given this availability of adequate and diversified
agro-economic zones. However, the economic structure of Tanzania is
such that it does not promote economic growth at a rate which is
much higher than population growth.
The Structure of the Tanzanian Economy
The Tanzania economy is part of the international economic system
concentrating on export crop production and minerals extraction.
Coffee, tea, cashewnuts, sisal cotton and diamonds were primary export
commodities since the colonial days. The colonial governments (German
and British) used various methods to promote primary commodity
production. The independent government continued with the same l
policy although there were some efforts to industrialize in order to
reduce the dependence of imported manufactured goods. In several
cases there were great emphasis on export crop production at the
expense of food crop production. This led to importation of food from
developed countries and hence nullified any gains on their foreign
export earnings.
The most serious problem in export crop production was that the
developing countries were selling them in a market they could not
control. This was aggravated by rapid technological progress, changes
in tastes and preferences, and the international monetary instability in
the developed market economies and therefore leading to the
deterioration of terms of trade (Bagachwa & Mbelle, 1993: 19). In other
words any increase in agricultural commodity production was offset by
declining prices as well as the rising prices of imported manufactured
goods. This meant that Tanzania could not buy the required imported
agricultural inputs as well as spare parts for the industries. Production of exports was further curtailed leading to lower national incomes.
6
This poor performance of the economy ,forced many developing
countries to resort to heavy foreign borrowing. For example in Tanzania
the total external debt in 1980 was 318% of total exports and it shot up
to 1.071% in 1990. In other words, the external debt in 1980 was 48%
of the GNP and rose to 282% of the GNP in 1990. In 1994 the total
external debt USD 7.4 billion and this was 230% of the GNP. Debt
service ratio was 20% of exports (UNDP, 1997: 19 1). At the same time
exports were only 4 1% of the imports. In 1996/97 external debt
repayment was about 40% of the total national budget. This makes the
economy depend on foreign sources for financing major economic and
social service activities.
With such a poor economic base the social services are unreliable and
sometimes risky. Life expectancy at birth in 1994 was 50.3 years
compared to 76.7 years in the highly developed countries (Table 1.1).
Population with access to health services was only 42% and that with
access to safe water was 38%. GNP per capita was USD 140 compared
to the average of USD 2 10 for the least developed countries. These
figures show that Tanzania was below the average for the least developed
countries in every aspect except adult literacy.
Table 1.1: Human Development Profile in Tanzania in the Context of
the World Economy
L
L
L’
Key: HHD - Hi@ Human Development
Life Expec- tancy
% with Health Services
%with Safe Water
Daily Colorie supply Per capita
% Adult Literacy
GNP per capita
/ USD
76.7 67.1 56.1 50.4 50.0 50.3
90 87 70
9: 42
El ;: 51 38
2894 2730 2262 2054 2096 202 1
97 80 50 48.4 56.2 66.8
22532 993 306
’ 210 539 140
,:
MHD - Medium Human Development. LHD - Low Human Development. LDC - Least Developed Countries SSA - Sub-Saharan Africa.
Source: UNDP. 1997:164 - 165.
7
._^. I _ .
- - . - - - -
i...
\
IL.
C
It follows from our framework that the formal and non-formal
institutions in society will be affected by this situation, It is most
probable that there will be dependency on foreign institutions for the
establishment of some important social institutions.
Situation of the Children in Tanzania i
According to UNICEF (1990). 200,000 children under five years die each
year with 120,000 of them under one year. In 1994, infant mortality
rate was 85 per 1,000 live births (UNDP, 1994: 167). Fortunately, this
rate was lower than the average for the least developed countries at 103
and Sub-Saharan Africa at 97 per 1,000 live births.
Between 40% and 60% of all children under five, 2 million children in
all, are moderately and severely malnourished. Of these between 4Oh
and 9%, about 300,000 children were severely manourished. They were
8 times more likely to die than better nourished children.
Children in southern and western regions/Mtwara. Iringa, Mbeya,
Rukwa and Kigoma) are at greater risk than those from other parts of
the country. Also children in rural areas are at greater risk than urban
children, even those children in poor urban familes. This means there is
a serious need for child care services.
Child care includes access to adequate food consumption, health
services and a healthy and safe environment. Parents and siblings are
critical care givers and educators. They develop the socially accepted
values and attitudes, knowledge and skills (Leach, 1995). Many parents
in Tanzania realized the importance of proper child care to their
children but economic pressures (poverty, workload and lack of
amenities) has meant less care for children as parents struggle for
subsistence needs. As a result more and more children have:
0) high rates of malnutrition especially between 6 months and
3 years.
(ii) high prevalence of diarrhoea diseases.
- .- -- ___-_
(iii) low frequency of feeding complementary foods which are also low
in energy.
(iv) unhygienic environment and shortage of water.
UNICEF in its Child Survival Development and Protection (CSDP) has
devised an effective community based approach to child care. The
communities were able to identify methods of child care in their local
areas and establishing feeding posts as one of the essential aspects of
child care. This was supported by advocacy, mobilisation, education
and training in the CSPD programme (Leach, 1995:12). However CSPD,
with its feeding posts had the following problems:
0) Coverage was low.
(M Feeding posts operated intermittently due to non-availability of
food.
(iii) Lack of materials for organized play and educational materials.
It must be realized that child care practices are part of any community’s
culture and they therefore take time to change. The situation worsens
with economic difficulties but the role of a facilitator in such a situation
is to problemitize the situation to find out how it can be improved and
serve the child better. The UNICEF community based approach achieved
much in this area, (Leach, 1995: 14- 15) although there should be a
similar emphasis on programmes of poverty alleviation.
It has been noted, however, that with liberalization there is increased
social class differentiation in the communities and that a general talk
about communities might ignore women, young people or the poorest in
the community (UNICEF, 1994:6). This gives rise to the disintegration of
the culture of the community with some children beginning to play with
imported complex toys while others are playing with stones. Child rearing practices begin to differ in terms of consumption, recreation,
care and education in the family as well as in the community. Some rich
parents begin to send their children to very high quality nursery
schools while the poor parents cannot even take their children to
feeding posts/or poorest “nursery school” under a mango tree.
9
CHAPTER TWO
THE CONCEPT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN TANZANIA Giving birth is something in which mankind and animals are equal, but rearing the young and especially educating them for many years is something that is a unique gift and responsibility of men.
Julius Nyerere
Introduction
The responsibility of child rearing and early childhood education in
Tanzania has in many places remained in the hands of individual
families and communities without a proper and competent institution to
provide for their continued needs of education and development. In
some cases religions organisations, the Government of T anzania with
the support of donors, particularly UNICEF, and some Ujamaa villages
have initiated various formal programmes for the care and education of
the children. These programmes are known by different names such as
Day Care Centres, Nursery Schools and Kindergartens although in most
cases their activities do not always match with those institutions.
The number of child care institutions until 1990 was relatively small.
For example in 1988 there were 1626 registered day care centres, 575
were in villages and 327 were run by religious organisations. There were
118,480 children registered in Day Care Centres (DCCs) and this
constituted only 3% of all children 3 to 6 years old (UNICEF, 1990:77).
In other words, up to 1990 about 97% of all Tanzanian children between
3 and 7 years old did not have access to formal early childhood
education. Their care and education was given informally by their
parents, baby sitters, siblings, other relatives and the community. In
this chapter we shall look at the introduction of the formal programmes
of early childhood care and education in Tanzania. We shall then look at
the informal early childhood education in the families and their
problems for child care and development.
Early Childhood Care and Education in Tanzania
The provision of early childhood care and education in colonial Tanzania
were started by the religious organizations and minority racial groups
10
(Self, 1987). These included bush schools, madrassa (Quran schools),
nursery schools, kindergartens and day care centres. These were
however very few due to the weak position of those organizations during
the colonial times. The colonial government on its part introduced early
childhood care and education with the establishment of the Social
Welfare Division in 1946 which dealt with “problem” cases such as
probation of young offenders, social guidance and counselling of families
and individuals, child welfare (day care, orphanages etc), destitute care
(aged and poor persons), -and handicapped persons and children (Omari,
1973: 112). The government did not provide early childhood education
for normal children below the minimum age of 7 years when they were
required to start formal schooling.
After independence in 196 1, there was some pressure from a few parents for pre-school education of their children. The reasons given for pre-school education were growth of towns and disruption of communal child rearing practices, working mothers, development of modern
technologies and the appearance of nuclear families. Later on the development of Ujamaa villages after 1967 required that women should be freed and participate fully in economic production in the new villages. The expansion of primary education in the country also meant that the older children would not be at home taking care of their young brothers or sisters. At the same time some parents looked at pre-school education as a good preparation for formal schooling. This would enable them to do better in the primary school and secure a place in a secondary school. However, there was no single organization that could articulate the needs of the various groups and come up with a comprehensive national programme for early child care and education. At the same time it was not possible to throw the whole burden of early childhood education to the government at a time when the government had not been able to provide universal primary education.
Government Indecision on Early Childhood Education
Even after independence there was no effort on the part of the
government to come out with an integrated national policy on early
childhood education and care in Tanzania. Individual policies were
formulated by different government ministries that had a mandate to
11
look after the education and care of young children. Pre-schools by
NGOs functioned outside government policies and guidelines (Seif,
1991: 1). Even the individual policies formulated by different
government ministries were not given adequate publicity to enable
parents and any other stake-holders to know for example the difference
between Day Care Centre and Nursery Schools, their curricula and the
qualifications of the teaching staff/attendants.
The first Education Ordinance of 1961 required owners/managers of
nursery schools to register their institutions with the Ministry of
Education. The local education authorities were given the mandate to
make recommendations to the Ministry of Education on ownership,
management and registration of pre-primary schools, and the role of the
Ministry of Education was mainly that of supervision (Seif, 199 1: 13). In 1965 the Ministry of Education defined a nursery school as “one which
provides pre-primary education for children who have not yet begun
formal education in accordance with a syllabus approved by the Chief
Education Officer”. However, the nursery school curriculum was not
developed up to the 1990s.
The Ministry of Education made a distinction between their nursery
schools and those run by the Social Welfare Division. The Ministry of
Education would register nursery schools which were taught by
qualified teachers and followed a specific syllabus while the Social
Welfare Division would deal with those nursery schools with unqualified
staff and whose teaching was informal. But the Social Welfare Division
was more active for registration of their nursery schools which they
named “day care centres” and came up with detailed syllabus for the
training of day care centre staff and another for training primary and
secondary school pupils, and teacher training college students on how to
handle child care duties (for these details see Omari, 1973).
The purposes of Day Care Centres were stated as follows:
(1) To provide care and supervision for children while their mothers
are working in shambas for wages or participating in development
activities.
12
I,,“.
-
(ii) To assist the social development of children by:
la) teaching cleanliness and good social habits.
(b) developing cooperative tendencies in children through play
games and other group activities.
(cl Involving children in imaginative activities.
(d) playful encouragement of loyalty to the nation.
k) preparing them for formal education by introducing them to
numeration, reading activities and pictures.
(iii) To provide nutritional supplement to children.
(iv) To teach Kiswahili to some of the children (especially in rural
areas) whose mother tongue is not Kiswahili.
The Social Welfare Division did not run any centres but encouraged
local communities, NGOs, the sole political party (TANU) and its affiliate
(UWT), and some government institutions to establish, organize and
operate their day care centres. These institutions should train their
teachers through a UNICEF assisted programme. The training of
teachers dealt with topics on Child Development between 0 and 7 years
old; Management of Day Care Centres: Child Health Hygiene and
Sanitation; Art and Handicrafts: Dress: Nutrition: Gardening: and
Organization of Day Care Centres.
Table 2.1: Management of Day Care Centres by Different
Institutions 1972
1. Sisal Estates Churches, YWCA and TAPA
2. Ujamaa Villages
3. TANU and UWT
4. Police
5. Railways
6. Prisons
7. T.P.D.F and N.S
8. Harbours Authority
TOTAL
122 II
II et--II 34
15
~
14
7
4
367 II
13
-,_ ---..--
Management of day care centres was done by different institution (see
Table 1.1). It is unfortunate that the first category could not be broken
down to show how many centres were managed by each as this would
tell us the real power behind the establishment of day care centres in
the 1970s. But if one looked at TANU and UWT (73) and Ujamaa Villages
(981, - 17 1 out of 367 centres or about 47% of all centres were organized
by the support of the political party. TAPA was also an affiliate of the
sole political party and the sisal estates had been nationalized and the
political party wanted to ensure that the sisal plantation workers would
get similar benefits like those in Ujamaa villages. These were seen as
some of the benefits of joining Ujamaa institutions and as a political
strategy of the ruling party to consolidate its position. But this created
a problem of dependence on political leaders who were now supposed to
look for donors to support the community day care centres.
As a result of the above, the following problems were encountered
throughout the country.
(0
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(4
There were not enough trained day care attendants.
There was lack of teaching/learning materials.
There was no proper feeding of the children while they were in the
centres.
The day care attendants were not regularly paid.
There were local superstitions that the children could be
bewitched while in the centres.
In another study looking at the child care arrangements in poor urban
areas of Dar es Salaam it was found out that the objectives set out by the
social Welfare Division were not being achieved (Omari, 1989). He
noted that day care ten tres required teachers with necessary
qualifications and an approved syllabus. Although the day care centres
14
- -.-.-.- __I I..
depended on the community’s ability to pay for certain costs (building
and other communities, cash and labour the centres he observed had no
standard set of requirements which would unify them. Parents
expected these pre-schools to prepare their children for primary schools
but lack of equipment and trained attendants made it impossible to
achieve their objectives.
In 1988 the number of agencies running Day Care Centres had
increased (Table. 2.2).
Table 2.2: Number of Day Care Centres by Agencies
Voluntary agencies 32
Paras tatals 207
Industrial centres 35
Government Departments 221
Party Organizations 146
Religious Organisation 327
Individuals 83
Villages 575
Total
----
1626 ---- ----
Source: Omari, 1989: 10.
It was noted earlier that the sole political party (TANU) campaigned for
the establishment of day care centres where the Ujamaa villages TANU
and UWT managed almost half the number of centres. In Table 1.2 the
villages and the Party organisations had a total of 721 centres or 44%.
The government departments and parastatals managed 428 centres or
26%. Religious organizations managed about 20%. Individuals were able
to own and manage day care centres after liberalisation in 1986 and in
1989 they had already about 5%. The majority of these centres where
in urban areas. Dar es Salaam alone had 132 centres (Omari, 1989: 10).
_- .-_ ..-- pl__-.-
15
Omari concluded that there was no well defined policy on the social
investment on child care institutions and pre-primary school facilities in
the country. Although he attributed the weaknesses to the economic
crisis in the country he blamed the parents for they wanted to have
children but were not ready to invest in them (Omari, 1989:50). He
suggested community based approach, mobilization and campaigning
for more and better centres.
UNICEF and Child Care Centres in Tanzania
UNICEF has always taken a wider view of child care which includes
access to food, health services, and a healthy and safe environment
which are essential for child survival and development.
UNICEF collaborated with the Social Welfare Division in the training of
day care teachers and attendants in the 1970s and early 1980s (Leach,
1995:8). An evaluation of the day care centres, according to Ngolula and
Mashalla 1984, showed that the programme was not effective due to the
following reasons:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(4
There was high turnover among the young women trained as day
care centre attendants.
The coverage of the centres was very low and catered for
children over 3 years.
Facilities and equipment were poor.
Remuneration for the attendants were irregular.
Parents complained at the cost of fees for attendance.
It appears that some people think that child care attendants need not
train much to make it a permanent profession. Primary school leavers
have been taken and when they see opportunities for further training
elsewhere they abandon their posts. But this kind of thinking will
disappear slowly when individuals and NGOs begin to compete in a given
16
--~. .- -_I _-
area. The owners will be compelled to look for better qualified
attendants/teachers who can attract more children. This goes with
improving the quality of education with the necessary teaching/learning
materials. The difference in the children’s achievement will make the
parents see the value of their money and therefore reduce their
complaints.
UNICEF did not pursue this programme further after 1985 due to some
other reasons. Studies on the conditions of the children in Tanzania
(Um/UNICEF 1985) showed that there were very high rates of young
child malnutrition in Tanzania and this led to the establishment of
community based feeding posts in various parts of the country,
The Ministry of Education and Pre-Primary Schools
The Ministry of Education and Culture remained a silent observer for a
long time over the issue of pre-school education. Although the 196 1
Education Act had required the Ministry of Education to register and
supervise nursery schools in 1965 the Ministry redefined nursery
schools to include the clause “in accordance with a syllabus approved by
the Chief Education Officer”. Since no such syllabus was approved it
was difficult for the Ministry to implement the 1961 Act. One of the
reasons of this tactical retreat was that the Ministry did not want “to be
identified with nursery schools of poor quality” (Seif, 1991: 14). The
other reason was that the Ministry felt that if it announced that it would
register, supervise, regulate and possibly subsidize nursery schools,
“there would be community pressures for more nursery schools” (Omari,
1973: 115- 116). One could also add that the Ministry had some notions
of egalitarian distribution of educational facilities and this could only be
done after providing universal primary education.
The Ministry of Education knew that running of good quality nursery
schools would be very expensive bearing in mind the costs of
construction of buildings, buying teaching/learning/playing materials
and training of teachers/assistants. There were a number of factors,
however, which made some people feel that the Ministry of Education
should coordinate nursery schools. The first one was the achievement
17
of UPE in 1977 instead of the then projected date of 1989. All children
had access to primary education now and therefore preparing them for
this would be a way of improving the quality of primary education in the
country. The other important factor was the UN declaration of 1979 as
an International Year of the Child (IYC). Tanzania participated actively
in marking this event. A national committee was formed under the
chairmanship of the Minister for Education to oversee the day to day
running of the activities (Tukai, 1991: 3 -4). The objectives of IYC were:
(i) To provide a framework for advocacy on behalf of children and for
enhancing awareness of the special needs of children on the part
of decision markers and the public.
(ii) To enhance recognition of the fact that the prograrnmes for
children are an integral part of economic and social development
plans with a view to achieving both in the long and short term,
substainable activities for the benefit of children at the national
and international level. The most important activity for the IYC
was a one week national symposium which presented papers on
various aspects of child development in Tanzania. A multi-sectoral
approach to problems of children was recommended and 1980
was declared National Year of the Child (NYC) in Tanzania to
consolidate the gains of the 1979 ICY. Both the international
community and Tanzania were ready to consider funding nursery
schools on a pilot project.
The third factor which made the Ministry of Education consider
coordinating nursery schools was the 1980 Minister’s (Discharge of
Ministerial Functions) Act which assigned the responsibility of nursery
schools to it and the Department of Social Welfare was given day care
centres. The Presidential Commission on Education (PCE) in 1981 - 82
included a pre-primary school education programme in the educational
system. The role of the Ministry of Education according to PCE was to
train pre-primary school teachers, sharing current costs of this training
with owners of pre-primary schools, preparing curricula for both pre-
primary school teacher training programme and for the pre-primary
18
schools, and registering the pre-primary schools. The PCE
recommended that the Ministry of Education should work out a policy
and strategies for implementing pre-primary education for children
between 3 years and 6 years. The Department of Social Welfare was
required to establish day care centres for children below 3 years of age.
But even with these factors the Ministry of Education was not very
active in this new assignment.
However, with support from UNICEF the Ministry of Education carried
out a pilot project in 1983 by establishing 39 nursery schools in the
primary school environment. Other 30 nursery schools which had been
started in Iringa by UNICEF and Tanzania were handed over to the
Ministry of Education and Culture. In the late 1980s 4 1 nursery schools
were established, one in each teacher training college. In 1990-91 the
Ministry of Education and Culture owned 175 while in 1995 they had
655 pre-primary schools (Elimu, 1996:7). It is not yet clear if this
ownership was normal as in any other government ministry which
decided to own nursery schools for their own workers or it was for
purposes of demonstration, research and training.
In 199 1 the World summit on Education for All (EFA) and the World
Summit for Children made the government to renew its commitment to
improve activities for early childhood development and education for all.
The Ministry of Education and Culture continued to work with UNICEF
in developid community based education programmes, particularly in
Iringa.
From 199 1 the Ministry of Education and Culture started provision of
guidelines, registration, training of pre-primary school teachers, inspection and curricula for pre-primary schools. Mpwapwa Teachers’ Training College was set aside to train pre-primary school teachers
(Seif, 1991: 19-21).
19
Tanzania Education and Training Policy (ETP) 1995
The 1995 ETP gives a preamble with a list of policies which have been
implemented by the Ministry since 1961. The introduction of pre-
primary teacher education programme is one of them. The preamble
goes on to show how the 1995 ETP is different from all other previous
policies “which placed strong reliance on government control of the
economy and the public sector’*. In line with the Structural Adjustment
Programmes, policies of education and training would, among other
things, emphasize:
l Enhancement of partnership in the provision of education and
training, through the deliberate efforts of encouraging private
agencies to participate in the provision of education, to establish
and manage schools and other educational institutions at all levels.
l Identification of critical priority areas to concentrate on for the
purpose of creating an enabling environment for private agencies
to participate in the provision of education, such as, the training of
more and better teachers.
l Streamlining of the management structure of education, by
placing more authority and responsibility on schools, local
communities, districts and regions.
It appears as if these policy statements were reminding the Ministry of
Education and Culture what it should have been doing with the nursery
schools since it was given the mandate to coordinate it in the 1980s. On
the other hand, this made people think of investing in education for
profit. Many could not run private secondary school but day care
centres and nursery schools.
ETP recognizes the existence of initial education both at home and in
the few existing day care centres, kindergartens, nursery and other pre-
schools located mostly in urban areas. It also recognizes that the early
years of life were critical for development of a child’s mental and other
20
potentials and in particular its personality development and formation.
However, it was not economically feasible to formalize and systematize
the entire pre-education for this age group. The Ministry of Education
and Culture then called upon parents, local communities and NGOs to
systematize and formalize pre-primary education for the 5 - 6 year old
children (MOEC, 1995:2-3).
Later on it stipulates that the pre-primary school cycle will last for two
years with no examinations for promotion purposes. This makes the
structure of the formal education and training system to be 2-7-4-2-3+
instead of the previous 7-4-2-3+. This meant that the Ministry of
Education and culture was integrating the pre-primary schools for the 5
- 6 year old children in the formal primary school system. Besides this
the ministry should promote pre-school education for all children aged
0 - 6 year (MOEC, 1995:ll). On access and equity, ETP states the
government would guarantee access to pre-primary, primary and adult
literacy to all citizens as a basic right (MOEC, 1995:14). It is difficult to
see how this can be assured if the parents are going to pay fees in
private educational institutions. Perhaps the Ministry of Education will
establish a fund to help children of the poor families.
ETP gives the aims and objectives of pre-primary education as follows:
(0 To encourage and promote the overall personality development of
the child, that is, his or her physical, mental, moral and social
characteristics and capabilities.
(ii) To identify children with abnormal patterns of development and
education potentials and devise special programmes for them.
(iii) To mould the character of the child and enable him/her to acquire
acceptable norms of social conduct and behaviour.
21
__I.-
,-
(iv) To help the child acquire, appreciate, respect and develop pride in
the family, his or her cultural backgrounds, moral values, customs
and traditions as well as national ethic, identity and pride.
(4 To provide the child with opportunities to acquire and develop
communication, numerical and manipulative skills.
ETP emphasizes that pre-primary school education for children aged 5
to 6 shall be formalized and promoted in the formal education system.
This could mean attaching a nursery school to every primary school or
assigning a number of nursery schools to feed one primary school.
Particularly the government would promote, give incentives and
liberalize the establishment and management of pre-primary schools.
The Ministry of Education and Culture would facilitate proper training,
availability and development of a competent cadre of teachers for pre-
primary schools (MOEC, 1995:Zl).
ETP is quite clear on the development of language skills as it states:
The medium of instruction in pre-primary
schools shall be Kiswahili and English shall be a
compulsory subject (MOEC, 1995:22).
The document was however silent on the educational qualifications for
pre-primary school teachers although it states that the Tanzania
Institute of Education (TIE) should be responsible for designing pre-
primary school curriculum and pre-primary teacher training
curriculum. Besides Swahili and English, other subjects to be taught in
the pre-primary schools would be: Civics and Social Studies, Science
and Mathematics. It appears that the envisaged pre-primary schools
will be qualitatively different from what we have had before.
However, the Ministry of Education and Culture might not have done
most of the things mentioned in the 1995 ETP and that many people
including the managers of pre-primary schools are not aware of the
details of the policy. As a result of this we expected that early childhood
22
education or pre-primary education in Temeke would reveal the same
weaknesses which had been noted in the past, namely:
0)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(4
(vi)
Policies of pre-school education were still formulated by different
government ministries and/or managers.
Pre-school centres would be qualitatively different in terms of
staff, instructural materials, and infrastructure.
A great number of pre-primary schools would have been
established due to the libelization policies.
Many pre-primary education institutions will not have been
registered.
Many parents sent their children to pre-primary schools to
prepare them for primary education.
Many of the teachers attendants were not adequately trained for
pre-primary education.
23
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Participatory and in-depth approaches were used to study Early Child
Education in Temeke. The instruments used to collect data included
focus group discussions, interviews, documentary reviews and direct
observation. Detailed explanations on how each instrument was
developed and used, their merit and shortcomings are provided in the
following sections.
Researchers
The study was conducted by three researchers selected by UNESCO
Office, Dar es Salaam in June, 1997. The researchers were all
specialists in education and had interest in early childhood education in
Tanzania.
Research Area
The study was conducted in Temeke district in Dar es Salaam region,
Tanzania mainland. Temeke district, with an area of 656 sq.km, is the
largest of the three Dar es Salaam districts (see Figure II). It is located
South of Dar es Salaam City. To the north, it is boardered by Ilala
district: to the east by the Indian ocean: and to the South and West by
Coast region. It has an everage temperature of 350C and 1OOOmm
rainfall per year.
According to the population census of 1988 and with a growth rate of
4.4%: it was in 1997 estimated that Temeke district had a population of
567,000 people.
24
Figure 2
Dar es Salaam
20 Urn
OMANCIRA
KISARAWE II MSONGOLA
URBAN WARDS OF DAR ESSALAAM CITY
ItlNONDONl : TEMEKE:
I. Mawr lL, Tabala 23. Keko KlMl3lJl
2. MIaranl 1s eugurunr 30 lrmrke
3. Ubungo urban 16 Hchiklchini 31 Ulburrna
c bianz*s* 11 Jangwanl 32 Uurasinl
S.TafldJl* I8 llprnga w*st 33 L(ton,
6.Mvanrnyrmrh 19 .Upangr East
-. - Regional Boundaries 7 Kinondonl 20 .Karukoni
--- District Boundaries 8, Habib0 21 Ktsutu
9 Makurumlr 22 Mchriukoge
Wards Boundaries 10 .Ndugumbl 23 Ukongr
11 .uagcm*nl 2I Vlngungull
12.Mrimunf 2s nlorwa
13 Kigogo 26 Ilala
27 .Warlakoo
28 CIrrranl .
25
Administratively, it has three divisions, sixteen wards and ninety four
subwards (names of divisions & wards are provided in Table 1 below).
Table 3.1: Divisions and Wards in Temeke District
Division
Kigamboni
Chang’ombe
Mbagala
Wards
1. Kigamboni
2. Kisarawe II
3. Kimbiji
4. Viji bweni
5. Semangila
6. Kibada
7. Miburani
8. Keko
9. Temeke 14
10. Mtoni
11. Kursini
12. Mbagala
13. Charambe
14. Yombo Vituka
15. Chamazi
16. Tuangoma
The major economic activities in Temeke district are farming,
industries, fishing and petty trading. The foodstuffs grown include
cassava, sweet potatoes, maize. rice and legumes. The cash crops are
cashewnuts and coconuts. In as far as the industries are concerned,
Temeke district has nearly three quarters of the industries in Dar es
Salaam. This is atributed to the fact that Temeke district still has
suitable and large land track for industrial expansion.
Temeke district is unique in the sense that it has both urban and rural
setting. In respect to settlements, a large part of the area is surveyed
into low, medium and high density areas. However, within the district
there are also slums. The district is characterized by a social mix of
26
people from different part of the country but is dominated by coastal
ethnic groups such as the Rufiji. Zaramo. Ndengereko, Ngido and new
settlers like the Nyamwezi and Sukuma.
Temeke district was selected for the study because of its urban, rural
and mixed urban/rural nature. While one third of Temeke district is
located in the middle of Dar es Salaam city and therefore is mainly
urban in nature and would thus provide an ideal situation for studying
urban early child education, the second third provided mixed urban and
rural setting. On the other hand, the last third is located in the
periphery of Dar es Salaam City and is thus peri-urban with extremes of
rural ecology. It was envisaged that a study of early child education in
this contrasting area could help the researchers to make comparisons
and contrast on a number of variables.
On the other hand, Temeke was also selected because it is the least
developed of the three Dar es Salaam districts. Temeke is the most
backward both economically and educationally. Moreover, in some
areas, particularly on its periphery, it is inhabited by clusters of indigenous coastal ethnics groups but to a large extent also has a social
mix of people from different parts of the country. This kind of
composition, it was hoped, would offer various opportunities and problems and thus be a more suitable area in offering a broader and
vivid picture of an early child education problem and therefore help in
establishing its magnitude.
Study Sample
The population sample was restricted to Temeke district of Dar es
Salaam region due to time and financial constraints. Purposive sampling
technique was used to select six wards in Temeke district. The researchers found the wards already categorized into 3 groups (rural,
urban and mixed). Therefore, it was decided to select two wards from an
urban setting, two from a rural setting and two from mixed (urban &
rural setting). From each ward selected, three sub wards were selected
one urban (anticipated to have many early child education centres),
27
another mixed or rural - urban (with average centres) and the third
sub-ward with a rural setting (thought to have fewer centres).
The sample included different leaders from the district level to the sub-
ward, a local administrative area. These included government leaders
and officials such as District Education Officer, District Adult Education
Co-ordinator, Community Development officers (at district and ward
level) Ward Executive Officers, sub-ward chairpersons, leaders of NGOs,
religious and party leaders. Included in the sample were also early child
education centre/school owners and teachers/attendants. The sample
also incorporated parents in the sub wards with children attending
these centres/schools.
The sampled wards and the sub-wards visited are listed in Table 2
below.
Table 3.2: Wards and Local Administrative areas (mitaa) reached by
the researchers
No. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Ward
Mbagala
Temeke 14
Kigamboni
Kurasini
Yombo Vituka
Kisarawe II
Sub-ward
Mbagala Kizinga Mwanamtoti Sandali Maguruwe Tandika
Kigamboni Feri Tungi
Minazini Shimo la Udongo
Vituka Buza Dovya Kisarawe II Chekeni - Mwasonga
28
- _-------- __-
Data Gathering Techniques
Four principal techniques were used for data gathering. These included
focus groups, interviews, documentary reviews and direct observations.
Focus groups
Focus groups technique was chosen because it has potential to elicit
information and it allowed researchers to explore issues together with
the different stake-holders who have interest in the early child
education centres/institutions. These included women groups, parents
and party members. The objective was to extract as broad a range of
ideas and responses as possible inorder to identify trends of ECE and
perceptions about how people really think and feel about these centres.
Information collected from focus groups had to be cross-checked by
other sources of data such as interviews and documentation.
Interviews
Interviews were used to supplement data from documentary sources
and focus group discussions. They were also used as a means of cross-
validation of information. Semi-structured interviews were used to
enable researchers to pose specific set of questions to every
interviewee. This strategy also allowed the interviewee to clarify
answers.
A list of all interviewees is presented in Appendix 1. Interviewees
included leaders from government departments, NGOs, religious and
party leaders. Also included in, the interviews were ECE centre owners
and teachers or attendants and parents.
The researchers were often aware that the information volunteered in
interviews might have been false or exaggerated, particularly, from
unregistered centres/schools. Hence, the information had to be counter
checked through use of other sources of data, especially focus group
discussions, documentation and observation,
29
Documentary Reviews
In certain districts and ward level offices and at the centres, the
researches gained access to primary and secondary documents which
they reviewed with a purpose of extracting relevant data. Primary
documents included letters and circulars from district or Ministry of
Education and Culture concerning policy, procedures and regulations
of establishing ECE centres, Primary documents also included kept
records of actual events as they happened for example:- Pupils
attendant registers, log books, training manuals/guides and teachers
notes.
Secondary documents involved all writings containing information by a
second party which included reports by District Ward Education Co-
ordinators, research reports and journal articles. All these constitute
part of this report.
Direct Observation
All members of the research team in the respective areas they visited,
observed specific elements related to the study that they had identified
and discussed prior.
These included: -
- type of households
- physical environment in general
- play grounds/facilities for children
- sanitation situation in the centres and in the areas in general
- activities children engaged in when they were not in the
centres
- learning aids/facilities in the homes and in the centres etc.
The researchers records of the major activities, facilities and general
situation form a strong basis for analysis and interpretation of collected
data.
30
.-
Method of Data Presentation
In analysing and presenting the findings, the researchers presented all
the data that could be quantified in tabular form and percentages were
computed for some tables.
On the other hand, all data that could not be quantified was subjected
to descriptive analysis to present information relevant to the study. This
included such information as the kind of situation and environment
where children live and play, structures of centres and households and
sanitation situations.
Limitations of the Results
Time allocated for this study was two months. However, considering the
vastness of Temeke district, the infrastructure, formalities and
difficulties involved in arranging meetings/interviews with people at
different administrative structure levels in a busy city like Dar es
Salaam, the time allocated for this study was therefore not sufficient to
allow researchers to cover all areas and thus interview many people who
would have provided relevant information. Moreover, limitations of time
and financial resources contributed in restricting the study to one
district. Statistically, therefore, this was a sample of convenience and
therefore prone to biased results.
Furthermore, the study findings need to be interpreted with caution.
Researchers were aware that some persons involved in the study,
particularly individual owners of some unregistered centres could have
provided inaccurate information. For example many private centres
charge very high tuition as well as other numerous contributions. Yet
they are not very willing to reveal the true/real fees they charge.
Moreover, it was possible that not all important documents on ECE
might have been available due to poor or none record keeping. Also the
accuracy and reliability of some of the records could be doubted.
Procedures for reporting or record keeping could be different from one
31
private centre to another, thus, making it difficult to interpret available
data correctly. Furthermore, it became evident that ECE is handled by
three Ministries (Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Social
Welfare and Ministry of Community Development Women and Children).
Record keeping in these Ministries differ according to their areas of
interest and a lot of limitations were noted.
32
CHAPTER FOUR
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN TEMEKE DISTRICT.
Introduction
As noted above, Temeke District has a highly heterogeneous
population. However, many people tend to conclude that most of the
local people in Temeke District are Zaramo, Rufiji and Ndengereko.
But even in the rural villages such as Kibada, Kisarawe II and Kimbiji
one finds a mixture of various ethnic groups who have moved in from
the city in search of farming land. On the other hand, we have the
urban population which is socially differentiated and living in different
types of settlements.
In this chapter we shall briefly describe family education practices,
development of pre-school education in Temeke, registration of
preschools, ownership, and quality of the pre-school.
Family Education
The family played a very important role in early childhood education.
The father, mother and siblings provided the necessary training in
language communication. Some children learned the mother tongue
and Swahili, while in others they learned Swahili alone. At the age of
three most children spoke Swahili fluently although in some cases there
were differences in pronunciation and accent reflecting family and
regional backgrounds. Some day care centre teachers/attendants
pointed out that they did not come across children who could not
communicate fluently in Swahili. Besides this, most of them could give
short stories, simple riddles and proverbs.
Another important area of early childhood education in the family
involved toilet - training. day care centre attendants pointed out that
they sent back children who had not received toilet-training. Their
parents were advised to do it after which they would return them to the
centre.
33
Parents and siblings taught them what they considered to be “good
habits” such as greeting older people, respect to elders and pleasant
language use. However, this differs from one family to another. Some
elders admitted that there were a few foul-mouthed children in the
community and this was attributed to poor family background.
Marriage problems such as divorce, quarrels and wife beating were
regarded as factors contributing to poor child upbringing.
Siblings and the peer groups in the community were instrumental in
developing pyscho-motor skills through participation in various games.
Most of the games involved running and jumping, playing with stones,
ropes. Many children wanted to play football but there were no suitable
playgrounds for them particularly in the high density areas of Kurasini,
Temeke 14, Mbagala and Yombo. Even in those areas where there were
playgrounds the young ones went there to watch their elder brothers
and sisters play. Most children in Temeke played in the streets and
back yards. In the rural areas of Kimbiji, Kisarwe II and Kibada
playgrounds were found in schools but many young children could not
walk to the school playgrounds, sometimes a distance of three
kilometres away.
In most of the urban areas young children were influenced by mass
media such as video shows and TV. Children were paying money to
watch video films and TV in some of the public places or private homes.
One man observed that children wanted to observe “action films”,
meaning films showing violence, and sports. He admitted that he could
allow in some thirty children in his sitting room to watch films for
money. Normally a child paid Tshs. lOO/= per hour to watch a film, and
this practice was widespread in towns now, although illegal. There were many such houses in Kurasini (Shim0 la Udongo), Mbagala and
Temeke 14.
Another important area of early childhood education was organised by
religious organizations. Among the Moslems there were the madrassa
classes while among the Christians there were the Sunday Schools.
34
Madrassa were organized by individual moslem “teachers” (Maalim) who
were supposed to provide training on reading and memorising the
Quran. This service was free but children were supposed to give
presents to their teacher ranging from Tshs. 500/= to Tshs. lOOO/= a
month. The size of class differed from one teacher to another, with
some teachers handling as many as 40 children. Classes were
normally organised in the teacher’s own house/ room. Children would
sit on the mat for some hours listening and reciting some verses in the
Quran with an iron discipline. It was observed that children in urban
areas started madrassa while they were very young, sometimes when
they were three years old. In the rural areas they started much later.
For example at Kisarawe II they started when they were seven and a
few much later than that.
Classes met everyday of the week and parents did not want to interfere
with any other form of schooling such as day care centres, nursery
schools or primary schools. So children attending madrassa would
attend other pre-schools as well. As a result, madrassa were organized
in the afternoons during week days and in the morning on weekends.
This appeared to be difficult but they had to do both.
Christians did not have a comparable programme for their children.
Their children attended the Sunday school once a week but this was not
compulsory as some attended Sunday church service with their
parents. Many Christian children grew up without rigorous training in
Christianity. Some few families took some initiative in teaching their
children some elements of Christianity at home but this was nothing
compared to the drilling of Quranic teachings. Sometimes the church
established day care centres so that there would be some opportunity to
teach them some lessons on Christian workship but these day care
centres did not take all Christian children in the area. Large numbers
were left out.
35
Development of Pre-schools in Temeke District
According to some elders in Temeke District, the following institutions
had established pre-schools in the area in 1970:
1. Christian Churches: Mtoni Children’s Home (orphanage)
Kurasini, Kigamboni (Catholic Mission),
2. Social Welfare Division: Kurasini Children’s Home (orphanage),
Kurasini. Yombo.
3. Police and TPDF: Mgulani, Chang’ombe and Kigamboni.
4. City Council: Temeke 14, Keko and Kigamboni.
5. UWT: Keko Toroli, and Yombo.
6. WA.ZAZI/TANU: Keko, Mtoni, Temeke 14, Mgulani.
7. Harbours: Kigamboni
8. Railways: Kurasini.
It should be noted that these were no known centres beyond Mtoni or
River Kizinga. The areas now known as Mbagala and Kigamboni were
part of Mzizima District and outside Dar es Salaam City area. From the
1960s they were part of Coast Region. The population of Mzizima
District (Kawe, Mbagala and Kigamboni) was space and consisted of
small-holder peasant producers of Zaramo, Ndengereko, Ngindo and
Rufiji ethnic groups.
The day care centres were therefore located in the city area where the
majority of the people were workers and petty traders. Some senior
government officials and senior members of the business community
lived in Kurasini and Chang’ombe. The TPDF and the Police Force had
their camps and quarters in Mgulani (between Chang’ombe and
Kurasini). Keko was the most densely populated area between Mgulani,
Chang’ombe and Kurasini on one side and the godowns around the Dar
es Salaam Harbour. Most of this area was not surveyed and therefore,
was a slum where the poor workers lived. The City Council, WAZAZI and
UWT had three day care centres in Keko. A similar situation was
observed at Yombo where the Social Welfare Department teamed up
with UWT to establish one day care centre. The City Council was
operating their day care centres in their community centres/dance
36
-
halls where during the night people, mainly the working class, came
for drinks and dance, while in the day, day care centres and literacy
classes operated.
The other day care centres were established by government institutions
such as police, TPDF, Railways and Harbours for their workers although
some people in the neighbourhood could send their children there to fill
any vacancies that existed in those centres at Mgulani, Chang’ombe and
Kurasini,
These day care centres were registered by the Social Welfare
Department and the Ministry of Home Affairs. The latter for those run
by the Police and TPDF. As to why these were established some elders
at Kurasini said that they were set up to help women who were
employed while others mentioned that it was a good way of child up
bringing. Quite unexpectedly, there was no mention of preparation of
children for primary education. Perhaps there was no reason to think
that way as the number of those who attended day care centres was
very small and their performance in primary schools might not have
been noticed. It could also be that those interviewed thought that this
would not be a pleasant answer as it was not the way “the socialist
oriented government” looked at day care centres.
The number of day care centres did not increase since then until in the
1990s. Although in the 1980s the Presidential Commission on
Education was talking of improving the quality of education and
establishing nursery schools to prepare children for better quality of
primary education it appears people in Temeke were satisfied with the
achievement of Universal Primary Education since 1977. There were
50 primary schools in the whole of Temeke District with an enrolment of
74,329 pupils in 1997. The average number of pupils per school in the
district was 1487 but some had up to 5000 such as pupils Mabatini
(5266) and Mbagala (5579). The large size of schools was a function of
vicinity, accessibility and infrastructure. The unserveyed and densely
populated areas normally had large student population as was the case
37
with Kurasini Mabatini, Mbagala, Mgulani, Mtoni, Sokoine, Wailes and
Yombo Vituka. On the other hand, some schools had very few pupils
such as Mwasonga, Mwikambe, J/Wokovu, Toangoma, Songani and
Yombo Puna. These had less than 250 pupils each and found in isolated
communities. It was noted that some schools were built by the City
Council while others, were built by local communities with
contributions from individuals or institutions.
It was observed by one education officer that Temeke District did not
enrol all children of school age. She estimated that 70% of school going
age were enrolled in Std. I and concluded that the rest would not see
the inside of the classroom. According to official statistics. only 1848
children out of 14851 or 12.4% were not enrolled in Std 1 in 1997. This
figure was obtained from those who sought admission in the 50 schools
and those who were registered. However, it was argued that there were
many children, who never looked for a place in Std I. These did not
even attend any pre-schools in the first place.
The number of children who were enrolled in day care centres or
nursery schools was small compared to those enrolled in primary
schools. Many parents, according to an experienced day care centre
teacher, wanted their children to stay at the centre for two years before
they were enrolled in std I. Others stayed there for one year only a few
stayed there for four years.
The number of children enrolled in preschool was rising fast. According
to the Social Welfare Department, there was a mushrooming of day care
centres/nursery schools after 1990. The explanation given was that the
liberalization of the economy, politics and education institutions, has
made people think of investing in education for profit. Prospective investors have conscientized parents on the need to send their children
to pre-school. But when the researchers looked at the list of pre-school
established in 1992 only one out of 50 pre-schools was owned by an
individual. The majority were owned by CCM/WAZAZI. Asked about
this, the official admitted that individuals were hiding under WAZAZI
38
and owned the WAZAZI day care centres as this would make it easier
for them to register such pre-schools than when they appeared under
individual’s name.
Table 4.1: Day Care Centres in Temeke District in 1992.
Institution No of DCCs No of Children
WAZAZI 28 1836
R.C. Church 5 794
Assemblies of God 1 85
VOSA Kongowe 1 20
Tanzania Harbours 2 377
Railways 1 150
City Council 4 640 Elimu 1 100
Social Welfare Dept. 2 123
Radio Tanzania 1 105
Police, Prison & National, Service 4 408
Individual 1 168
Total 51 4806
Source: MCDWC, Temeke Office
WAZAZI owned 28 DCCs out of 51DCCs or about 55%. But as mentioned
earlier not all of these were under WAZAZI but some individuals who
operated under the cover of WAZAZI. The RC Church, City Council,
Home Affairs (Police etc), Tanzania Harbours, Railways and Social
Welfare Department were old institutions in the field. The Ministry of
Education and Culture was a new comer with one pre-school at
Chang’ombe T.T. C .
39
I__ . - - - . . . - _I_-.
--
In 1997 the number of day care centres/nursery schools in the district
had doubled and their distribution in the wards was as follows:
Table 4.2: Number of the Pre-schools in Temeke District 1997.
Ward Type Number of DCCs/NSs
Keko
Miburani
Yombo Vituka
Kigamboni
Kurasini
Charambe
Mbagala
Temeke 14
Chamazi
Somangira
Vij ibweni
Toangoma
Mtoni
Kisarawe II
Kimbij i
Kibada
Urban 9
Urban 12
Urban 17
Mixed 7
Urban 10
Mixed 8
Urban 8
Urban 18
Rural 2
Rural 2
Rural 1
Rural 1
Urban 5
Rural 0
Rural 0
Rural 0
Total 101
Source: MCDWC, Temeke Office
It was noted that the distribution of pre-schools in the district was in
favour of the urban wards with Temeke 14 leading the list with 18
centres. This was followed by Yombo Vituka which in the 1988 census
was categorized as a rural ward but in 1997 it had been surveyed and
many people had built in the area. We shall turn to this area later in
this chapter when we look at ownership and quality of the pre-schools.
Other wards with many pre-schools were Miburani (12), Kurasini ( 10).
Keko (9), Charambe (8), Mbagala (8). Kigamboni (7) and Mtoni (5). The
40
-. -.--- -_l -.--,_- -__- =-._. ._.
-
only rural wards with two centres each were Chamazi and Somangila
while Vijibweni and Toangoma had one each while Kisarawe II, Kimbiji
and Kibada had none. The Ward Executive Officer at Kisarawe II pointed
out that the RC Church had acquired land in the area and they had
plans to build a nursery school. He observed that the local people
(Zaramo, Ndengereko and Ngindo) did not see the need for these
centres, they had to be conscientized. The head teacher of Kisarawe II
Primary School and a former ward councillor supported that view and
were waiting for the church to do it. The local people thought that
madrassa accomplished all that was necessary for their children. So
even if the church built the nursery school in the area it would be
difficult at the beginning to get enough children for a class from the
moslem community.
Registration of Pre-schools in Temeke, District
There were three different institutions registering pre-schools in
Temeke, namely: Social Welfare Division, Ministry of Education and
Culture, and Ministry of Home Affairs. In each case, the applicant had
to show the type of pre-school (DCC - Social Welfare Division: Nursery
school - Ministry of Education and Culture) and the names of the owner
and that of the manager with their particulars. The applicant should
show the location of the school or centre with particulars of titles to
land. This had to be supported by the District/City Engineer that the
site for the pre-school was consistent with the plans of the particular
locality. The Medical Officer of Health had also to approve that the
existing buildings conformed to health and safety regulations. A copy of
the building plan had to be attached with the application. The applicant
was required to show sources of finance for the school, particulars of
classes and staff position. In the case of Ministry of Education and
Culture the Zonal Chief Inspector of schools should inspect the school
to ensure that the buildings, equipment and teaching staff are of a
quality desired for such a pre-school. In the case of Social Welfare
Division, the inspection was done by one of their officers.
41
This was the biggest/hurdle in registration of pre-schools. Many of the
individuals who wanted to establish pre-schools did not have title deeds
to their land or it was not big enough for a pre-school. At the same
time, others did not have enough money to construct accepted building
for a pre-school. Some entrepreneurs decided to use residential
houses, in which case a bedroom was taken for a classroom. Others
used beer shops, residential back yards and even some place under a
big tree. For example, in Yombo-Vituka ward, there were 20 preschools
which could not be registered because they were operating in
residential houses, back yards, political party offices, barber shops,
mosques and churches. The ward education coordinator maintained
that the city master plan did not set aside land for pre-schools.
According to the 1995 Education and Training Policy the government
was to make “deliberate efforts of encouraging private agencies to
participate in the provision of education, to establish and manage
schools”. One would think that the government should ensure that
enough land was allocated to these entrepreneurs once they proved that
they had the funds to establish a pre-school.
C
- 42
Sometimes a pre-school is a family project. Above the husband and his wife (cen- tre) who have employed a teacher (right) pose for a photograph with their 72 children at Machimbo Day Care Centre, Yombo Vituka. The family has constructed a classroom but they have much more to do before the centre is registered.
Attending a pre-school contributes to child development. They look different from those who were not enrolled in pre-schools.
43
-._ _-- _
Another serious problem was that unregistered pre-schools were
allowed to operate. According to the Social Welfare Division official, this
was due to the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the government officials
who did not want to check on what was taking place in their areas
under the pretext that they had no transport to move around. He
observed that it was quite possible for the officials to use public
transport in urban areas. But the problem was much deeper that this.
The officials knew what was taking place and there were press reports
that pre-schools were mushrooming all over the city (See The Guardian,
23/6/97). One official in the Ministry of Education and Culture in the
district when asked why they did not take action on this retorted that it
was the officials of the Ministry of Community Development, Women and
Children who went around mobilizing people to establish these pre-
schools. They should tell them exactly what was required and ensure
that they implemented it.
The question of who registers the pre-schools was another problem.
According to the government, the Social Welfare Division should register
all day care centres while the Ministry of Education and Culture should
register nursery schools. But according to the parents and owners of
the pre-schools there was no difference between the two. Each one
prepared children for primary education and there was not a single case
where a child moved from a day care centre to a nursery should in order
to be enrolled in Std I. In this way, owners could decide to register with
any ministry and therefore make it more difficult for any one ministry to
check on those who were operating illegally.
Out of the over 100 pre-schools in Temeke District the Ministry of
Education and Culture had registered only eight pre-primary schools in
1997. These were Chang’ombe (TTC-Miburani Ward): Temeke (Temeke
14 Ward), Keko (Keko Ward), Mtoni (Mtoni Ward), Gezaulole (Somangila
Ward) Mjimwema (Kigamboni Ward) Wailes and Wailes Bustani
(Miburani Ward). There is no way the Ministry of Education and Culture
could avoid registering all pre-schools since all of them were preparing
children for primary education and all had enrolled children aged 5 and
44
.-
6 years who under the=Tqisting policy should receive “formalized” and
“systematized” education- under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of
Education and Culture.
Ownership of Pre-schools
There were four categories of ownership of pre-schools in Temeke
District. The first category consisted of those pre-schools owned by
religious institutions sp-ecifically the R.C. Church. Assemblies of God,
Anglican Church, and BAIQVATA (Moslem Organisation). Some of these
pre-schools were fairly o&and had the necessary experience in running
pre-schools. They alsos had some religious instructions in their
curriculum as part of their mission.
The second category consisted of pre-schools owned by government or
public institutions such as the Railways, Harbours, Police, TPDF, City
Council, Social Welfare Ditision, Ministry of Education and Culture and
Radio Tanzania. Some_of 1hese had sound financial backing and were
catering for the children:4 some of the workers in those institutions.
The third category was of pre-schools which were owned by political
parties and their affiliated organizations such as CCM. WAZAZI and
NCCR. These were situated in party offices and provided employment to
some party zealots as well&as publicizing the activities of the party in the
area. There is a need to&e careful here in order to separate politics
from early childhood education. In the past, political parties were not
allowed to run or own public education institutions. TANU, during the
struggle for political indapendence, had to establish a non-political
organization. WAZAZI, to rown and run educational institutions. It is
dangerous to allow political parties to own schools as this leads to
political indoctrination. Even in the case of WAZAZI today one needs to
find out if it does not consciously or unconsciously indoctrinate the
young ones who need to grow up as free men or women.
In the field, the researchers came across day care centres owned by
CCM and NCCR-Mageuzi. However. those run by NCCR - Mageuzi were
L 45
- - ._-,.... -.. - ..-- .___ ~_-“- ..-.
LI
I-
not included in the reports. At the same time, in an interview with an
official of the Social Welfare Division, CCM was boasting of having
established more than 100 pre-schools in Temeke District. No wonder
they wanted to show that they were alive in the district after losing the
parliamentary elections to NCCR - Mageuzi in 1996.
The fourth category of pre-schools in Temeke were those owned by
individuals. Individuals have established pre-schools due to various
reasons but the dominant ones are economic. For instance the owner of
Advanced Nursery schools said that he established the pre-school in
1988 “as a concerned parent who wanted to prevent his own children
and those of his neighbours from roaming the streets.” His affection to
his own children was extended to those of other people. There were a
few people like this one in many communities.
The situation found in Mwanamtoti area in Mbagala ward was different
from the other areas. The CCM Party Secretary informed the researcher
that the nursery school which was being run in their CCM building did
not belong to the parents (WAZAZI) but to a young gentleman who came
from another area (Kurasini) and requested to have the space for
starting a private nursery school. The party secretary after interviewing
him and realising his potentials introduced him to the committee which
allowed him to help their community. According to parents and the
party secretary, the nursery started off very well. the gentleman
attracted a lot of children and had skills, the children liked the school
very much and parents were very excited. It was very disappointing
when he stopped coming after four months, then sent them a young girl
to replace him-claiming he was extra busy. The children dropped out
and before everything had collapsed the community selected their own
teacher who had just completed her ‘0’ level at Kisutu Secondary
Schools.
Individuals also operated as a group. Two professionally trained teachers who had retired started a standard nursery school in Mbagala
in January 1997. It had enrolled 72 children and each was paying Tshs.
46
,-,- -.--.- - -- _~. ---l-.--w--
60,000/= per annum as school fees. In this case the owners were also
the teachers. The quality of teaching was very high and this attracted
many children.
Sometimes individuals who owned pre-schools were members of an
economic group such as the Tumaini Mothers’ Group in Kizinga -
Mbagala. The group consisted of 9 members with a common goal of
economic development. These members had made some money from
selling embroidered materials and mats they had made together. With
this money they started a nursery school which was accommodated in
two rooms volunteered by one of the members. There was a big play
ground where children continued to play even after school hours.
They had 67 children and said they were charging Tshs. 1500/= per
month per child.
Another group of individuals was the Chakkan society, a group of five
widows who wanted to reduce the problem of street children in the
area by establishing day care centres/nursery schools, primary and
secondary schools. They established a nursery school in Kurasini -
Shim0 la Udongo with 30 children in 1997. This group was looking for
external donors USD 54.514.00 out of budget of USD 72.702.00. Their
goals were too ambitious, and with a budget that was donor-funded to
the tune of 75% it was obviously unrealistic.
This last category needed a closer monitoring since some of them were
driven by the profit motive sometimes at the expense of quality or safety
of children. The problem with individuals was that they were tempted
to teach what the parents wanted rather than what the profession
demanded. Some teachers of pre-schools started teaching Std I and Std
II work just to impress the parents that their pre-schools were doing
better preparatory work for primary education.
Quality of Pre-schools
If we were to measure the quality of pre-schools in Temeke District by
the stated objectives of pre-primary schools in the 1995 Education and
47
-” ..-.- -.-- _----. -. .----.----.^ -.
Training Policy we would come out with several shortcomings due to
the weaknesses of the following inputs:
0) Teachers
(ii) Buildings and other facilities
(iii) Teaching materials
(iv) Management and
(4 Evaluation.
0) Teachers: The nursery schools run by the churches particularly
the Roman Catholic Church were using better trained teachers. A
large number of these teachers received two years of training at
Msimbazi, Mtwara, Lushoto and Mwanza. In their training they
emphasized the Montessori Method which was based on individual
liberty and fostering the full and free development of children.
Children were therefore required to perform different activities
on their own and the role of the teacher was to guide and
organize the environment so that the child develops at his/her own
pace. This method required the teacher to prepare enough
teaching aids for his/her children and this skill was acquired in
the training.
The teachers at Kurasini RC Nursery School were demonstrating
this method and one of the researchers was fascinated by
activities of the 6 year olds on different puzzles. They could, for
example, name all the African countries and arrange them
properly on a map of Africa. At Chang’ombe T.T.C. the pre-
primary school teachers were also using the Montessori method
and they admitted that they were buying some of the teaching
materials at Msimbazi Community Centre. However, they did not
have much.
The Ministry of Education and Culture was trying to get out of this
problem by recruiting trained Grade IIIA teachers who had
taught in primary schools but had interest with younger children.
These were sent for short seminars in one of the teacher training
48
colleges. But even then not all had attended the short term
seminar on pre-primary education. For example at the
Chang’ombe TTC pre-primary school, there were 8 Grade IIIA
teachers - 2 had specialized in pre-primary education for three
months during the initial teacher training course, 2 had attended
2 week seminars at Mpwapwa and Kleruu, and the remaining 4
had not attended any seminar. It was felt that this was
inadequate for professional pre-primary education teachers. It
was observed that some of the teachers were teaching these
children the reading of Swahili syllables as was the case in Stds I
and II. When the researcher asked about this the head of the
school felt quite uneasy as they had just discussed this problem in
her office.
Most of the teachers/attendants in the pre-schools were untrained
Form IV or Std VII school leavers. Some did not even know what to
do in class. Others were teaching Std I work and using the same
books. We were told parents were happy to see that their children
were able to “compete” with those in Std I.
(ii) Building and other facilities: The 20 pre-schools in Yombo-Vituka
were not registered because of lack of buildings, toilets and
playgrounds. This was a common problem in the district except
for the few pre-schools run by the RC Church, Social Welfare
Division and other government departments or institutions. The
safety of children was not ensured in this environment and they
were forced to close down during the rains because of outbreak of
cholera or diarrhoea. The situation was aggravated by lack of
clean and safe water most of the year.
(iii) Teaching materials: Except for the few schools with competent
teachers, teaching materials were not available and therefore
learning at this level was mainly through ‘saying’ rather than
‘doing’.
49
To make matters worse many pre-schools did not have guidelines
and syllabus. Those who had trained on the Montessori method
knew what they were supposed to do. At the Advanced Nursery
School in Mbagala the owner used a syllabus and training
materials from Zanzibar. In another pre-school the teachers had
been given by one of the parents a present marked “block-buster”
but they did not know what it was and how to use it.
However, one trained teacher at the Broad Education Services
Nursery School narrated how they had prepared their own
syllabus after studying another syllabus prepared by the
International Languages Orientation Services (ILOS). They were
good in art work and managed to prepare lots of teaching and
learning materials.
(iv) Management of pre-schools: These were fairly small educational
institutions with about 100 children each. With a well trained
team of teachers there would not be any management problem at
the school. But it appears that there is a lot that needs to be done
even outside the centres or pre-schools. There must be some
good cooperation with the parents who will in various ways
contribute to the development of the centre/pre-school. In order
for this to happen there must be clear understanding of both
parents and teachers on the objectives of the pre-schools.
Parents should not confuse pre-schools with primary schools and
teachers should not at the same time ignore their professionalism
and start teaching what the parents simply want.
Many of the pre-schools did not have parents committees to look
into the activities of the pre-schools and how to mobilize resources
for improving them. In some cases not even the teachers knew
how the fees paid were used.
(v) Evaluation of pre-schools: Pre-schools must be evaluated like any
other educational institution so that the existing weaknesses can
50
,-
be removed. The Ministry of Education and Culture was supposed
to supervise but this had not been done in any one of the pre-
schools visited.
At the same time, individual pre-schools did not have a mechanism
of evaluating its own progress. Some measured their progress by
the number of children who were eventually enrolled in Std I.
This was not a good measure as enrolment in Std I was not based
on achievements of the stated objectives of pre-primary education.
Ways of measuring overall personality of the child, patterns of
development for each child including handicaps, and
preparedness for primary education must be sought.
Although the number of pre-schools was growing, the quality of
these institutions left much to be desired. In many cases the
children learned quite a lot of things in the wrong way and it
would be difficult to unlearn them later in school. This was a
critical area that calls for a careful preparation of pre-school
teachers and attendants.
51
a- l_l,..-,..l - . . . --.- . .
C
CHAPTER FINE
SUPPORTING SERVICES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
In this concluding chapter we shall look at the need for supporting
services and what the Ministry of Education and Culture has done to
promote early childhood education in the country. We shall also point
out some of the weaknesses in these services and what remains to be
done. The donor community should be called upon to help in some of
these services.
In this study, particularly in Chapter One and Two, we pointed out that
there was a problem of lack of clear policy on who does what in early
childhood education particularly when three different ministries had
the responsibility of registering these educational institutions.
Reluctance of the Ministry of Education and Culture to take a leading
role was noticed and demonstrated in Chapter Four with the
mushrooming of pre-schools in Temeke District. There were problems
of registration, teacher training, curriculum development, monitoring
and supervision and preparation of teaching materials. On its part, the
Ministry of Education and culture has prepared a syllabus for pre-
school education (Elimu, 1990). and guidelines for managing pre-
schools (Elimu, 1991) and a policy on pre-school education included in
the 1995 Education and Training Policy (MOEC, 1995). Despite these
efforts, we still see the need for a clear policy on pre-school education,
need to increase enrolment in pre-schools, need to ensure proper
registration of pre-schools, curriculum development, preparation of
teaching materials, monitoring and supervision of pre-schools and
teacher training. These will form the subject matter of this chapter and
recommendations from some of these problems.
Need for a Clear Policy on Pre-School Education
In the guidelines on managing pre-school education, the Ministry of
Education and Culture states its role in registering pre-schools for
children aged between 3 and 6 years and that of the Social Welfare
Division in registering day care centres for children between 0 and 3
years of age (Elimu, 199 1: 1). It was on this basis that the syllabus for
52
pre-school education had been drawn up to cover four years of
education or four classes based on age i.e 3+. 4+, 5+ and 6+ (Elimu,
1990). These documents are currently in use for the training of pre-
school education in the country. However, in 1995 the Ministry of
Education and Culture changed this position by emphasizing
“systematization and formalization of pre-primary education for the 5 -
6 year old children” (MOEC, 1995:3). This would change the structure
of the formal education from 7-4-2-3+ to 2-7-4-2-3+ (MOEC, 1995: 12).
But the ministry was aware that the government itself could not provide
this formalized pre-primary education to all children in the country, not
even those who will be enrolled in Std. I in all schools. While primary
education was compulsory education to all children in the country pre-
primary education was not. In other words many children will be
enrolled in Std I without having gone to pre-primary schools. This will
continue for many years until it is also made compulsory.
It was observed in the field that the Ministry of Education and Culture
owned pre-schools and by formalization and systematization they
meant to legalize them. In 1988, for example, the Ministry of Education
had begun to run a nursery school at Chang’ombe. This nursery school
had being in operation since 1976 under the iniative of the T.T.C. They
could not employ trained teachers and the quality of the school left
much to be desired. With the take over by the ministry it was possible
to provide trained teachers who were paid by the government. In 1997
they had 8 teachers teaching 180 pupils divided into 4 groups as shown
in Table 5.1.
Table 5.1: Enrolment of Children at Changombe TTC Nursery School 1997
Group Age in years Boys Girls Total I 3+ 3 5 8
II 4+ 16 16 32 III 5+ 33 34 67 IV 6+ 38 35 73
Total 90 90 180
Source: Chang’ombe Nursery School records, 1997.
53
It should be noted that enrolment was not restricted to children aged 5+
and 6+ but to children between 3+ and 6+ as was the case before 1995
policy. This nursery school was part of the demonstration primary
school for the TIC, and if we take it as a demonstration of what the
government would like to establish in the whole country then there is
need to be clear on what should be done to children aged 3+ and 4+
when they turn out for enrolment in pre-primary schools.
But what is more important is that if the Ministry of Education and
Culture in 1991 was saying that they registered pre-schools for children
between 3 and 6 while Social Welfare Division registered children
below that age then what was seen in the field meant that all the pre-
schools should be registered by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Most of the children in Temeke pre-schools were above three years of
age. The Social Welfare Division centres should not enrol1 children
above 3 years of age. What this amounts to is that the ministry should
register all the lOO+ pre-schools in Temeke and if children above 5
years old will join a formalized and systematized institution then the
government should be prepared to work out a mechanism for providing
it to all children. It does not make sense to spend government money
on some children without providing a criterion for such expenditure.
The policy does not also show the role of the government in the pre-
primary schools they do not own besides saying “the government shall
promote pre-school education for children aged 0 - 6 years” (MOEC,
1995:13). Does this involve registration of pre-schools, coordination of
pre-schools run by other ministries or providing supporting services for
the expertise required?
Sometimes the Ministry of Education and Culture has complicated the
situation by remaining silent on the qualification of teachers in the pre-
schools. The 1995 policy is clear on qualifications of teachers for the
other levels of education and training. At the same time it adds that
English shall be a compulsory subject in pre-primary schools. What is
going to teach English in these pre-primary schools if we do not even
54
have competent teachers of English at the primary school level? There
is a promise that the government will facilitate proper training of a
competent cadre of teachers but in the field we met teachers who had
received only a 2 week seminar on pre-primary education.
Need for Increased Enrolments
There was a mushrooming of pre-schools in Temeke most of which were
unregistered. Despite this increase in pre-schools, the number of
children enrolled was not relatively big. In 1996 the number of children
in registered pre-schools was 3026. It was estimated that there were
6000 children in the unregistered pre-schools during that same period,
giving a total of about 9000 children in all. If this figure was for
children of the same age this would be regarded as a big number as
they would start Std I in the same year. This figure was spread in a four
year cohort with roughly 50% in their 6+ year. This meant that only
4500 would be starting Std I while there were 11,000 places in Std I.
This figure represented 40% of children in Std I. On the other hand,
60% of Std I pupils in Temeke had not gone through pre-schools.
One could therefore conclude that there was need to mobilize the local
communities to send their children to pre-schools bearing in mind that
even in Std I only 70% of school going age were enrolled. This
mobilization should be intensified in the rural wards where as high as
100% of the children of the relevant age did not go to pre-schools.
Registration of Schools
Registration of pre-schools in Temeke District was constrained by
shortage of land, financial resources and trained teachers. We must
accept that not all those who had started pre-schools could build and
manage a pre-school. There were cases where the government should
ensure that land for pre-schools was always available in appropriate
locations and the local people should be informed about this as a
motivation to prospective investors.
55
Those running pre-schools illegally should be stopped by the Ministry of
Education and Culture until they improve the buildings and employ
competent teachers.
The inspectorate in the Ministry of Education and Culture should have
trained staff in pre-school education in every zone to inspect and advise
the would - be investors on how they should improve their educational
institutions. It had been reported that the inspectorate did not have competent staff in pre-school education. This is an important area
where partners in development could support training of pre-school
inspectors for each district. This training could be conducted in one of
the TICS in the country and resource persons could be obtained from
within the country particularly from private institutions which have
managed to run high quality pre-schools. After a period of about three
months of training, these officers would be posted in the districts
advising owners and managers of pre-schools and training teachers for
pre-school education. Without this cadre monitoring and supervising,
pre-schools will greatly suffer and the products of the pre-schools will
adversely affect the quality of primary education in the country.
The Need for Teacher Training in Pre-School Education
It was observed in the field that only those teachers working in R.C pre-
schools had attended two years of teacher training in pre-school
education. They were trained at Mwanza, Mtwara, Msimbazi (Dar es
Salaam) and Lushoto. They paid Tshs. 90,000/= per annum for tuition
and accommodation. The minimum educational qualification was Std.
VII and was going to rise to From IV soon. These were trained in the
Montessori Method on how to guide children into creative activities
through the preparation of conducive environment in class. These teachers prepared most of their teaching materials and taught children
with quite a lot of confidence.
The Ministry of Education and Culture had devised a programme of
combining teacher training for primary education with pre-primary
education. This was three months specialization in a two year teacher
56
training course. In other cases trained Grade III A primary school
teachers were given a two-week seminar on pre-primary education. In
any case this was too short for a professional course in pre-primary
education. At times, these teachers taught children in nursery schools
as they would in primary schools - even teaching to read Swahili
syllables and English sentences.
The need for teacher training cannot be over-emphasized. Without
competent teaches pre-primary education could demotivate children for
primary education . The ministry needs to think hard on this and run a
two year programme, like the R.C Church, which would enable the
trainees to go deep into child growth and child psychology which
according to the researchers was poorly done in our ‘ITCs.
It must be borne in mind that teaching in pre-schools in much more
difficult and involving than teaching in primary schools. One must be
able to interpret the child’s activities properly in order to provide the
necessary guidance. It is a science and an art which takes time to
acquire. One of the advantages of adequate teacher training programme
is the acquisition of the art of preparing teaching materials and clear
understanding of the curriculum in its cognitive, psycho-motor and
affective domains. In this way the teacher will be in a better position to
plan the learning process for his/her class instead of waiting to be told
what to do in a class.
The teacher as a key player in pre-school education must be motivated
in his/her work. It does not help to train a person to acquire skills if we
cannot motivate him/her to use those skills to the maximum. Many
teachers and attendants in Temeke District were complaining of
inadequate and even non-payment of wages. This had contributed a lot
to lowering their teaching morale.
57 -
--. -..-------
A Final Word
In the case of Tanzania or any other developing country, it was not
enough in early childhood education to establish a clear policy, work on
increasing enrolment, registration, curriculum development, teaching
materials and teacher training. All these activities must be considered
in the socio-economic context of the country. Improvement of family
education and pre-school education must go hand in hand with
programmes of poverty alleviation since improvement of education
essentially means investing resources in this sector.
Further Research
1. There is an urgent need to study all institutions providing pre-
school teacher training in Tanzania to scrutinize the curriculum
and find out existing problems in order to suggest ways of
improving the quality of pre-school education in the country.
2. There is also an urgent need to study child rearing practices in
rural areas of Tanzania in order to find out the type of cooperation
between men and women in child care and education.
- 58
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bagachwa, M.S.D. and A.V.Y. Mbelle (1993): Economic Policy Under a
Multiparty System in Tanzania, Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam
University Press.
Chama cha Mapinduzi (1987): Sera ya Malezi ya Taifa kwa Watoto na
Vijana Tanzania: Dodoma: CCM.
Elimu, Wizara ya, (1990): Muhtasari wa Elimu ya Awali, Dar es Salaam:
Wizara ya Elimu
- (199 1): Mwongozo wa Shule za Awali: Dar es Salaam: Wizara ya
Elimu na Utamaduni.
- 1996: Hotuba ya Waziri wa Elimu Kuhusu Makadirio ya
Matumizi ya Fedaha 1996-1997. Dar es Salaam: Wizara ya Elimu
na Utamaduni.
Inter-Agency Commission (1990): World Declaration of Education for All
Jomtien: World Conference on Education for All.
Leach, V. (1995): Towards Improved Child Care and Development in
Tanzania. A Report Prepared for UNICEF, Dar es Salaam.
MOEC, Ministry of Education and Culture (1995): Education and
Training Policy, Dar es Salaam: MOEC.
Ministry of Community Development, Women and Children (1996):
Taarifa ya Mwaka 1996 ya Vituo vya Watoto Wilaya ya Temeke.
Temeke: Idara ya Maendeleo ya Jamii.
- (1197): Idadi ya Vituo vya Watoto Wadogo Vilivyopo Katika
Wilaya ya Temeke. Temeke: Idara ya Maendeleo ya Jamii.
Ngalula, T.F. and E.K. Mashalla (1984) Preliminary Report on the
Evaluation of the Day Care Centre Training Programme National
Social Welfare Training Institute, Dar es Salaam.
Nyerere, J.K. (1979): Presidents Speech on the International Year of the
Child in UNICEF: Early Childhood Development and Education - A
Report on the International Year of the Child. Nairobi: UNICEF.
Omari, C.K. (1989): Child Care Arrangements in the Urban Poor - The
Case of Dar es Salaam - Research Report for UNICEF. Dar es
Salaam: UNICEF Office.
59
I
-
Omari, I.M. (1973): ‘Child Care and the Child Welfare” in
UNICEF/Tanzania National Scientific Research Counsil: The Young
Child in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: UNICEF, Dar es Salaam Office.
Seif, B.T. (1987): The State of the Pre-school education and Care in
Mainland Tanzania in 1986, Dar es Salaam: MOEC.
- (1991): A State of the Art Review on Pre-school Education and
Care in Mailand Tanzania, Dar es Salaam: MOEC.
Social Welfare Division (1992): Kutembelea Vituo vya Kulea Watoto
Wadogo Mchana (DCC) Temeke. A Report, Ref. No. UJ/TC/DCC/2/5
of 20/7/92, Temeke: Social Welfare Division.
Sserunjogi, L. et al (1994): “Child Care in Tanzania CSPD Programme”. A
Report for UNICEF, Dar es Salaam.
Tukai, I.A. (1991): “Ten Years After the International Year of the Child”.
What Has Been Accomplished and the Challenges Ahead (mimeo):
UNICEF, Dar es Salaam.
UNDP (1994): Human Development Report 1997. Nyew York: OUP.
UNESCO (1992): Directory of early Childhood care and education
organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Paris: UNESCO.
UNICEF/URT (1985): Analysis of the Situation of Children and Women
Vols 1 & 2. Dar es Salaam: UNICEF.
- (1990) Women and Chidren in Tanzania - A Situation AnaIysis.
Dar es Salaam: UNICEF.
- (1994 a) Country Programme, 1992 - 1996, Report of the Child
Development and Education Task Face. Dar es Salaam: UNICEF.
- (1994 b): Country Programme, 1992 - 1996, Executive
Summaries of the MTR Task Force Reports. Dar es Salaam:
UNICEF.
60
Appendix I
NAMES OF PEOPLE INTERVIEWED
NO 1. 2.
3. 4.
5. 6. 7.
8.
NAME STATUS/RESPONSIBILITY
Athumani Yusufu Cell Unit Leader Edna Stephen ECE Centre Owner
Matabalo Magogwa ECE Centre Owner
Ruth Maisa Teacher Kigamboni Nursery School
Kibara Magema Ward Executive Officer Mgeni Mnyashani Othmani Chairman Ferry Local Area Hadij a Jalala Parent
Juhudi Ali Parent
9. 1 Elizabeth Timothy 1 Parent I I 10. Thecla Francis Ward Community Dev. Officer
Focus Group Discussion
11. Simai Haji Parent 12. Zaina Saidi Parent 13. Abiba Athumani Parent 14. Rehema Omari Parent 15. Saida Kassimu Parent 16. Mwarami Kilapo Chairman Kigamboni Local Area 17. Yusufu Makongoro Ward Community Deve. Officer 18. Elaudon W. Mahenge Nursery School Owner 19. Kombo Abdallah Secretary Tungi Local Area
20. Maimuna Hassan Parent 21. Tamasina Jonas Parent 22. I.A. Tukai UNICEF, Dar es Salaam 23. G. Kwayu Former School Inspector, Temeke 24. Kombe DEO’s Office, Temeke 25. 1 Mbwana I 26. 1Muna I
1 Chang’ombe Dvisional Secretary I
1 Kurasini Ward Executive Secretary I '27. Eliud Eseko 28. 29.
30.
31.
Samuel Said Sr. Rufina
Lidya Mesaki Paul Stima
Teacher,
Teacher, Teacher. Teacher, Teacher
61
Shalom DCC
-
a,” - --..---Qll-Y- _.-_ __- -- .-....._ -_.--.--.--- ..^ --- _-
32. Elinisafi Stima
33. Bwire
34. Joyce Nkuna
35. Sebo
36. Bahati Mkango
37. Swai
38. Salum Omari
39. A/E
40. Peter
41. Grace Matiko 42. Simon Teri
43. Omari Jumanne
44. Amina Salum
45. Tatu Nuru
46. Tabia Omari
47. Habiba Tungi
48. Samson Lyimo
49. Bakari Salim
50. Emmanuel John
51. Juma Mlewa
52. Peter Mwakitosi
53. Stella Lyatuu
54. Anna Mbonea
55. Pili Haidari
56. Miriam Chacha
57. Omari Kingu
58. Leonard Teusi
59. Blasko Matale
60. Monica Shauri
61. Rose Turuka
62. Mchope
63. , Illuminata Ngonyani
Teacher Shalom DCC
Teacher/Manageress, Magengeni, DCC Kikosi cha Injili DCC, Minazini Teacher Mivinjeni CCM, DCC
Teacher Baptist Nursery School, Shimo la Udongo
Parent
Parent
Ward Adult Education Coordinator, Vituka Teacher Bondeni DCC& Nursery School Teacher, Machimbo N.S. Teacher, Baba Shop N.S. Leader, Vituka Ward Parent
Focus Group Discussion, Vituka
Focus Group Discussion. Vituka Focus Group Discussion, Vituka Parent Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent Parent Parent
Parent Parent
Parent Parent Parent Parent
Parent
62
#“a..
L
-
64. Seif Mohamed Teacher Madrasa
65. Shekh Abdul Hamisi Religious Leader, Vituka
66. Lwakatare MOEC
67. Zame Area Chairman - Tandika
68. Mwanaidi S. Mwalaza CCM Nursery Teacher in Tandika
69. Zanif Kilambila Parent - UWT Chairperson - Tandika 70. Siwatu A. Pala Parent - UWT Chairperson - Tandika
71. J.Chanzi Parent - Member EC 8t Planning Committee - Tandika
87. Flora John Teacher Board Ed. Services Nursery Teacher
88. Mariam Mseleche Parent - Mwanamtoti 89. Yasmin Nguga Parent - Mwanamtoti 90. Saidi Kilambo Parent - Mwanamtoti 91. A. Mapande CCM Party Secretary - Mwanamtoti 92. Jamala Nassoro Nursery School Teacher -
Mwanamtoti
63
93. R. 0. Mushi District Social Welfare Officer - Temeke
94. Musa Kihambwe Headteacher, Kisarawe II Primary School
95. Selemani Waziri Ward Education Co-ordinator Kisarawe II Ward
96. S. Bwana District Community Development Officer - Temeke
64