Annex D Education policy context and other programmes

Education policy changes since baseline

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MOEST)174 leads in setting education policy in Tanzania. Since 1995, the system has been organised under an overarching policy document (the Education and Training Policy (ETP)) which sets the aspirations and structure for education. Under the ETP I, the Ministry developed two consecutive ten-year ESDPs which are now at the end of their implementation period. Under these ESDPs, there have been five-year sub-sector plans, such as the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP I, II and III) and the same for secondary (SEDP I and II). Under these there are donor-supported programmes.

A new Education and Training Policy (ETP II, 2014) was launched in February 2015, and this together with other national planning documents (Tanzania Development Vision 2025, and the National 5-year Development Plan) provided the foundation for the latest ESDP 2016/17 to 2020/21. This 5-year plan for the education sector, has been endorsed by the Education Sector Development Committee (ESDC), and is awaiting finalisation. The key policy initiatives of most relevance to the objectives of the EQUIP-T programme are:

Universalisation of basic education: provision of 11 years of free and compulsory basic education to all children this spans pre-primary (1 year), primary, and lower secondary (forms 1 to 4). Equitable access for all, including the most disadvantaged children: a focus on tackling various forms of disadvantage related to, for example, gender, location, having a disability, being an orphan or being vulnerable for other socio-economic reasons.

 Improved quality of basic education, via three main strategies: (i) investment in teachers, (ii) tracking curriculum competencies attained by students; and (iii) a revamped school quality assurance (SQA) system.

The policy on free school education was one of the first actions to be implemented by the new government in December 2015. The MoEST released a circular that states that parents and guardians will not have to pay for education of their children from standards one to form four.175 Part of the circular reads: ‘Provision of free education means pupils or students will not pay any fee or other contributions that were being provided by parents or guardians before the release of new circular’. The directive does not explicitly mention pre-primary, but the new ESDP is clear that pre-primary is also free for pupils. This change in cost burden away from parents would be expected to increase demand for basic education, and thus to raise enrolment particularly at pre-school and standard 1 in the shortterm.

Capitation grants: To replace parental contributions (voluntary contributions at pre-primary/primary, and fees/contributions at lower secondary), public schools now typically rely entirely on government funding for running costs. Prior to the school year 2016, schools received capitation grants from the government via district authorities. Payments were extremely erratic, and typically less than the prescribed norm per pupil. The new government changed the funding modality, so that from January 2016, capitation grants176 flow directly from the central Ministry of Finance to school bank accounts on a monthly basis. This change has resulted in schools receiving monthly capitation grants (and typically

174 Prior to the new government which took office in November 2015, the Ministry had responsibility for vocational training and was known as Ministry of Education and Vocational training (MoEVT).

175 Government Circular Number 5 of 2015 the same amount each month).177 The Education Program for Results (EPforR) discussed in the next section, incentivises the regular payment of capitation grants.

176 The term ‘capitation grant’ is an umbrella term for various elimu bure (free education) payments, including capitation grants for primary and secondary schools, subsidies for secondary school fees, and subsidies for special needs schools.

Competency-based early grade curriculum: There has been a significant change in the early-grade primary school curriculum, both what is being taught and the pedagogical approach. In 2015, the government introduced a new competency-based curriculum for standards 1 and 2. Subjects were drastically reduced to focus on reading, writing and arithmetic skills (3Rs).178 The new curriculum, syllabi and teachers’ guides promote a phonics approach to teaching children to read, which was new to most teachers. Since 2016, the government has introduced a revised curriculum for standards 3 and 4, which follows on from the standards 1 and 2 curriculum in approach, but has more advanced content. The Literacy and Numeracy Education Support programme (LANES) has been a key driver of curriculum reform, and this programme, together with others, including EQUIP-T, is providing materials and in-service training (INSET) to support teachers. More details are in the sections below.

School quality assurance (SQA): The MoEST’s SQA division leads this initiative. The reformed process of SQA (previously traditional school inspection) is nearing completion, and is intended to be outcome based, more collaborative, and comprise both internal school-level SQA and external SQA (involving SQA officers and others). The quality assurance operational manual, and handbook, are currently being finalised (MoEST 2017c and 2017d). Whole-School Visits (WSVs) are expected to start well before June 2018, following orientation of SQA officers.179 The EPforR (discussed below) incentivises WSVs and the public display of school summary report cards.

Human resource management: Two government initiatives implemented since 2016 are relevant to key education professionals. First, the government introduced higher qualification requirements for head teachers and for Ward Education Officers (previously Ward Education Co-ordinators), as part of a professionalization initiative. This has meant that a sizable number of head teachers and WEOs have had to leave their positions.180 Second, the government clamped down on civil servants, including teachers, with fake qualifications which resulted in a large number of dismissals.

177 The flow of capitation grants to primary and schools was assessed as part of the EPforR annual verification exercise 2016/17.

178 24 out of 30 periods per week are allocated to 3Rs, leaving 6 periods for supportive skills (health and environmental education; games and sports; fine and performing arts; and religious studies

179 The training of trainers took place in January 2018, but by late February 2018 the orientation of SQA officers had not yet started.

180 There may also have been a similar change in qualification requirements for HTs.