THE government is treading 'extremely' carefully, in coming up with the standard and modern education policy and curricula that will help to guide education provided from lower to top level.
Minister for Education, Science and Technology Prof Adolf Mkenda further said that quality, must at all times, be at the key in the education.
"Any policy, laws and curricula reviews will be made with the utmost care and not compromise the quality of education... our education must be available and accessible but also acceptable and adaptable," he insisted in a meeting with editors in Dar es Salaam over the weekend.
Prof Mkenda said much as the policy and curricula reviews were still in process, already, the government has received opinions from various stakeholders, before coming up with a draft and later the complete document that he hopefully said, will significantly transform the education standard in the country.
"We have in place the Education and Training Policy of 2014, which is the outcome of the review and finally repeal of the Education and Training Policy (1995)," he said.
However, he said the country has never implemented the 2014 policy, which stipulates that it is a must for all children to go through 6-4-2-3 plus education system, meaning six years of basic education, four years in secondary, two in advanced and three plus in university.
This system, Prof Mkenda said, demands a ten years of compulsory education, as opposed to the existing system on 7-4-2-3plus, which demands a seven year of compulsory education.
Minister Mkenda said, already, the government has formed a team of economic experts led by Prof Joseph Semboja to review the policy, with the objective of coming up with workable and implementable document.
According to the minister, the 6-4-2-3plus system targets to increase access to quality education by among others, promoting knowledge, skills intensive education, creating strong educational infrastructure, enhancing supportive (tools) for learning environments and improving pathways to success.
"What we are currently implementing, is quite different and out of sync with what is being required to be implemented in the 2014 policy. The existing education policy requires us to implement the 6-4-2-3 plus education system," said the minister, adding that this is why the ministry has formed a team under Prof Joseph Semboja to review the policy.
The process of reviewing the Education and Training Policy of 2014 and curricula follows directives issued by President Samia Suluhu Hassan during her maiden speech in Parliament last year.
President Samia placed emphasis on the quality of education, saying skill is unarguably the dire want. She demanded for education policy and curricula that help address and meet the needs of the labour market.
And, Prof Mkenda said to meet the president expectations, his ministry was working closely with experts to ensure the coming policy will be skill intensive from pre-primary to tertiary levels along with vocational, non-formal, and special education sectors.
"In fact, if we decide to implement the 2014 policy, we are mulling after the six compulsory years of basic education, we introduce two streams in the four years. The first should be two years of academic intensive and another two years of skills intensive, to complete four years of compulsory secondary education," said the minister.
However, he insisted that all these are still at opinion level. "We are still collecting opinions and are yet to reach the final decisions... hopefully by December, we will have a draft policy and by January next year-we will be in a position to make final decision," he said.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Prof Mkenda further said that the government is reviewing the Science and technology policy of 1996, the National Education Act, 1978 and the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (Costech) Act of 1986.
In regard to the curricula review, Prof Mkenda said the ministry has so far received and working on opinions from various quarters, most of which, he said were perfect and were in tandem with current global technological advancement, which promote skill based education.
He said that the opinions on the proposed curricula would have to be informed by the policy to be adopted.
