UNLIKE current arrangement whereby selected applicants are required to report directly to schools, the government now mulls on introducing interviews in recruitment of primary and secondary school teachers.
Minister for Education, Science, and Technology, Prof Adolf Mkenda hinted about the plan on Friday evening.
He was at a ceremony of handing awards to 10 pre-primary and primary teachers from various regions who won in the first digital teaching skills competition in counting and mathematics.
"The government has a plan to recruit new teachers by using interview system to acquire the best teachers and getting rid of the perception that teaching is a job to be done as the last option," Prof Mkenda stated.
The competition which was held in Dar es Salaam, was organised by the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) with support of the World Bank (WB) through the BOOST programme.
The BOOST programme intends to improve the ability of teachers in teaching and learning of students through Continuous Professional Development Programme (MEWAKA).
"Through the interviews we will pick teachers with high quality so that the unsuccessful applicants could find other jobs...we need well skilled and competent teachers to go and teach our young people," Prof Mkenda emphasised.
Adding: "When we announce new vacancies for teachers at all levels, we will choose the best teachers through interviews regardless of what they have studied."
Commenting on the event, Prof Mkenda said the competition has come at a right time because it will help develop competence among teachers who are the main implementers of the proposed curricula.
"I would like to use this platform to once again congratulate TIE for organising this competition aimed at looking at teacher's competence in handling teaching and learning activities in the classroom...this opportunity is very important for teachers as it gives them motivation to continue to implement the curriculum effectively and thus contribute to improving our education," the minister added.
He further said the government recognises and appreciates the contribution of the World Bank in various development matters in the country.
"This is possible due to the readiness and sincere commitment of President Samia Suluhu Hassan to work closely with various development partners," he pointed out.
Earlier, when giving the welcome remarks, Director-General of TIE, Dr Aneth Komba, explained that the competition started on April this year by collecting and evaluating teachers' videos from 26 councils that implement the BOOST programme.
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After completing collecting videos on 22 May this year, they evaluated 99 competing videos.
"We expect that the videos will further stimulate teaching and learning in schools," Dr Komba underlined.
For her part, the Operations Manager for the World Bank, Ms Preeti Arora noted that teaching skills competition is one of the effective mechanisms for teacher professional development and can become part and parcel of the MEWAKA programme.
"Competition offers teachers an opportunity to highlight their skills and learn from their peers," she added.
She also said the World Bank's BOOST programme provides 500 million US dollars over a five-year period to support strengthening of the basic education system and improving learning outcomes.
Key component that BOOST supports is the Teacher Continuous Professional Development MEWAKA programme.
