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Z`bar teachers spend more time on moonlighting - report
2007-11-20 09:36:31
By Mwinyi Sadallah, Zanzibar
Poor performance by Form Six students in Zanzibar has been attributed to teachers who spend more time on part time jobs and less on teaching in class.
The findings are from an investigation carried out by the government`s probe committee on the cause of poor performance by high school students in 2006.
Speaking to journalists in Zanzibar on Sunday on the findings of the committee, the Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Haroun Ali Suleiman said that most teachers teach in more than one school to increase their income.
``Some teachers fail to perform their duties diligently due to stressful tuition classes undertaken for personal gains,`` he said.
As a result, the minister said, some teachers failed to give assignments to their students forcing most of them to rely more on tuition rather than from the school.
According to the minister, the report has established that some teachers lack experience and ability to teach in secondary schools.
He said schools, especially in the private sector, face shortage of teachers which compels teachers in government schools, to teach in more than one school; leaving them with little time to teach in their respective schools.
Haroun said another setback was inability of teachers to teach science subjects, laboratory, books and other facilities.
``There is shortage of laboratory technicians in our schools. As we lack school inspectors at secondary school level, most of the work is not inspected,`` said the minister.
He noted that most secondary students relied upon buying exam papers instead of working hard to pass it. Most students rely mostly on private tuitions which are, unfortunately, substandard.
“This makes them lag behind in schools. Some students have more faith with tuition teachers than with the classrooms assignments, ``said the minister.
The government in Zanzibar will from now on take teachers for diploma level course to improve the quality of education, he said.
The Minister for Education in Zanzibar had formed a probe team headed by University of Zanzibar lecturer Dr. Ahmad Khatib, to investigate the causes of poor performance of Form Six students.
The probe follows 2006 results which indicated that only one candidate in Zanzibar, out of many who sat for the exam scored Division One.
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