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PS underscores need for improvements in delivery...
2008-01-18 09:22:09
By Felister Peter
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training Hamisi Dihenga has talked of the importance of adding value to education services offered in the country to enable the country compete with partner states in the East African Community.
Dihenga, who was opening a dissemination workshop to evaluate the conceptualisation of Complimentary Secondary Education in Tanzania (COSEC) in Dar es Salaam yesterday, said the country needed quality graduates who can compete fairly with others in the bloc.
He said Tanzania was still lagging behind Kenya and Uganda as the country was mostly at a disadvantag, especially in the aspects of labour mobility and employment market.
`It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that people are provided with every opportunity to add value to their life, and this is possible through education and skills development. This will enable them to compete equally with the rest,` said Dihenga.
He said it was currently estimated that 30 per cent of Tanzania`s population comprised illiterate, unemployed youths and adults, adding that the level of continuing education had also been falling over time.
The PS noted that globalisation had greatly influenced the nature of the labour market and created a competitive economy that made training and education even more important than in previous times.
He said COSEC would enable many people who did not have access to education due to a number of reasons to join secondary school.
``It is only through education that Tanzania can achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2025,`` he stressed.
Dihenga said that the level of adult participation in formal and non-formal learning was alarming due to difficult access to learning and barriers, mostly from lack of financing, time and motivation to learn.
He said these barriers to education had to be removed by finding new ways of learning, participation and increase in enrollment in basic education, especially in adult and continuing education.
The government also had to sustain long-term funding and adult education plans through development partners, strengthen and expand networks and collaborative groups.
Meanwhile, Institute of Adult Education director Lambertha Mahai has said that her institution was continuing to initiate a number of programmes to empower communities to overcome various challenges brought about by socio-economic reforms which are taking place in the country.
She said that Tanzanian adolescents, youths and adults can only acquire education if it is provided through various delivery systems, considering that their learning needs are diverse.
She said that COSET initiatives can be a better strategy designed to compliment the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP) and Secondary Education Development Education (SEDP).
For his part, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) chief of Basic Education and Life Skills Jim Ackers said that his organisation would continue to fund education programmes in Tanzania.
He said since they started providing funds for the development of basic education in Tanzania there have been great successes whereby a large number of children have acquired at least basic education.
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