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Jubilee Research is thanked by the President of Tanzania THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA
Tuesday, 17 February 2004 President Benjamin William Mkapa of Tanzania has asked me to get in touch with you to express his personal gratitude for what your organization, Jubilee Research, in partnership with similarly inclined civil society organizations, under the banner of “Jubilee 2000”, did in vigorously agitating for robust debt relief for countries like Tanzania during the 1990s. As you know, Tanzania is one of the few countries to have benefited from the enhanced HIPC debt relief initiative. And, under the leadership of President Mkapa, we directed the savings from the debt relief toward priority poverty reduction initiatives, of which education is central. President Mkapa promulgated a 5-year Primary Education Development Plan (PEDP), 2002 – 2006. The MDGs target for achieving universal primary education is 2015, and for eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education is 2005. In promulgating the PEDP, he wanted, among other things, to show that where a committed African government is externally supported in terms of debt relief and long-term assurances of budgetary support, these goals can be attained within a much shorter time frame. The debt relief we received in 2001 enabled his government to increase budgetary allocation to priority sectors for poverty reduction by 130 per cent over the last 6 years. Attached to this note (pp 3-4) is a list of a few of the successes in these 4 components attained in the first 2 years of the PEDP. Without doubt, thanks to your efforts and those of others, Tanzania can attain universal basic education by 2006. Yours sincerely, Appendix SUMMARY
OF PRIMARY EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT PLAN (PEDP) ACHIEVEMENTS IN TANZANIA,
2002-2003 1.0
Access 1.1
The Government abolished school
fees in primary schools. 1.2
The enrolment target for the first two years was 3,100,000 children.
In fact, 3,113,495 children were enrolled in the 2 years (2002-2003)
exceeding the target. Gender
parity has almost been attained. 1.3
There has been a 50 per cent increase in primary school population
between 2000 - 2003. The Gross
Enrolment Ratio (GER) has risen sharply from 77.6 per cent to 105.2 per cent
during this period. 1.4
The Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) has
equally risen sharply from 58.8 per cent in 2000 to 88.5 per cent in 2003. 1.5
In the first 2 year of PEDP, 31,825 classrooms were built against a
target of 27,264. A total of
7,530 teachers houses were built, mostly in rural areas against a target of
6,209. The number of primary
schools increased from 11,608 in 2000 to 12,689 in 2003, an net increase of
1,081 schools. 2.0
Quality 2.1
In the first two years, 2002-2003, a total of 17,851 new Grade A
teachers were recruited, against a target of 20,698. 2.2
In the same period, 14,852 teachers attended various courses
conducted in Teacher Resource Centres and Teacher Training Colleges.
A total of 54,000 teachers are currently undertaking various
upgrading courses. 2.3
The book/student ratio has improved from 1:8 to 1:3 in class I –
IV, and from 1:10 to 1:6 in class V – VII. 2.4
About 9,100 science-teaching kits have been supplied along with other
teaching and learning materials. 2.5
In the same period, 22,678 students were enrolled in pre-Service
Teacher Training, against a target of 17,100.
The aim is to improve
teacher/pupil ratio from 1:57 in 2003, to 1:45 in the next few years. 2.6
The pass rate in the primary
school leaving examination has risen from 19.3 per cent in 1999 to 40.1 per
cent in 2003. The
rate would have been even higher had the pass rate not be raised. 3.0
Capacity Building 3.1
In 2002 and 2003, all 12,689 school committees were involved in
capacity building for PEDP implementation and supervision. 3.2
The following also received similar training:
798 Local Government personnel, 776 Primary School Inspectors, 129
Teacher Training College Principals, Vice-Principals and Academic
Coordinators; and 40 officers from the Ministry of Education Headquarters. 4.0
Institutional
Arrangements 4.1
Without compromising efficiency, effectiveness and accountability in
the use of resources, PEDP implementation
is predominantly community based, on the principle of subsidiarity within a
decentralised framework. 4.2
PEDP projects are
prepared and implemented through a participatory
approach that is gender sensitive. 4.3
Total transparency is
demanded for the use of resources.
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