School and Education in Tanzania

After its liberation, the country’s educational system was based on socialism with Kiswahili as the language of instruction. In 1995, the Ministry of Education presented a proposal for a new education policy. Here the socialist aspect is removed. It will now be taught in both Kiswahili and English from pre-school and throughout the education system. In high school and higher education, English is used as the language of instruction.

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Officially, the school is free and compulsory for 7 years for children aged 7 to 14 years. Students must pay school fees to attend the 6-year high school (4 + 2 years). In 2002, 70% of the children in the relevant age group attended primary school.

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The country has 9 universities, the oldest being the University of Dar es Salaam (founded 1961). In addition, there are several vocational and technical colleges and an Open University. According to UNESCO (2002), the illiteracy of the adult population is approx. 23%.

In December 96, the country decided to expel most of the 540,000 Rwanda refugees who remained in the country. Many of their fates were fatal when they returned to the same conflicts they had fled from 2½ years earlier. Tanzania continues to house 230,000 Hutu refugees from Rwanda and 50,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo – the former Zaire.

Tanzania Country Flag

Tanzania flag source: Countryaah.com

Production of the country’s two most important export products, coffee and cotton, dropped again in 1997. Benjamin Mkapa asked for international assistance, declaring that 13 out of the country’s 20 productive zones were unable to meet the basic needs of the population – especially because of the devastating climatic consequences of weather phenomenon «El Niño».

Parliament launched the debate on sexual offenses in 98 and recommended, inter alia, higher penalties for sexual abuse of young people under 18. Poverty, the poor treatment of children and adolescents in the country as well as rising sex tourism were considered to be the main causes of rising youth prostitution.

The first months of 1998 were marked by political tensions between the capital and Zanzibar’s civil unified Front. The opposition criticized alleged electoral fraud in 1995 and the subsequent persecution of all those who criticized the government.

In December 1998, a powerful bomb destroyed the US embassy in Dar es Salaam, killing 11 and injuring 80.

By October 99, Julius Nyerere had died and his funeral gathered dozens of heads of state from around the world. A proposal to set up a semi-autonomous government for the continent of the country triggered a wave of disputes between the president and supporters of the proposal in December. The idea was that the continental government should be equated with the government of Zanzibar and the government of the Union. However, this notion of a federation between autonomous territories had been attacked by Nyerere, but his death caused the proposal to reappear. The intention was politically to equate the mainland population with the population in Zanzibar, which already has a semi-autonomous government.

The spike in the fighting in Burundi in early 2000 led to an increase in the number of refugees arriving in Tanzania, but the circumstances made the health and food assistance to the refugees more difficult.

A number of constitutional reforms implemented in February 2000 were criticized by opposition leader Fatma Maghimbi. Acc. Maghimbi, it is dangerous to remove the demand that the president have half the votes, and it is dangerous to give the president the right to nominate his own government. These are changes according to. Maghimbi alone will benefit the ruling party.

In the October elections, Mkapa was re-elected with 72% of the vote. In Zanzibar too, voters preferred CCM candidate Amani Karume, but the notorious irregularities in the count caused the opposition to reject the result. Only after a new election in two of the island’s electoral districts and violent riots was Karume deployed in November as Zanzibar’s president.