Uwazi: Broken promises in primary education

Uwazi, a Twaweza project housed at Hivos Tanzania, has been investigating investments made by the Tanzanian government in education, and these investments’ outcomes.

A few weeks ago, Uwezo – an organization that works closely with Uwazi and Twaweza – released a learning assessment highlighting critical deficits in the numeracy and literacy of primary school students. Vijana FM has recieved a few older studies from Uwazi, though they are no less critical than Uwezo’s assessment.

Broken Promises in Primary Education is a policy brief by Uwazi published in June 2010 that analyzed outcomes of a sharp increase in education investment by the government. The outcomes analyzed have been derived from a government follow-up, called the Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS). As quoted from the report:

The aim is to make the PETS findings accessible to a broader audience and to facilitate wider understanding and debate of the link between resource flow problems and educational performance. The brief shows that turning a blind eye to these problems undermines progress and could lead to further inequaliti es building up between schools and district councils.

The report shows 12 key findings:

  1. More money has been allocated to education as a whole, but investment in primary education has declined.
  2. Most but not all of the money allocated to councils gets there.
  3. Rural district councils get less.
  4. The grant allocation system is confusing.
  5. The full capitation grant does not reach schools.
  6. School data reveal large leakage of capital development grants.
  7. Money meant for education is diverted to other uses.
  8. Capitation grants are disbursed very late.
  9. Urban Councils fare better than rural councils.
  10. Remote schools get fewer resources.
  11. Teachers avoid rural areas.
  12. Data is unreliable and undermines policy implementation.

Get the full report here:

Related links:

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Al-Amin founded Vijana FM in 2009. With over a decade of experience in communications, design and operations, he now runs a digital media consulting agency - Lateral Labs - in Dar-es-Salaam.

This post has 3 Comments

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  1. “Nothing new,” I thought to myself after reading the full report. If you’ve gone to a public school in somewhere in Bongo, none if this is very surprising. However, stepping back from that thought for a little bit, I realize that for most of us, the experience, of a malfunctioning education system, is so real it has become a part of us. We have become complacent with what is simply because (1) We have not experienced anything other than this (or have we and if so why are we still complacent?) and (2) the workings of such public resources is never made public i.e. important stakeholders of education (students, parents and even some teachers) have no idea how the system works.

    In the end, the stakeholders (the public that is) lacks access to information which is their “right”, and if we don’t know our “right” how are we to claim it? And since we don’t claim our “right” the powers that be sees it fit to bypass their obligation to inform us. Information is left to a need-to-know basis (Uwazi had to go asking for this information).

    Here is my proposal to address this: A “right” a day.

    Here I mean posting a “right” online (popular blogs, websites etc) or even getting radio stations on education, everyday (or maybe every two, three or four days). This will serve to educate, sensitize and raise awareness among stakeholders of education in the country.

    We can at least start from the bottom up this way and maybe garner confidence to make the powers-that-be responsible and accountable.

    Note: I realize that this is not the solution to the entire problem, but it’s a start.

  2. SL,

    Brilliant idea. I think that there is “nothing new” is news in so far that we are tracking our system and finding it as dilapidated, and in some cases even more so, than it was 20 years ago for example. So the realization that we are not making progress is some confirmation of our fears that we need to address.

    Back to your brilliant idea of hammering the message on a daily basis. I think that will be a good start. My concern is, when I look at the available media outlets, especially the popular media that could easily catch the masses (e.g., radio ) I don’t see business minded execs commiting easily to some touchy awareness campaigns which may prove unpopular to the powers that be. How do you think this could be addressed ?

    What level of commitment do you sense in the media community to campaign against police brutality, for rights to information, more transparent government, less censorship etc ?

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