Zanzibar schools find solution for teacher shortage

Over the past few years, the country’s education sector has been going through various challenges. Lack of teachers in both primary and secondary schools is top of the list. Stakeholders have suggested several solutions, one of them being the hiring of foreign teachers.

In 2012 the government of Zanzibar appealed for assistance from Nigeria to borrow science teachers for secondary schools, the government of Nigeria responded positively. However, the acute shortage of more than 100 science teachers in secondary schools in Zanzibar is still a major challenge.

Halifa Said, Secondary Education Officer at the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in Zanzibar, confirms that Zanzibar is going through a very serious shortage of teachers particularly in science subjects.

“Until now the government of Zanzibar has received a total of 46 science teachers from Nigeria. The first batch came in 2013 with 14 teachers and they stayed for 2 years. Now we have the second batch of 32 teachers who have been posted to different secondary schools in Zanzibar,” says Said.

Said is happy with the partnership between the two governments, but he is still very aware of the persisting challenges. One of these is the fact that although the Nigerians have improved the situation, there is still a huge gap of about 150 teachers if we are to do away with the problem in the Isles.

Daniel Odeh teaches Mathematics and Physics at Mlimani Matemwe Secondary School located in rural Zanzibar. He informs to Success that as one of the sought after tourist destinations, Zanzibar and its people need to be supported in order to encourage development through education.

“One of the reasons why we came is because my country wanted to continue nurturing a good relationship with Tanzania. It’s important that we keep helping each other so that our sisters and brothers of Africa can build developed societies through education. So being attached to a rural area is not a problem for me as long as I am here serving a purpose,” says Odeh.

Where is the local workforce?

Adding to that he observes that a large percentage of workers at hotels in Zanzibar are from the Mainland or other countries. “This does not have to be a bad thing but I think that Zanzibar locals should also grab opportunities in the tourism industry, and the only way to get the opportunities is through education.”

Language barrier

For Odeh, the most challenging part of teaching is the language barrier. A majority of students cannot communicate in English. This sometimes forces them to communicate in Swahili which the teachers cannot speak well enough to help. But Odeh is pleased with the learning material, text books as well as the school laboratories which he says are of a good standard. The only challenge he faces is in finding a better way to present the material to the students in a way they can understand.

“The curriculum is very similar to the one he used in Nigeria, the only difference being how to break down the content,” says Odeh.

Much needed help

Mohamed Mzee is the headmaster at Mlimani Matemwe Secondary School. He says that, his school is one of the lucky ones to receive assistance from science teachers from Nigeria.

“My school is still new. It started in 2012. And since we started we had never had a chemistry or mathematics teacher who is Tanzanian. The Nigerian teachers are so helpful that I just don’t see what we would do without them,” says Mzee.

Mzee says that, the government of Zanzibar should look for a permanent solution and should consider bringing enough science teachers for all the schools so that each has at least two permanent science teachers.

Adding to that he says, there are unconfirmed rumours that some schools used to take Form Six leavers to teach science subjects before the arrival of the Nigerian teachers.

Said Riyam, a Form Four student at Matemwe Secondary School points out that the shortage of science teachers in secondary schools drives a big number of students to avoid taking science subjects. He says that, he thanks the government for the initiative to hire teachers from Nigeria as they have helped him to pursue science subjects which he would have not done otherwise. He says that if all secondary schools from Zanzibar were to get science teachers none of the students would hate science subjects as much as they do.

Teaching in Zanzibar

John Nderingo is also a science teacher from Nigeria who is appointed to the Fidel Castro Secondary School in Zanzibar. He tells Success he is happy to be part of the group of teachers that was considered for the programme.

He says that it is very touching to see students who are ambitious to learn and who are keen to get teachers to support their dreams. He believes there is a lot of potential in science subjects in Tanzania and the government just needs to nurture the talents by supporting students. “I feel happy to be part of the teachers selected to come and teach here. Language is a challenge but I still enjoy every single minute of my work as the students are very cooperative.

I myself am also learning, I’m learning a different language from my students and I’m also learning about Tanzanian culture everyday,” says Nderingo.

For his part, Vuai Muya a headmaster at Umoja Uzini says that he is happy that the government of Zanzibar has finally done something about the serious shortage of science teachers.

“My school received two teachers through the programme and they have been very helpful as they spend most of the time teaching.

Another good thing is that they are living close to the school. It gives them the opportunity to even teach students during the weekends,” says Muya.

Beyond duty

The new science teachers are working overtime and hold extra classes for students who need them. According to the head teacher, the situation was not the same in the past with local teachers who would never spend extra time with students. Fatih Makame a Form Four student at Umona Uzini Secondary School says that he is confident he will do well in the coming national exams because of the help he has received from the new teachers.