Fora: Education is Union issue
Member of the Constitutional Review Commission Al-Shaymaa Kwegyir, shows a copy the Draft Constitution to Isike Primary School pupils in Tabora Region before handing it over to them during a visit to the institution on Tuesday.
PHOTO| MUSTAPHA KAPALATA
What you need to know:
- Members of the forum noted that the formation of the commission would help in sorting out the current confusion that faces teachers when following up on their demands.
Dar es Salaam. Education should be among Union matters in the new Constitution as this would help standardise the sector, teachers have recommended while discussing the draft Mother Law.
Teachers with disabilities also suggested that the Supreme Law should enable the formation of a teachers’ commission to address the many problems facing the key professionals in the sector.
Under their umbrella trade union, the Tanzania Teachers Union (TTU), they gathered in Dar es Salaam recently for a three-day forum on the Draft Constitution.
The meeting, sponsored by the Foundation for Civil Society attracted the participation of 100 primary and secondary school teachers.
Talking on the meeting’s resolutions, Mr Dagobert Deogratias, the facilitator of the forum, said participants noted that it was senseless to leave education out of Union matters, considering that some crucial government institutions, such as the National Examinations Council (Necta), serve both the Mainland and Zanzibar.
Members of the forum noted that the formation of the commission would help in sorting out the current confusion that faces teachers when following up on their demands.
“We normally get confused due to the existence of at least three ministries that serve us... so, in many cases we fail to know one ministry is responsible for a particular problem,” Mr Deogratias said.
The teachers’ dilemma emerges at a time when there has been bureaucracy in addressing their grievances as it has often involved the ministry of Education, the President’s Office - Public Service Management and Treasury.
But the teachers commission would centralise and take control of issues of recruitment, employment termination, employees’ promotions and disciplinary measures, among others, they said.
The participants also supported the clause in the Draft to proposals a 3-tier government. But, on such Union formation, Mr Peter Mlimahadala, head of the department of teachers with disabilities under the TTU, advised that Tanzania Mainland should get back its previous name, ‘Tanganyika’.
