All eyes on Tanzania as Africa eLearning summit kicks off in Dar

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania has a unique opportunity to turn the honour of hosting the 2025 Africa eLearning Conference into a catalyst for accelerating its own digital education reforms, as the country faces growing pressure to equip learners with 21st-century skills.

The African eLearning summit kicked off yesterday, bringing together hundreds of education innovators, policymakers, and researchers from across the globe. The conference will run from May 7 to 9, 2025. In his announcement of the summit, the minister for Education, Prof Adolf Mkenda called the opportunity “a great privilege” for Tanzania to shape Africa’s education future.

While Tanzania has made progress in integrating ICT in schools, many challenges remain—especially in rural and underserved areas and the government sees the summit as an opportunity to forge more investment in the area.

“This is a great privilege,” Prof Mkenda said. “Tanzania has made significant progress in promoting innovation and digital tools in education. Hosting this summit will not only boost our image globally but will also accelerate our transition to modern learning systems.”

He added that the summit will provide a platform for Tanzanian youth, innovators, institutions, and stakeholders to engage with international players and form meaningful partnerships.

“We already have policies and strategies to mainstream the use of artificial intelligence and other technologies in our classrooms,” he noted. “We want everyone—students, tech-developers, and academic institutions—to register and be part of this game-changing event.”

According to the 2022 Tanzania National ICT Commission report, only 34 percent of public secondary schools have access to reliable internet, and just 11 percent are equipped with functional computer laboratories.

“This summit will be arriving at a crucial time,” notes an education technology consultant, Dr Edna Mwanyika. “We are still dealing with very low digital literacy among both teachers and students. If we don't confront this now, we risk widening the inequality between urban and rural learners.”

Tanzania's new Education and Training Policy, which is under implementation, emphasises the importance of digital learning and blended instruction.

But experts warn that without clear investment strategies, capacity building, and infrastructure development, the policy may remain more aspirational than transformative.

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of Tanzania’s education system when schools shut down in 2020. Unlike countries such as Kenya and Rwanda that had existing digital learning platforms, Tanzania struggled to provide consistent remote learning options.

Radio and television lessons were rolled out, but they reached less than 50 percent of students, according to a 2021 Twaweza study.

“e-Learning isn’t just about technology—it’s about access and equity,” said an Education Technology expert from the University of Dar es Salaam, Aidan Mosha.

“With the right systems, eLearning can ensure that girls in remote villages and children with disabilities are not left behind.”

The upcoming summit presents an opportunity for Tanzania to learn from regional best practices and explore partnerships for scalable eLearning solutions, from mobile platforms to AI-assisted content delivery.

Teacher training remains a critical barrier to meaningful technology integration. A 2023 report by HakiElimu found that only 22 percent of teachers in Tanzania had received formal ICT training as part of their professional development.

“This is a fundamental gap. We cannot digitise education if the teachers themselves are not prepared or confident in using digital tools,” Dr Mosha noted. “The summit can help push for national action plans on teacher capacity building in ICT.”

Efforts are underway. In 2024, the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) began piloting digital learning content aligned with the new competency-based curriculum, but scaling such initiatives remains a resource-intensive undertaking.

Beyond hardware and internet, the eLearning conversation will also touch on digital content development. Tanzania continues to rely heavily on external platforms and materials that may not reflect its local context, language, or pedagogy.

Experts like Dr Mwanyika emphasise the need for localised content creation through partnerships with universities, local edtech startups, and teachers.

“We need Swahili-based platforms that speak to our learners' realities—culturally, linguistically, and academically,” she told The Citizen.

The Conference is expected to focus on themes such as inclusive digital transformation, artificial intelligence in education, open educational resources, and innovations for marginalised learners.

Tanzania’s role as host means these themes could directly influence its own policy and funding priorities.

For a country that has declared education and innovation as key drivers of its Vision 2050, hosting the Africa eLearning Conference signals an intent to lead. But symbolic leadership will not be enough.