Tanzania education revamp: Stakeholders react as Necta implements changes in primary school exams

Dar es Salaam. Despite the government's changes to the examination system for six primary school subjects, including mathematics, education stakeholders have emphasised the need for efforts to prepare teachers and enhance their teaching proficiency.

While the changes announced on Friday, July 19, 2024, have been positively received, some stakeholders have expressed opposition, particularly concerning the mathematics examinations.

They argue that students are assessed uniformly despite significant variations in abilities and understanding.

Furthermore, they explained that there should be different question formats to prevent students from becoming fatigued by answering them all at once.

In the changes announced by the National Examination Council of Tanzania (Necta), the multiple-choice format for mathematics exams will no longer exist.

Instead, students will be required to calculate their answers.

Apart from mathematics, other changes include in Kiswahili, General Knowledge, English, Science and Civics exams.

Necta executive secretary, Dr Said Mohamed, said during the announcement of changes that in the mathematics examinations, students will be required to calculate and write correct answers to all questions.

"These improvements aim at enhancing the proficiency assessment to ensure graduates attain skills, competence, critical thinking, knowledge, and skills that will enable them to have a solid educational foundation," he said.

Dr Mohamed said that alongside mathematics, in other exams, students will be assessed using various methods, including multiple-choice questions, matching, short answers, word and sentence arrangement, and picture interpretations.

However, he said that the announced improvements were part of the implementation of stakeholders' feedback on enhancing examination methods in the country.

“In these improvements, the number of questions will decrease from 45 to six or eight, with elements ranging from 33 to 38,” said Dr Mohamed.

Stakeholder perspectives

Speaking to The Citizen, an expert in the theory and practice of curricula at the Dar es Salaam University College of Education (Duce), Dr Josta Nzilano, said the announced changes create a single method of assessing students in examinations.

Realistically, Dr Ndilano said there should be more than one method of assessing students, especially in mathematics exams.

In one exam, he explained that there should be different styles of assessing students, meaning that different types of questions should be answered in different ways.

"Having questions with different styles is significant depending on the child's intelligence and capabilities. Some are better assessed with calculation questions, while others know the answers but cannot express themselves; they all know, but their understanding differs," he said.

What is needed, suggested Dr Nzilano, is for those creating the exams to be trained to create robust questions that assess students' ability to act.

"Give them training; it's not about removing questions; then we create another problem because children do not have equal abilities; some have a lot of ability to express themselves, while others don’t," he said.

However, experts have found the announced changes to be a long-sought response to concerns expressed by education stakeholders related to examination systems in the country, as described by Saint John University lecturer Shadidu Ndosa.

"Multiple-choice questions only test a student's memory. However, examinations should test memory, reasoning ability, and capabilities to analyse things. These changes will satisfy examination criteria,” he said.

"This system will enable us to accurately determine the standards of our seventh-grade graduates. A student's ability is evident when they engage their minds to find answers, not guessing," added Mr Ndosa.

Furthermore, Mr Ndosa said the new assessment will reduce the possibility of theft or examination leakages.

According to him, the system will enable schools to come up with effective strategies to prepare students to understand what they are taught, unlike before, when the emphasis was on memorization and answering exams.

Good calculation math

An education stakeholder, Mr Ochola Wayoga, said announced changes in the examination system should have been made long ago because there was no way a student could be assessed for their ability to solve math problems with multiple-choice questions.

"Mathematics requires a child to be taught calculation to get answers,” he said.

He explained that before the introduction of multiple-choice questions, the math exam focused on calculations, with a pass rate not exceeding 20 percent. In response to this issue, multiple-choice questions were introduced, but this approach has been criticised as ineffective.

“It's better that we are now back on track."

However, Mr Wayoga said changes in the examination system alone would not be effective unless there was a significant investment in training teachers’ proficiency in teaching mathematics.

"For a student to understand, they must be taught by a teacher proficient in that subject; now, are these teachers being prepared properly? The answer is no, which is why the cry of failing mathematics has continued to be significant," said Mr Wayoga.

The issue of teacher preparation was also raised by Ndosa, who emphasised that the system of preparing teachers should build a strong foundation from the bottom to get people who can transfer knowledge to others.

"The issue of mathematics has been a long-standing problem; its solution should start from the bottom, in the preparation of those who carry the responsibility of teaching this subject," said Mr Ndosa.

Government responses

Responding to stakeholders' concerns, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Carolyne Nombo, said teachers have always been prepared to teach calculation methods, especially in mathematics.

She said these methods are used by teachers in classrooms and that it didn't start now; it has been a long-standing practice.

"This preparation of teachers to teach through calculation methods is not new. It has been a long time since they have been prepared in that manner and taught that way in classrooms. Even you, the journalist, were undoubtedly taught mathematics by calculation," she said.

Furthermore, Prof Nombo said there was a time when the examination system changed and conflicted with the teaching method, referring to the introduction of multiple-choice answers in mathematics.

However, what is being done now, Prof Nombo said, aligns with the teaching method as well as the requirements of educational policies and curricula.

According to her, the basis for this decision was to prepare graduates with analytical thinking.

"To tell the truth, analytical thinking is a product of mathematics, especially when a child knows how to calculate. They develop analytical thinking, which is required for all children graduating from our schools,” she said.