Why government should address teacher shortage first

Dar es Salaam. The aspiration for quality education in the country is at risk due to the scarcity of teachers as well as the difficult working conditions the latter faces in their stations, it has been stated.

Various education stakeholders believe that quality education will continue to be elusive if teachers aren’t properly incentivised to serve students diligently.

According to them, the government has been concentrating more on improving the environment in terms of infrastructure, which remains a challenge, without considering the long-standing issues of the teachers.

These views were shared in a Mwananchi Twitter Space discussion held Wednesday evening, under the theme: “What should be done to manage the increase in enrollment in Standard One and Form One, in line with the provision of quality education in the country?”

However, the ministry of Education, Science and Technology acknowledged that there is a great need for teachers especially for science subjects, something that they have been working on.

The Commissioner for Education from the Ministry, Lyabwene Mtahabwa, said that the curriculum was currently being reviewed and that the issue of teachers’ employment is being handled by the Ministry of State in the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG).

“It is true that there is a serious shortage of teachers, especially in mathematics and science subjects. Our PO-RALG colleagues are handling that. The issue of employment is not under our control. We are responsible for the formulation of policies and the provision of guidelines,” he noted.

He, however, acknowledged that there is a challenge in balancing the number of teachers and students, “which we are now dealing with,” said the Commissioner.

When The Citizen tried to reach out to the PO-RALG for a comment on the issue, the initiatives hadn’t gotten through until press time.

During the Twitter Space debate, experts said the rate at which classroom sizes were growing wasn’t equal to the number of available teachers to attend to them, which can be an important incentive to ease access to quality education.

They noted that for the period of 2016, the ratio of teachers to students was one teacher for 42 students. In the year 2022 the ratio in public schools is 1:65 according to PO-RALG statistics. In some districts, data shows it is 1:100.

Renowned teacher and author Richard Mabala advised the government to look at ways to incentivise teachers, including allowances for those living in difficult conditions instead of forcing them to go to rural areas.

“There is a lot to fix, instead of forcing teachers to go to rural areas, let’s find ways to motivate teachers to go there. The government can set allowances for teachers who live in difficult environments,” he said.

He stressed the importance of listening to teachers’ voices. Despite its existence, many do not see efforts made by the teachers’ association in fighting for the interests of teachers.

Mr Mabala believes that a teacher can teach without a class but a class cannot do anything without a teacher.

“Instead of having many classes, great power should now be placed on the teachers so that there is a balance between them,” he noted.

Former Chadema Member of Parliament Suzan Lyimo said, “We should invest in our teachers, not just classrooms. Even if the classrooms are air-conditioned, it does not help if there are no teachers. Students can even study under a tree and perform well.”

The government through PO-RALG has been announcing employment opportunities for teachers. But often experts have claimed that those opportunities were to replace teachers who have retired or died and not for the purpose of filling the existing demand.