New free education policy out soon - PS

DAILY NEWS Reporter

THE government will soon issue a circular detailing how the new free education policy will be implemented starting January next year. This follows the latest announcement that the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training is putting final touches to the policy and that the circular to the effect would be issued anytime from now, according to the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Professor Sifuni Mchome.

The new system, expected to be a relief to millions of parents across the country, is a result of the campaign pledges made by President John Magufuli in the just-concluded general election. Education would be free from Standard One to Form 4, according to the government’s position.

Prof Mchome was quick to state that free education would not have an impact on the quality of education, asking responsible institutions under his ministry to plan for the best education that will fast foster national development.

Prof Mchome made the remarks on Monday during his meeting with heads of department and institutions under his ministry to discuss in detail the implementation of the policies, considering the strategies floated by the Fifth Phase government. He said they intend to increase enrollment of the basic education from 45 per cent in January next year to 100 per cent come 2020.

Moreover, Prof Mchome said they plan to mainstream enrolment guidelines to all institutions at various levels, the ultimate goal being to ensure that 20 per cent of the basic education graduates are enrolled for advanced secondary education while the rest could join vocational training institutions according to market demand.

“The Fifth Phase government is geared towards industrial economy; our curriculum as well should match to meet the market demand. Therefore, training institutes should plan according to needs,” he stressed.

Prof Mchome was optimistic that with the vocational training strategies, 70 per cent of the graduates will be in a position to be selfemployed or employed in industries to be established.

He directed the vocational and higher learning institutions to ensure that they maintain focus on science subjects since they will be crucial to the dictates of an industrial economy as the country needs to have enough experts in various fields to meet market demand.

He advised them to meet together and outline national needs and come up with a programme that will cater for the demand.

The permanent secretary as well counselled the Higher Education Learning Students Loan Board (HELSB) to rework qualification standards for issuance of the loans, which he said required a review, taking into account priorities put forwards by the Fifth Phase government.