PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa yesterday flagged off the 2018 Uhuru torch race in the country, reiterating the government resolve to successfully fight drug abuse, corruption, malaria and HIV/ Aids.
“The Uhuru torch race carries national or international message that the government intends people to receive. In 2018, we have decided Uhuru Torch race to take into consideration government priorities and strategies of improving education under the theme: Education is the key of life, invest in it now for the development of our country,” he said.
Mr Majaliwa said under the theme, the government calls upon all development stakeholders to invest in the sector to produce skilled human resource with skills capable of bringing reforms in the industrial sector, given the country’s target of attaining middle-income status by 2025. “We have also agreed that this year’s Uhuru Torch race should remind Tanzanians wherever they are that the fight against HIV/ Aids, malaria, corruption and drugs abuse continues until victory is attained,” he insisted.
He said emphasis on agriculture, a sector that plays a pivotal role in the industrialization drive, will also be made during the entire period of Uhuru torch race. Giving details on education, the Prime Minister said no nation in the world achieved in any sector, including attaining sustainable development, building a responsible and innovative society and stable and peaceful nation without investing in education.
He said provision of quality education entailed having quality infrastructure for all levels ranging from pre-primary to university. He said under President John Magufuli, technical education has also been given special emphasis to keep pace with market demands. He said to ensure every Tanzanian child received basic education the government removed all impediments that hindered the goal to be attained, including scrapping school fees and other contributions and offering loans to students of higher learning institutions.
As result of such initiatives, Prime Minister Majaliwa said, the government under President John Magufuli has recorded tremendous achievements. Giving examples, the premier said enrolment of pre-primary children has increased from 917,137 in 2015 to 1,182,466 in 2018, equivalent to 79.32 per cent of the target. He said enrolment of Standard One pupils increased from 1,386, 592 in 2015 to 1,653,397, in 2018, equivalent to 95.49 per cent of the target. The Prime Minister said enrolment of Form One students increased from 366,396 to 592,266 in 2018, equivalent to 85 per cent of the target.
Touching on availability of teachers, the Prime Minister said the country was still facing shortage of science teachers for secondary schools but for art subjects the number was satisfactory. However, he said the government was taking measures to address the problem, including employing new teachers. According to Prime Minister Majaliwa, the government increased 14,031 teachers in 2012 to 19,470 in 2017 but despite such an increase there was still a shortage of a certain number of teachers for primary education teachers against the national requirement of 35,136 teachers.
PM Majaliwa said in March last year the government employed 4,000 teachers and posted them to all secondary schools. End of last year, the government employed 3,412 science subject teachers, adding that more teachers will be employed, including availing teaching and learning materials. On dropout rates in secondary schools, the Prime Minister said measures taken were showing good results though more efforts were needed to address the problem.
He mentioned regions with high dropout rates as Tabora (9.7 per cent),Geita (8.1 per cent),Shinyanga (6.3 per cent) and Mtwara (6.1 per cent). Some regions with dropout rates in primary schools that the Prime Minister mentioned include Rukwa (3.2 per cent), Geita (3.1 per cent), Tabora (2.9 per cent), Singida (2 per cent) and Simiyu (2 per cent).
On distribution of laboratory equipment to secondary schools, the Prime Minister said in the first phase the government availed equipment to 1,625 schools out of the total 3,542. Efforts to address problems in the education sector have contributed to improved pass rate for primary schools from 30 per cent in 2012 to 72.76 per cent in 2017 while the pass rate in the Form IV final examination increased from 43.5 per cent to 77.57 in 2017. Secondary school students who scored between Division One and Three in their Form IV final examination also increased from 6.39 to 30.15 per cent last year.
He said the government objective is to increase students with between Div. I and III to over 50 per cent. Speaking on technical education the Prime Minister said currently there are about 560 institutions offering the training. Touching on higher education, the Mr Majaliwa said the country has seen a considerable increase in universities from one in 1961 to 67 to date.
He said to ensure all Tanzanian students who qualified to receive higher education were enrolled to colleges under the government arrangement of issuing loans to deserved candidates, with 122,663 beneficiaries receiving 427.55bn/- in the 2017/18 fiscal year.
On corruption, the Prime Minister said the government will not rest until the war is won. “Corruption is indeed bad, it curtails government machineries and institutions to serve the public with justice and unfortunately the common man is a victim,” he said.
The Prime Minister said research findings by Prevention and Combatting Corruption Bureau (PCCB) last year showed implementation of development projects was also engulfed with corruption by 26.2 per cent. As a result, between January and December 2017, PCCB filed 428 new cases of which the government won 53.
He said 40 cases were about economic sabotage. During the period, PCCB saved about 60bn/- in various operations, including ghost payment attempts. War against new HIV infections, Malaria and drugs are the areas that PM Majaliwa said will be given attention by the government. This year’s Uhuru torch race will end on October 14, 2018 in Tanga region.
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