Tanzania: Joy As 3,000 Teachers Listed for Promotion in Dar

Over 3,000 teachers in Kinondoni and Ubungo Municipal councils are lined up for promotion after meeting all criteria under the Teachers Service Commission Act No.25 of 2015 and government procedures.

According to Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Kinondoni Municipal Council is in final touches to issue official letters for promotion.

The Kinondoni District Assistant TSC Secretary, Mr Theobald Kilindo said a total of 1,333 teachers have qualified for promotion in the district.

Mr Kilindo was presenting a report to the Director for Employment, Ethics and Teachers Welfare from TSC headquarters, Ms Christina Hape on the procedures for teachers' promotion in the municipal council.

He said his office has fol-lowed all procedures in selecting names of teachers who deserve the promotion and that whenever they encountered challenges, his office communicated the matter to other officials for immediate solution.

He said his office embarked on the exercise after it received an official letter from the employer with names of teachers who were supposed to be pro-moted.

"We received the letter from the municipal council asking us to conduct the exercise for promoting teachers in his area. We went through their files, the exercise started in May 3 and was completed in May 11, this year," he said.

However, Mr Kilindo said during the review, his team realised that there were some challenges on filling Open Performance Review and Appraisal System (OPRAS) among teachers.

He said his office communicated with the employer and head teachers on the matter and that all issues were resolved. "We did not make any changes on OPRAS, but we realised that many of the teachers did not understand how to fill such forms," he noted.

According to Mr Kilindo, his office picked a total of 1333 teachers for promotion after going through their files. Kinondoni Municipal council has a total of 2922 teachers for both primary and secondary schools. At least 1939 teach in primary schools and 983 teach in secondary schools.

In Ubungo, at least 1733 teachers are lined up for promotion, on which 1,152 are primary school teachers and 581 are secondary school teachers.

According to TSC, Ubungo municipal council has a total of 3253 teachers, of which 2,184 teach in primary schools and 1069 are secondary school teachers.

According to Ubungo Municipal Council's TSC Acting Assistant Secretary, Ms Florah Kapange, the council has a total of 2000 opportunities for promotion. However, she said only 1,733 teachers have qualified for the promotion.

"After reviewing their files and analysing each document, we have realised that only 1,733 teachers qualify for promotions, therefore TSC has submitted the names of teachers who have qualified during the exercise," she noted.

On her side, Ms Hape expressed her satisfaction with the way the exercise was conducted, saying public servants should continue to observe regulations and codes of ethics in performing their duties.

"I am very satisfied with the way this exercise has been conducted, we believe all qualified teachers have been picked for promotion as directed," she noted.

Addressing workers on May Day in Mwanza early this month, President Samia Suluhu Hassan outlined various measures to be taken in the next financial year 2021/2022 to improve the welfare of workers.