Decentralisation policies and their rationales in Tanzanian education system

Matete, Rose Ephraim

dc.creator	Matete, Rose Ephraim
dc.date	2020-11-26T08:06:55Z
dc.date	2020-11-26T08:06:55Z
dc.date	2019
dc.date.accessioned	2022-10-20T14:13:42Z
dc.date.available	2022-10-20T14:13:42Z
dc.identifier	Matete, R. E. (2019). Decentralisation policies and their rationales in Tanzanian education system. In the proceeding of the 1st International Conference on Innovative Education and Policy Reforms for Industrial Economy in Africa (ICIEPRIEA), (pp 227-251). The University of Dodoma, Tanzania.
dc.identifier	http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12661/2630
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12661/2630
dc.description	Full text article
dc.description	Decentralisation of education is among the current reforms that have been taking place in different African countries. Tanzania, as part of African countries, has also adopted decentralised policies in its education system. The arguments for advocating decentralisation are to give more power to the local people, minimise unneccesary bureaucracy and to ensure a proper utilisation of the educational resources. Findings from Dar es Salaam and Mbeya in Tanzania indicated that community involvement in school development plans has reduced the absenteeism and truancy among the pupils and it has improved the pupils’disclipline and attendance. There were also some improvements in classroom contruction especially in peri-urban schools in both Kindondoni Municipality and Mbeya City. The school committee members, however, focussed their attention on the Standard VII results and did not take care that the schools improve in all levels from Standard I-VII. The visited schools faced a massive problem of congested classrooms and shortage of desks. While the government promised the schools to receive the Capitation Grants (CGs) and Development Grants (DGs), the provisions of these funds from the government were far short of these promises. The findings in the visited schools indicated that the amount that was contributed by the pupils far exceeded the amount pledged and provided by the government. The school committee members appeared to be a mere signatory tool of the funds from the District Education Office (DEO) as they came with specifications on how to use them. The argument in this paper is that while involving the community in school-development plans in a decentralised setting may be good for local democracy and for the improved accountability of the service providers. The government needs to intervene where seems to be a problem in order to safeguard the interests of the pupils
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	The University of Dodoma
dc.subject	Education system
dc.subject	Decentralisation
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	School committee
dc.subject	Pupils
dc.subject	Parents
dc.subject	Commuinty
dc.subject	Pupils absenteeism
dc.subject	Pupils attendance
dc.title	Decentralisation policies and their rationales in Tanzanian education system
dc.title	In the proceeding of Innovative Education and Policy Reforms for Industrial Economy in Africa
dc.type	Conference Proceedings