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The role of adult education for national development has remained critical for many
decades irrespective of time and space differences. This study investigated the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of adult education programmes in
Tanzania. Data were collected from 31 informants sampled from Chamwino district
and Dodoma municipality through purposive, purposive-random sampling and
snowball sampling. Data were collected through qualitative methods, i.e. interviews,
observation and documentary review and analysed deductively starting with the main
themes to the specific ones. The study found that adult education offers adult
learners‟ opportunities to grow both mentally and economically as they get
employment and their ability to participate in different issues is widened. Despite
this strength, adult education in Tanzania faces weaknesses, including lack of
awareness of the society members, insufficiently qualified personnel, and bad
location of the centres. Further, the Adult Education is threatened by the lack of
political will to develop the centres and insufficient fund. Following these findings,
the researcher concluded that adult education is a panacea to combat three enemies
of the nation namely poverty, ignorance and diseases among the school drop outs,
adults who could not access formal education at the appropriate age and those who
need to upgrade their knowledge in different fields of study. Adult Education is at
risk because there is no enough investment and little +awareness of its importance in
the country. Thus, the researcher recommends for immediate intervention by the
government to empower adult centres for effective services to the learners and raise
of awareness among its people. |
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