April 2022
The Government of Tanzania has enacted a new generation results-based program, the education program for results (EPforR) II for preprimary and primary subsectors of education.
This new education program primarily aims at targeting four main areas of intervention: 1) improving public school learning environment; (2) improving teacher competencies and classroom teaching; (3) strengthening education financing and decentralized capacity for service delivery; and (4) improving retention, transition, and learning outcomes.
This new program also hopes to improve accessibility of education to marginalized communities through improving the education delivery mechanisms. Additionally, there are plans to fortify relations and dialogues with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to promote cross-sectoral collaboration in the provision of quality education.
This project is in conjunction with the World Bank project in Tanzania, the BOOST Primary Student Learning Program for Results which also aims to increase the competence, inclusion, and accessibility of education in Tanzania to create a safe learning environment for improved learning outcomes. BOOST will support the Government’s results-based program for the next five years by providing financing to support the implementation of the program.
March 2022
Following new environmental challenges that continue to emerge, and a review of the old National Environmental Policy, the Tanzanian government plans to launch a new 2021 National Environmental Policy.
The Permanent Secretary in the Vice President's Office Union, Mary Maganga, alluded to six new issues to be covered in the new policy. These include the conservation of electronic waste, climate changes, invasive species, control of safe use of modern biotechnology, pollution control in oil and gas exploration and extraction activities, and the use of chemicals.
The new policy changes seek to promote sustainable development in the country, and to reinforce the country's commitment to environmental sustainability-an urgent issue in the face of vast climate change and environmental degradation. The policy was inaugurated on 12th February in Dodoma, and the Ministry plans to coordinate with the relevant authorities to ensure smooth and effective implementation.
The Tanzanian government has lifted a discriminatory ban on pregnant schoolgirls and teenage mothers attending school, which was established in the 1960’s, and endorsed in 2017 by the late President John Magufuli.
While pregnant girls will still not be allowed to attend school during their pregnancy term, schoolgirls will now have two years in which they can continue their education after delivery. This may be a step in the right direction, but as the Human Rights Watch argues, pregnancy should not be a bar from education, and expectant girls and women should still be allowed to receive an education while pregnant.
Members of the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) are also calling for further backing of this verbal announcement with written policy and /or legal reform to make it legally binding. The Ministry of Education assures that the policy change will be implemented with immediate effect. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu, the country's first female president, affirms this move in what many see as an attempt to distance herself from Magufuli’s policies.
This positive step towards gender equality, albeit as a result of substantial international pressure, may just be the push other countries in the region require in order to revisit their exclusionary laws and policies, and move toward a more inclusive and equitable future.