Tanzania is seeking to turn its education system from one that primarily measures what students know into one that also equips them with practical skills they can use in employment, entrepreneurship and everyday life.
The shift is at the centre of a four-day meeting in Dar es Salaam that has brought together curriculum institutions from 22 African countries to exchange experiences on implementing competency-based education.
The meeting, hosted by Tanzania, comes as the country rolls out its 2023 curriculum, which puts greater emphasis on practical skills and competencies among primary and secondary school learners.
Opening the Sixth Conference of the Association of Educational Curriculum Organisations of Africa on Tuesday, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for Regional Administration and Local Government, Prof Riziki Shemdoe, said the ultimate test of the curriculum should be what learners can do with the skills they acquire.
“These African countries will exchange experiences on competency- and skills-based curricula so that when a student graduates, they have skills that can be applied in different fields, including in earning a livelihood,” Prof Shemdoe said.
The approach places greater emphasis on the transition from classroom learning to practical application, an issue that is increasingly important as economies demand workers with technical, digital and problem-solving skills.
Prof Shemdoe said Tanzania had already invested in infrastructure intended to support the new approach, including the construction of 103 vocational schools across the country.
He said the schools would provide an important platform for translating the 2023 curriculum into practical learning.
“Participants at this conference will have an opportunity to see the progress we have made in implementing the 2023 competency-based curriculum,” he said.
The challenge, however, extends beyond changing what is written in the curriculum. Its impact will depend on whether schools have adequate facilities, teachers, learning materials and practical opportunities to enable students to acquire the competencies envisaged in the new system.
The meeting provides Tanzania with an opportunity to compare its experience with other African countries and identify approaches that can strengthen implementation.
Zanzibar’s Deputy Principal Secretary in charge of Academic Affairs in the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Mwanahamis Adam Ameir, said the exchange was timely as education systems undergo reforms to respond to changing economic and social demands.
She said Tanzania could draw lessons from other countries on issues that need to be considered when implementing competency-based education.
Tanzania Institute of Education Director General Dr Aneth Komba said the four-day conference was expected to produce the Dar es Salaam Declaration on African Curricula, guidelines for curriculum development and recommendations for improving curriculum implementation across the continent.
Participants will also visit selected schools at the end of the meeting to observe how Tanzania is implementing the 2023 curriculum.
For Tanzanian families, the significance of the curriculum reform will ultimately be measured less by the number of policy documents produced and more by whether graduates leave school with skills they can use to secure jobs, create businesses, solve problems and adapt to a changing economy.
The conference therefore offers Tanzania an opportunity to examine whether its curriculum reforms are closing the gap between education and the skills demanded by the economy, while drawing lessons from other African countries pursuing similar reforms.