United Republic of Tanzania (Mainland and Zanzibar): Education Country Brief

January 2024
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Background

This brief provides data and references to the literature on issues that matter for education in Tanzania. It is part of a series that provides a brief introduction to the state of education systems in Africa. The work was prepared for country pages on IICBA’s website and a digital repository of resources at the country, sub-regional, and continental level. The brief series also informs work conducted in the context of (i) the European Union’s Africa Regional Teachers’ Initiative and (ii) the KIX (Knowledge and Innovation eXchange) Africa 19 Hub for anglophone countries that promotes the use of evidence for policy making and benefits from funding from the Global Partnership for Education and Canada’s International Development Research Center. This brief and its associated webpage are meant to be updated as new information becomes available, at least on a yearly basis. 

Key resources: This brief provides the following resources: 

  • Educational outcomes: Estimates are provided for learning poverty (the share of 10-year-old children not able to read and understand a simple text), educational attainment and/or enrollment rates at various levels of education, the components of the human capital index, and human capital wealth as a share of national wealth. 
  • Selected literature: Links are provided to selected publications at the global, regional, and country levels with a focus on six themes: (i) learning assessment systems; (ii) early childhood education; (iii) teaching and learning; (iv) the data challenge; (v) gender equality; and (vi) equity and inclusion. 
  • Country policies: Links are provided to key institutions (including Ministries) managing the education system, selected policy and planning documents, and websites that aim to provide comparative data on policies across countries.
  • Knowledge repositories and other resources: Links are provided to a dozen digital repositories that collate publications and resources on education issues in Africa. 
  • Data: Links are provided to data sources that can help inform education policy.

This country brief provides a brief introduction to selected issues and research relevant to Tanzania’s education system and links to resources that may be useful to official of Ministries of Education and other education stakeholders. A special focus is placed on thematic areas from the KIX (Knowledge and Innovation eXchange) initiative for which UNESCO IICBA manages the Secretariat of the Africa KIX 19 Hub. Together with the associated webpages on UNESCO IICBA’s website, the brief is to be updated as new information becomes available, typically every year. The brief starts with a review of basic data on educational outcomes including learning poverty, educational attainment, and the human capital index. The focus then shifts to information related to the thematic areas of focus of the KIX Africa 19 Hub, namely: (i) learning assessment (ii) early childhood education; (iii) teaching & learning (iv) data challenge; (v) gender equality; and (vi) equity and inclusion. The brief also includes links to country documents and processes as well as a range of other resources and websites.

Educational Outcomes and Human Capital

Tanzania, like many other African countries, is facing a learning crisis. In sub-Saharan Africa, learning poverty, defined as the share of children unable to read and understand an age-appropriate text by age 10, is estimated at 89 percent by the World Bank, UNESCO, and other organizations. While specific country estimates are not available for Tanzania, the World Bank Capital Index suggests concerning developments. According to their data, students in Tanzania score 388 on a harmonized test score scale where 625 represents advanced attainment and 300 represents minimum attainment. This benchmark corresponds to the advanced achievement standard set by the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. It is imperative to improve the quality of the education provided in schools. 

Schooling does not imply learning, but lack of learning increases the likelihood of dropping out of school. According to the World Bank and UNESCO Institute of Statistics, the primary school completion rate was at 66 percent in 2020 for boys and 72 percent for girls. In the same year, lower secondary completion was at 32% for men and 35% for women. Gross enrollment in tertiary education was at 9 percent for men in 2020 versus 7 percent for women. 

The Human Capital Index for Tanzania also provides other useful statistics based on five other variables: (i) the probability that a child will survive past age five (95 percent); (ii) the years of schooling that a child is expected to complete by age 18 (7.2 years); (iii) the learning-adjusted years of schooling that a child is expected to complete, a measure combining  the years of schooling and average harmonized test scores (4.5 years); (iv) the adult survival rate (78 percent of 15-year olds surviving until age 60); and finally (v) the probability that a child will not be stunted in early childhood (68 percent). Based on these five variables and the harmonized test score, the expected productivity in adulthood of a child is estimated in comparison to full productivity that could be expected with full education and health. The estimate is that a child born in Tanzania today will reach only 39 percent of its potential. This is lower than the average for sub-Saharan Africa region and lower middle-income countries.

One last statistic may help make the case for the importance of investing in education for the country’s development. A country’s wealth mainly consists of three types of capital: (1) Produced capital comes from  investments in assets such as factories, equipment, or infrastructure; (2) Natural capital consists of assets such as agricultural land and both renewable and nonrenewable natural resources; (3) Human capital is measured as the present value of the future earnings of the labor force, which in turn depends on the level of educational attainment of the labor force. The latest estimates from the World Bank suggest that human capital wealth in Tanzania accounts for 61 percent of national wealth. 

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Selected Literature

Supporting countries in using evidence for policymaking is an objective shared by many organizations and initiatives. Under the KIX initiative for which UNESCO IICBA manages the KIX Africa 19 Hub and collaborates with KIX Africa 21, the focus is on six themes: (i) learning assessment systems (ii) early childhood education; (iii) teaching and learning (iv) the data challenge; (v) gender equality; and (vi) equity and inclusion. For each topic, a link is provided to the GPE-KIX Discussion paper written at the start of the initiative in 2019 and additional publications that could be useful for policy. By necessity, to keep this brief short, only a few resources can be mentioned, but additional resources can be accessed through digital repositories listed below. A brief note on UNESCO IICBA research is also provided.

Learning Assessment Systems [GPE-KIX Discussion Paper]. Learning assessment tools and systems are essential to gauge and improve learning outcomes for students. A primer on large scale assessments from the World Bank provides guidance on such assessments, as does a review of learning assessments in Africa from UNESCO IIEP. Among regional assessments, PASEC (Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems) for francophone countries in West and Central Arica and SEACMEQ (Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality) for anglophone countries in East and Southern Africa are the best known. These instruments target primary schools. Other tools that focus and assess the learning outcomes of young learners include the Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Assessments (EGRA/EGMA). Supported and funded primarily by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), these assessments are administered by different agencies such as the World Bank, RTI International and others across the continent. The West African Examinations Council also provides guidance on examinations and certificate accreditation in Anglophone countries of West Africa. Also interesting is PISA for development which is being piloted in secondary schools in a few African countries. 

Tanzania and Zanzibar participate in regional and international assessments such as SEACMEQ. Within Tanzania, the National Examination Council of Tanzania operating under the Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MoEST) administers national exams, including the Primary School Leaving Examination, the Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (CSEE) at the end of lower secondary education (Form 4), the Advanced CSEE at the end of upper secondary, national exams (Standard 4 in primary and Form 2 in lower secondary education)), as well as the exams for teacher training.

One comprehensive study, Cilliers et al. (2020), evaluated a low-stakes accountability program in Tanzania called ‘Big Results Now in Education’ (BRN), which published both nationwide and within-district school rankings. The study found showed that the BRN program had a positive impact on the educational achievements of schools in the bottom two deciles of their respective districts. The study was carried out using a diverse range of data sources, including the Tanzania Primary School Leaving Examination, administrative data from the Education Management Information System (EMIS), and micro-data from the World Bank's Service Delivery Indicators (SDI) survey in Tanzania.

Furthermore, A 2019 survey from The Teaching and Learning: Educators' Network for Transformation (TALENT) indicated that Tanzania has a national policy on assessment underscoring the country’s commitment to using a structured approach to assessing educational outcomes. In the same year, the World Bank analyzed the learning outcomes of students in Tanzania, utilizing data collected from Service Delivery Indicators (SDI) and data from Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) Service Delivery.

Improving Teaching and Learning [GPE-KIX Discussion Paper]. How teachers and students interact and engage is key to improve learning outcomes. Cost-effective approaches pr ‘smart buys’ to improve learning in low-income countries are discussed in a World Bank report. Teaching is paramount, and therefore so are teacher policies to ensure that successful teachers make for successful students. Standards for the teaching profession were proposed by Education International and UNESCO with regional standards available from the Africa Union Commission, including a framework for standards and competencies. 

Tanzania uses a 1-7-4-2-3+ structure compromising early childhood education, primary education (encompassing Standards I to VII), Secondary Ordinary-Level education, Secondary Advanced-Level education, and a minimum of three years of post-secondary education. 

As of 2022, Tanzania is in the process of major reforms of the Education Sector, including the review of the Education and Training Policy (2014) and Curriculum for Basic Education. The revision aims primarily to upgrade curricula to align with global developments in technology innovation, as well as to ensure a strong focus on imparting job-relevant skills.

Key relevant bodies responsible for these reforms include The Tanzanian Institute of Education (TIE), which is responsible for curriculum development and, since 2014, textbook development and production. To maintain the quality of education, School Quality Control Offices are established in all 26 regions of mainland Tanzania. There are two standardized and official forms of performance evaluation for teachers, which are the individual Open Performance Review and Assessment System (OPRAS, every six months) and the school-level School Quality Assurance visit.

The World Bank’s report ‘Tanzania Education Sector Institutional and Governance Assessment’ (2021) examines the drivers of efficient and effective basic education service delivery and provides comprehensive recommendations. In addition, a report by the National Audit Office, Controller and Auditor General’s on ‘Management of The Provision off Capacity Building to In-Service Teachers’ (2020) reveals that only 18% of primary and 19% of secondary teachers received an in-service training between 2015/16 and 2018/19, and primary teachers who did receive training were mainly in the early grades. Furthermore, continuous professional development is mainly centrally organized and dependent on donor funds.

Lastly, Mbiti et al. (2019) evaluate the impact of providing schools with (i) unconditional grants, (ii) teacher incentives based on student performance, and (iii) both of the above in Tanzania, based on the data from 350 public primary schools across 10 districts in mainland Tanzania.

Strengthening Early Childhood Care and Education [GPE-KIX Discussion Paper]. Experiences children undergo in early childhood can affect their entire life. Nurturing care is essential. Essential interventions in early childhood include pre-primary education.  Yet less than half of young children in Africa benefit from pre-primary education according to the Global Education Monitoring report 2021.  The Office of Research at UNICEF maintains a webpage with useful links to organizations working on child-related themes organized by subject, including early childhood. 

Tanzania’s efforts to enhance Early Childhood Development (ECD) are exemplified by the establishment of the first National Multisectoral ECD Programme for the financial year 2021/2022 to 2025/2026. The program is led by the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children.

For a comprehensive insight into the ECE landscape in Tanzania, the African Early Childhood Network (AfECN) offers the Tanzania: ECD Profile which is based on data from UNICEF’s The State of the World's Children 2023). 

In Zanzibar, a 2023 UNESCO report on ECE in the continent provides an overview of how Islamic centers of learnings, such as Madrasa’s have played an important role in early learning. A Madrasa preschool programme demonstrated that community-based preschools, supported by NGOs, can be effectively managed, and sustained. The report cites evaluations that reveal that Madrasa preschools compare favorably with other high-quality preschools in terms of classroom practices, learning environments, and children's performance outcomes.

For an in-depth exploration of the factors that facilitate or impede efforts to make early childhood education a political priority in four countries, including Tanzania, see the World Bank’s ‘Political Prioritization of Early Childhood Education in Low- and Middle-Income Countries’ (2021). Furthermore, the World Bank Early Childhood Stimulation in Tanzania: Findings from a Pilot Study in Katavi Region (2018) investigates the links between early stimulation practices and development of children 0-3 years of age in the Katavi region. Lastly, Mendenhall et al. (2021) explore promising innovations for Teacher Professional Development that can support the uptake of play-based learning in three countries, including Tanzania. Basic data on early childhood development is available from a nurturing care profile.

Achieving Gender Equality In and Through Education [GPE-KIX Discussion Paper]. The cost of gender inequality is massive, as is the cost of not educating girls, including in Africa. When girls lack education, this affects their earnings in adulthood, the number of children they will have and their health, as well as their agency, among others. When girls are not in school, they are also at higher risk of child marriage, with again high costs for them, their children, and society. In Africa, the African Union’s International Centre for the Education of Girls and Women in Africa supports member states on girls’ education. 

Alongside the MoEST, the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children is responsible for ensuring the achievement of gender equality in and through education in Tanzania. In this context, a National Accelerated Action and Investment Agenda for Adolescent Health and Wellbeing 2021/22-2024/25 was developed to assess the gendered implications in the education sector and respective commitments.

In 2021, the Tanzanian government announced an expansion of formal education access for girls, particularly pregnant students, and young mothers in government schools. To gain insight into recent progress, the World Bank’s restructuring paper for the Tanzania Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQUIP) (2022) provides an update on progress and the current situation of gender equality in the country.

Other efforts to empower girls in Tanzania have included the, “Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents (ELA)” program by BRAC, evaluated by Buehren et al. (2017). This initiative included elements such as safe-space clubs, life skills training, and livelihood training, contributing to the broader goal of advancing gender equality in education. 

UNICEF’s report “Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MHH) among school girls in Tanzania” (2021) presents information about the MHH situation among schoolgirls in Tanzania. Global Education Monitoring Report’s “Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in Tanzania” provides an overview of CSE in the country. 

A 2022 UNICEF report on Child Marriage in Eastern and Southern Africa reinforces the significance of education as a tool for preventing child marriage. It estimates that 3 in 10 young women were first married or in union before the age of 18. 65% of women aged 20 to 24 years who were first married or in union before age 18 had no education as compared to 9% who had at least a secondary education.

Data Management Systems Strengthening [GPEKIX Discussion Paper]. Education management information systems (EMIS) are key for management. They can also support evidence-based policymaking. In Africa, the African Union’s Institute of Education for Development supports member states on EMIS. In addition to EMIS data, other data sources including household surveys, school surveys, student assessments, and impact evaluations of pilot interventions are essential to inform policy. 

In the Tanzanian education sector, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) activities are jointly supervised by MoEST and the President’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG). A critical part of M&E is the Education Sector Management Information System (ESMIS). It was introduced in 2007, harmonizing three subsystems: (i) the Basic Education Management Information System (BEMIS) for (school-level) annual school census (ASC) data; (ii) the Vocational Education and Training Management Information System (VET-MIS) for annual census data from Vocational Training Centers (VTCs) and Folk Development Colleges (FDCs); and (iii) the Higher and Technical Education Management Information System (HET-MIS) for annual census data from technical institutes, colleges, and universities.

To provide valuable demographic data that informs educational planning, the National Bureau of Statistics conducts a population and housing census every 10 years since 1967. The most recent census in 2022 indicates that the population increased by 37% between 2012 and 2022, making the country’s population growth the third highest in the world. However, data on teachers requires further improvement. The World Bank’s report “Tanzania Education Sector Institutional and Governance Assessment” (2021) highlights this challenge. 

The Education Sector Development Plan (ESDP) Appraisal Report (2018), recommends special attention to guarantee suitable coordination between the various ESMIS. The report also suggests rationalizing M&E framework indicators, which currently include over 100 indicators, to streamline the data collection process and enhance its effectiveness. According to a joint 2020 UNESCO and Global Partnership for Education report, Tanzania utilizes StatEduc 2.0 as its EMIS platform.

Equity and Inclusion/Leaving No One Behind [GPEKIX Discussion Paper]. Equity and inclusion are major challenges for education systems. Gender, disability, ethnicity, indigenous status, poverty, displacement, and many other factors may all lead some children to lack access to education. In Africa especially, gaps in educational outcomes between groups may be large, as illustrated in the case of disability. Equity must be at the center of education policy on the continent. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) are Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) are two major international frameworks related to disability-inclusive education exist.

In 2014, Tanzania launched a fee-free education policy for pre-primary and primary education. This policy marked a significant step in enhancing access to education, especially for the most vulnerable populations.

Tanzania ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991 and ratified the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2009. To ensure the effective implementation of these conventions, Tanzania enacted the Persons with Disabilities Act in both 2010 and 2020. These legislative measures emphasize the importance of special and inclusive education in the country.

A key policy framework in inclusive education is the National Strategy for Inclusive Education 2018-2021. This strategy prioritizes several vulnerable groups, including over-aged learners with gap years in their education; learners who live more than seven kilometers from school; children with disabilities; children from nomadic communities; orphans; refugees and learners experiencing other emergencies; children living in extreme poverty and teenage girls. 

To evaluate progress and impact in this area, a 2020 report by ActionAid, Education International and Light for the World provides a country case study on Tanzania. Furthermore, Plan International (2022), in Tanzania, demonstrates interventions that support Burundian refugee girls’ education (enrollment and retention in particular) through Menstrual Hygiene Management training and sanitary items.

Note on UNESCO IICBA Research. IICBA recently launched a new program of applied research on teacher and education issues in Africa. A total of 200 publications have been completed from January to September 2023, including studies, discussion papers, training guides, reports, knowledge briefs, event summaries, and interviews. Several of those publications focus on Tanzania. All publications are available on IICBA’s website. 

Country Policies 

Information on Tanzania’s education system and policies is available on the website of the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology which covers basic and higher education as well as technical education and vocational training (TVET). The Education Sector Development Plan (2016/17-2020/21) that covers Tanzania Mainland is the most recent flagship policy covering the sector in Tanzania Mainland while the Zanzibar Education Development Plan II 2017/2018-2021/2022 is the flagship education policy for education in Zanzibar.  The Education Sector Development Plan (ESDP) Appraisal Report (2018) highlights challenges and recommendations within the education sector, including inter and intra-organizational implementation challenges and duplications. 

Tanzania does have a teaching service commission which is enabled by the Teachers’ Service Commission of Act of 2015. 

A few organizations aim to capture education policies on specific themes across countries, including Tanzania. UNESCO’s Profiles Enhancing Education Reviews (PEER) covering the themes of the Global Education Monitoring reports, including: inclusion in education (2020 Report), non-state actors in education (2021/22 Report), technology in education (2023 Report) and leadership in education (2024/25 Report, forthcoming). PEER also covers additional topics on key SDG 4 issues, including financing for equity, climate change communication and education, and comprehensive sexuality education. 

Knowledge Repositories

Only a few links to the literature on education by theme for Tanzania, Africa, and globally were provided earlier to keep the brief short, but repositories of digital resources facilitate access to the literature. A few of those repositories are listed below by alphabetical order:

Many organizations maintain websites that include country pages with useful information. Examples include the GPE Tanzania Country Page; World Bank Tanzania Country Page; UNESCO IIEP Country Page. Many organizations also maintain blogs on education issues, often with stories on Africa. Examples include Education for All (Global Partnership for Education), Education for Global Development (World Bank), Education Plus Development (Brookings Institutions), and World Education Blog (UNESCO). Beyond blogs focusing on education, blogs on Africa more generally may also provide useful resources. This includes Africa Can End Poverty and Nasikiliza (the World Bank’s two blogs for sub-Saharan Africa ) and  Arab Voices (the Bank’s blog for the Middle East and North Africa).

Data

It is often useful to download data for Tanzania and other countries from multi-country databases. The largest database on development, including education data, is the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI). The World Bank also maintain the Education Statistics (EdStats) database. Both World Bank databases rely in part for education on data from the UNESCO Institute of Statistics. UNESCO also maintains the Global Education Observatory and the World Inequality Database in Education (WIDE), as well as a wide range of other databases. Specific estimates are occasionally maintained by other agencies. For example, UNICEF provides data on out-of-school rates, adjusted net attendance rates, completion rates, foundational learning skills, information communication technology skills, youth and adult literacy rates, and school-age digital connectivity. Another useful reference is StatCompiler which provides data at various levels of aggregation from Demographic and Health Surveys across countries and over time, including Tanzania. For comparison purposes, data from the OECD for member and partner countries (including South Africa) can be useful.

References

References are available through the links provided in this brief.