The King's Diary: Why We Teach in English

Dear Me

The other day I visited a secondary school. Expanding access to secondary education has been one of my favourite policies. It has made me popular with parents because many pupils who complete primary school can now continue their studies. At the same time my supporters benefit from the construction required.

Having pushed this policy for so long, I was curious how successful the project really was. While inspecting the building I decided to do a small investigation. I asked a Form 3 student: “How will your secondary education be of use to you and to Tanzania?”

His answer left me with little doubt: “In my secondary education used to find the political in swahili. I dont know why dont you find all subjects in secondary in Swahili others in English. I think if the subjects we can find in swahili the secondary it is their happy to enjoyed the subject except eny reason”. The answer was clearly incomprehensible.

Then I switched language and asked the same question in Kiswahili. This time I got a sensible answer: “Elimu yangu nitakayopata katika shule ya sekondari itaninufaisha mimi pamoja na taifa langu. Nitashiriki kikamilifu katika kazi ya kujitolea nafsi yangu kuondoa ujinga, magonjwa, nitashiriki kikamilifu kuwafundisha wazee ambao hawakupata nafasi ya kusoma” (The secondary education that I will get will benefit my country and me. I will participate fully in volunteering in person to eradicate ignorance, disease, I will participate fully in teaching the old who did not get the chance to study).

I was very pleased with the results of my research. More than 1.4 million students are enrolled in secondary schools. As a consequence there are at least 1 million families who are proud of the achievements of their offspring. By implication these families are grateful to me, the King, the one who has created this opportunity. At the same time these students do not learn much because they do not understand the language of instruction. And that’s wonderful too.

Parents are happy because their offspring made it into secondary school. Teachers are happy because they have jobs. My inner circle is happy because the children educated by the public education system will never form a threat to themselves or their positions. Even their children (who go to private schools) will never be outcompeted by these uneducated ignoramuses.

That night I slept really well. Rarely perform projects as satisfactory as this one.

The King's Diary: Education and Tracking the Opposition

Dear Me,

Inspired by the Arab protests, the opposition keeps calling for change. Do they realize who they are challenging? I cannot allow anyone to threaten my position. Already I instructed my ministers to denounce the opposition whenever possible. I also told the police to keep a close eye on them and to harass them whenever they can.

I am sure the opposition has heard me, but I am not sure whether they have listened. If they do not come to their senses, I fear I will have to resort to violence to calm them down. Meanwhile I'll keep beating the instability drum by publicly stating that the opposition threatens peace in the Kingdom. If I cannot scare the opposition into submission, I should still be able to make my subjects believe that only the TKP can guarantee stability! We simply have to remain in power.

While it is necessary to protect my position, by treating the opposition harshly we might be putting wind in their sails. Citizens always tend to sympathize with the underdog. And as long as deep dissatisfaction continues to run through my Kingdom, the opposition is likely to prey upon it.

Take education for instance. Parents no longer accept the argument that the TKP brought them schools. They expect their kids to learn. On this count statistics presented to me in confidence are worrisome: 23% of teachers are not in school on any given day and when in school, teachers spend half their time outside the classroom. As a consequence children are only taught 2 hours and 04 minutes a day! Instead of the 5 hours. It’s a miracle some still manage to pass their exams.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Education pays all teacher salaries in full and on time. Of course they do, I insist on it to ensure a large loyal TKP cadre across the Kingdom. I wonder though whether time has come to demand more from the teachers than loyalty alone. Maybe I can talk to the Teacher Union and convince them to tell their members to teach as well. In addition, I could demand headmasters to closely track teacher performance. And I could order 10 household leaders to monitor headmasters and inform the TKP about it. Hmmmm.... I like it. It strengthens our control, won’t cost a penny and might defuse the popular unrest a bit.

07 March 2011

Education, education, education.

Swahili Street posted some very interesting news today:

"Uwezo - an initiative of Twaweza - decided to measure [education] and launched their findings just this morning (in the luxury of the Kilimanjaro Kempinski – always a questionable choice for NGO affairs, I feel). Their survey of over 22,000 households and their 42,000 children confirms suspicions. 80 percent of primary school leavers (that is, they have completed all seven years) can read to a level they should have reached in their second year, and maybe higher. And 70 percent of primary school leavers can deal with second year mathematics."

Tafakari. Ting! Ting!

Public Interest Intellectualism

I came across a recent paper by Amb. J.V. Mwapachu on the University of the Future in Africa,* discussing the policy side of tertiary education and the place of academia in development. In it, I found this opinion quoted:

"In his critical paper, 'From Neo Liberalism to Pan Africanism: Towards reconstructing an Easter African Discourse.' Shivji laments, in the context of the impact of neo-liberalism on higher education in Africa, that the "public intellectual, whose vocation is to comment, protest, caricaturise, satirise, analyse, and publicise the life around him or her is rapidly becoming history."

Part of this might be explained by the gap between the analogue and digital generations. Professor, may I introduce you to the blogosphere? Comment, protest, caricature, satire? Check. Analysis, publicizing the life around? Check, check, check. Nonetheless, I think Mzee has highlighted a crucial point- at least one major part of the public intellectual's discourse was the discussion of Ideas.

While I would like to assure Prof. Shivji that there are some young intellectuals working in the sphere of public discourse through various means- newspaper articles, online fora, discussion panels- I don't know that this is necessarily done as frequently in blogging, where we tend to focus on events and people/celebrity. In my experience, the pressure in blogging is to get as close to the event horizon of whatever is current in your areas of interest. This does not leave much room, or sympathy, for broader ruminations.

I have also been struck by the fact that there is a gendered aspect to this field. Surprise! There are just not enough female or feminist intellectuals sticking their oar in the stream of 'hard' public discourse. But that's a tangent- what I wanted to say is that the above quote does point to a vacuum in our public discourse: the discussion of those Ideas on which our plans and actions are supposedly based. For instance, how do we perceive our practice of democracy today in Tanzania- should we be content with personality politics? Are our gender roles are in keeping with our 'utu' philosophy on the worth of human life? What about the concept of excellence in animal husbandry (small-holding, humane treatment and transport infrastructure) that might result in The Perfect Steak being an exemplary product of Tanzanian agricultural prowess- is that supported by Kilimo Kwanza?

To kick it back to our education system, I haven't really seen much evidence of it being geared towards developing critical thinking and the creativity, independence and daring required to innovate. That might be something to worry about when talking about the University of the Future. Anyways, here's a little treat I found about a different form of intelligence for those of you with an inner geek . Have a thoughtful weekend.

* 'The University of the Future: Perspectives for Tanzania.' Paper presented by Amb. Dr. Juma V. Mwapachu, Secretary General, East African Community, at the Tanzania Higher Education Forum on "Universities for Sustainable Development: Trends, Prospects and Challenges," Arusha, 12th May 2010.