The management of primary education under the local government system in Tanzania

The purpose of this study was to look into the management of Primary Education (PE) so as to gauge the effectiveness of district councils in performing their functions. We intended to identify areas where district councils were capable and where they were incapable of mobilising for educational resources. It was assumed that for any management to be effective, the actors ought to provide the necessary inputs and work in an appropriate organizational structure. Thus we focused our attention on the PE organizational structure in order to determine whether the Local Government System facilitates PE. The study utilised four research techniques questionnaires, interviews, observation and documentary review. The sample population consisted of education administrators at the Ministries of Education and, Local Government, Community Development, Cooperatives and Marketing plus the regional, district, and school levels, Thus our inquiry involved the two ministries in Dar es Salaam, plus Mwanza region, Ukerere Local Authority and three primary schools. In our findings we found that the present PE organizational structure allowed two parallel channels for reporting and communication. Academic reports are sent to the ministry for Local Government, At the apex of this structure there are two ministerial heads, neither of whom has commanding authority over his counterpart. It was also found that schools operating without adequate inputs. Overall teachers supply indicated a surplus; but this was caused by over supply of Grade B/C teachers which obscured the shortage for Grade A teachers who were overworked. There were no sufficient or adequate school houses, books, furniture, and equipment. We discovered that schools were not integrated into the village admintstration. Our general conclusion was that PE was not effeetiveiy managed because the organization structure did not define specific functions and assign specific roles to individual actors and levels with commensurate powers. Thus, we recommended that there be a thorough definition and decentralisation of roles down to the village levels to allow for effective implementation and easy follow up and accountability. Further, local authorities should be accorded with flexibility in utilising educational funds and schools should be given non-teaching personnel. However, recruitment of Grade B/C teachers should be stopped in favour of Grade A teachers' training.