Effectiveness of vocational skills in primary schools in relation to poverty alleviation in Tanzania: a study of Ileje district

This study examined the effectiveness of teaching and learning the subject of vocational skills in primary schools in relation to poverty alleviation among primary school leavers. It investigated the extent to which primary schools are equipped to teach and learn vocational skills, explored the attitudes of the education stakeholders towards the subject, and investigated the economic activities ex-standard seven youths engage in and their relationship to the vocational skills taught and learned at school. The study was conducted in Ileje district in Mbeya region. The study involved 174 informants. Data were collected through interview, questionnaire, documentary review, focus-group discussion, and observation checklist and were presented mainly qualitatively in the form of tables and description. The study focussed on three research tasks. Based on them several findings were presented. Primary schools in the district were not well equipped in teaching and learning of vocational skills as they lacked competent teachers, teaching and learning resources, and used irrelevant teaching and learning methodologies. A negative attitude towards the vocational skills subject was observed among primary school education stakeholders. A positive relationship was observed between economic activities performed by ex-Std 7 and the vocational skills learned at schools. However there was a need for more specialized training for teachers in order to utilize those skills for wealth creation. The study concluded that vocational skills in primary schools in the district were not taught and learned effectively to enable the graduate to fully benefit from it in income generation. The study recommends a dedicated and more specialized training of teachers, an increased budget for the education sector and primary schools in particular. The use of appropriate teaching and learning methodologies and assisting graduates by providing soft loans and training them in different vocational skills of their preferences and talents were two other recommendations.