By Kimani Kim
The Government has been allocating a large portion of its budget to education which, in recent years, has been between 15 and 19 per cent.
Parents, civil societies, donors and Government officials have high expectations that such a large allocation will improve the quality of education at all levels.
According to stakeholders, however, the amount is insufficient compared to the fast growing demand.
Moreover, the Gross Development Product (GDP) is very low, at less than five per cent compared to the expected over six per cent.
Education priorities are outlined in both the government's Poverty Reduction Strategy and the ministry's Policy and Investment Framework.
These access the quality and relevance of education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
But the most important single intervention to improve access, equity and quality (EFA goals and MDGs) is increased funding, Dr Joseph Kisanji from the Tanzania Education Network (TEN), told The Citizen.
He made a number of suggestions on the capitation grant to Tanzania schools. First, he said, it should be increased to $16 for primary schools and $ 30 for secondary schools. Secondly it should be known to all and lastly it should be delivered in two to four instalments a year, he said.
He said currently the status of teachers and the teaching profession is low. This is reflected by low wages and poor working conditions, apart from lack of political will to address this critical component of quality education.
Periodically the Government has recruited under-qualified teachers to meet needs of expanding primary and secondary education sub-sectors.
"Teachers are assigned to schools to teach after just a couple of weeks training. This undermines teaching as a profession. The low status of teachers is also a reflection of poor teachers' performance," he said.
The don explained that the low status of teachers is responsible for not making it an attractive profession to join. Worse still, some teachers discourage their children from taking up teaching as a career.
Thus there is an urgent need to improve the teachers? conditions of service in order to make the profession more attractive than it is now.
?The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) has developed the Teacher Development Management Strategy (TDMS), the MoEVT 2008, to respond to challenges in teachers' education at all levels, but its implications are enormous.
The training period for teachers was reduced from two years to one because of insufficient funds to finance the whole course. Yet the Government wanted to meet its 2015 vision as quickly as possible.
Mr Kisanji argued that only increased literacy and educational levels would lead to achieving the vision. Meanwhile, access and participation in the pre-primary education is considerably low.
The sector has always been receiving an insufficient funds. Statistics for the year 2007 indicate that there is a serious shortage of teachers for pre-primary education.
In the years 2009/10 and 2010/11 additional 13,542 and 7,349 pre-primary teachers respectively need to be recruited. Of these, a total of 2,617, 9,235 and 10,262 were to be recruited in the years 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09, respectively.
However, this means that 18 million teachers need to be trained and recruited by 2015. But not enough is being done to address the hard-to-reach children, secondary education, adult literacy and early childhood education as well as the Global Campaign for Education (GCE 2008).
A research carried out by TEN in 2007 indicated that there is still a shortage of school buildings and facilities in secondary schools.
Moreover, adoption of skills by teachers has been partial. Therefore, there is need to have quality in service teacher training which is, however, under funded.
In adult and non-formal education (A/NFE), Tanzania has in the past been recognised for the way it provided it at the community level. This resulted in the illiteracy rate being reduced to less than ten per cent.
The literacy rate was impressive at 96.8 per cent in 1986, but currently it is very low as it is not financed, said Mr Kisanji.
Like in all sub-sectors, vulnerable groups like street children, young people, orphans, people with disabilities and those from social groups have limited access to education, something that is totally neglected by the Government. The latter groups include pastoralists and honey gatherers.
The aspect of payments for tutors from the Institute of Adult Education (IAE) compounds the problem. For instance, in urban and rural areas they receive a salary of Sh45, 000 and Sh30, 000 respectively. This is small and always not paid in time.
According to the don, many achievements have been made in raising the enrolment. However, even in this component of education, much remains to be done to achieve 99 per cent enrolment.
More so is the question of completion at primary or basic education level in the Millennium Development Goals 2 (MDG 2) and related Education for All (EFA).
Meanwhile, publicly available budget information does not clearly show the total allocation to the education sector in terms of its main components. This makes it difficult to assess the expenditure on education, for instance.
It would have facilitated knowledge on the total budgeted allocation for the primary education capitation grant for teaching and learning materials.
For the year 2007/08, the total capitation grant was Sh45, 434,399,650. When divided by the total number of enrolled students for 2007 who, according to Basic Education Statistics in Tanzania (BEST), are 8,235,432, we get Sh5, 517 per student.
The figure is about half the amount of Sh12, 000 promised in the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP).
But there seems to be a considerable rift between the education policy and its budget. This creates confusion, distorts priorities and reduces accountability.
An example is the recent policy directive to build secondary schools which has not been accompanied by a distinct budget allocation. As a result, communities are currently scrambling to find resources to meet it.
The apportioned amount does not accurately reflect the funding submissions. Therefore the resource requirements of schools and other learning institutions are little compared to the fast growing demand.
However, education was introduced when the country was neither economically nor administratively ready, Professor Issa Omari of the University of Dar es Salaam, Faculty of Education, recounted.
?A vast amount of additional money and resources should be infused to respond to an increased demand for classrooms, teachers, learning materials and administrative and supervisory functions," he suggested.
He said in Tanzania education gets about 18 per cent of the annual budget compared to Kenya which receives over 30 per cent, but has a smaller population.
Uganda gets over 29 per cent for education which is assisted by several countries for up to 40 per cent. Thus the allocated amount will never improve the quality of Tanzania?s education at all levels.
Out of the allocated 18 per cent, only 50 per cent is directed to shared sectors. The rest will finance consolidated funds like foreign debts, security and the state house.
He added that at the same time, the issued GDP of less than five per cent is still below the expected over six per cent.
A media unit representative at Hakielimu, Ms Anastasia Rugaba, criticised the Government in general and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in particular.
She claimed that they showed inability or unwillingness to engage themselves in careful planning, prioritization and budgeting of policies and programmes.
According to her, the unexpected, badly timed introduction of free Universal Primary Education is one such example. Neighbouring Kenya offers free education which has seen the doubling of pupils? enrolment in schools.
But in practice, the funding requirements of primary schools are not based on submissions made by their advisers who should consult with schools on their budgetary needs.
District officers simply use monthly returns on enrolment, number of teachers and inventories of teaching and learning materials to determine financial requirements in their districts.
In addition, budget ceilings are only given to the sectoral ministries after the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has already consolidated its budget.
At this point it does not again consult with schools and districts in order to revise their funding submissions. This would have made them realign their activities with sectoral priorities and what is possible within the approved budget.
?The difference between what districts ask for and get is so great that there is little credibility in the process,? she said.
However, despite impressive achievements, especially in the expansion of enrolment, HAKIELIMU analyses indicate that in the five years of Primary Education Development Plan (PEDP), a wide regional variation in enrolment rates continues.
Also the rates of repetition, drop-outs and non-completion are relatively high. Worse still, children with disabilities continue to be seriously underserved because of poor finance, the consultant said.
Apart from nation-wide high profile fraud cases, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training loses large amounts of money to ghost workers. These siphon off millions of shillings, Mr Boniface Mtweve (not his real name), a teacher in a reputable secondary schools, said.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Tanzanians hope for better quality of local education
By Kimani Kim
The Government has been allocating a large portion of its budget to education which, in recent years, has been between 15 and 19 per cent.
Parents, civil societies, donors and Government officials have high expectations that such a large allocation will improve the quality of education at all levels.
According to stakeholders, however, the amount is insufficient compared to the fast growing demand.
Moreover, the Gross Development Product (GDP) is very low, at less than five per cent compared to the expected over six per cent.
Education priorities are outlined in both the government's Poverty Reduction Strategy and the ministry's Policy and Investment Framework.
These access the quality and relevance of education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
But the most important single intervention to improve access, equity and quality (EFA goals and MDGs) is increased funding, Dr Joseph Kisanji from the Tanzania Education Network (TEN), told The Citizen.
He made a number of suggestions on the capitation grant to Tanzania schools. First, he said, it should be increased to $16 for primary schools and $ 30 for secondary schools. Secondly it should be known to all and lastly it should be delivered in two to four instalments a year, he said.
He said currently the status of teachers and the teaching profession is low. This is reflected by low wages and poor working conditions, apart from lack of political will to address this critical component of quality education.
Periodically the Government has recruited under-qualified teachers to meet needs of expanding primary and secondary education sub-sectors.
"Teachers are assigned to schools to teach after just a couple of weeks training. This undermines teaching as a profession. The low status of teachers is also a reflection of poor teachers' performance," he said.
The don explained that the low status of teachers is responsible for not making it an attractive profession to join. Worse still, some teachers discourage their children from taking up teaching as a career.
Thus there is an urgent need to improve the teachers? conditions of service in order to make the profession more attractive than it is now.
?The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) has developed the Teacher Development Management Strategy (TDMS), the MoEVT 2008, to respond to challenges in teachers' education at all levels, but its implications are enormous.
The training period for teachers was reduced from two years to one because of insufficient funds to finance the whole course. Yet the Government wanted to meet its 2015 vision as quickly as possible.
Mr Kisanji argued that only increased literacy and educational levels would lead to achieving the vision. Meanwhile, access and participation in the pre-primary education is considerably low.
The sector has always been receiving an insufficient funds. Statistics for the year 2007 indicate that there is a serious shortage of teachers for pre-primary education.
In the years 2009/10 and 2010/11 additional 13,542 and 7,349 pre-primary teachers respectively need to be recruited. Of these, a total of 2,617, 9,235 and 10,262 were to be recruited in the years 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09, respectively.
However, this means that 18 million teachers need to be trained and recruited by 2015. But not enough is being done to address the hard-to-reach children, secondary education, adult literacy and early childhood education as well as the Global Campaign for Education (GCE 2008).
A research carried out by TEN in 2007 indicated that there is still a shortage of school buildings and facilities in secondary schools.
Moreover, adoption of skills by teachers has been partial. Therefore, there is need to have quality in service teacher training which is, however, under funded.
In adult and non-formal education (A/NFE), Tanzania has in the past been recognised for the way it provided it at the community level. This resulted in the illiteracy rate being reduced to less than ten per cent.
The literacy rate was impressive at 96.8 per cent in 1986, but currently it is very low as it is not financed, said Mr Kisanji.
Like in all sub-sectors, vulnerable groups like street children, young people, orphans, people with disabilities and those from social groups have limited access to education, something that is totally neglected by the Government. The latter groups include pastoralists and honey gatherers.
The aspect of payments for tutors from the Institute of Adult Education (IAE) compounds the problem. For instance, in urban and rural areas they receive a salary of Sh45, 000 and Sh30, 000 respectively. This is small and always not paid in time.
According to the don, many achievements have been made in raising the enrolment. However, even in this component of education, much remains to be done to achieve 99 per cent enrolment.
More so is the question of completion at primary or basic education level in the Millennium Development Goals 2 (MDG 2) and related Education for All (EFA).
Meanwhile, publicly available budget information does not clearly show the total allocation to the education sector in terms of its main components. This makes it difficult to assess the expenditure on education, for instance.
It would have facilitated knowledge on the total budgeted allocation for the primary education capitation grant for teaching and learning materials.
For the year 2007/08, the total capitation grant was Sh45, 434,399,650. When divided by the total number of enrolled students for 2007 who, according to Basic Education Statistics in Tanzania (BEST), are 8,235,432, we get Sh5, 517 per student.
The figure is about half the amount of Sh12, 000 promised in the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP).
But there seems to be a considerable rift between the education policy and its budget. This creates confusion, distorts priorities and reduces accountability.
An example is the recent policy directive to build secondary schools which has not been accompanied by a distinct budget allocation. As a result, communities are currently scrambling to find resources to meet it.
The apportioned amount does not accurately reflect the funding submissions. Therefore the resource requirements of schools and other learning institutions are little compared to the fast growing demand.
However, education was introduced when the country was neither economically nor administratively ready, Professor Issa Omari of the University of Dar es Salaam, Faculty of Education, recounted.
?A vast amount of additional money and resources should be infused to respond to an increased demand for classrooms, teachers, learning materials and administrative and supervisory functions," he suggested.
He said in Tanzania education gets about 18 per cent of the annual budget compared to Kenya which receives over 30 per cent, but has a smaller population.
Uganda gets over 29 per cent for education which is assisted by several countries for up to 40 per cent. Thus the allocated amount will never improve the quality of Tanzania?s education at all levels.
Out of the allocated 18 per cent, only 50 per cent is directed to shared sectors. The rest will finance consolidated funds like foreign debts, security and the state house.
He added that at the same time, the issued GDP of less than five per cent is still below the expected over six per cent.
A media unit representative at Hakielimu, Ms Anastasia Rugaba, criticised the Government in general and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in particular.
She claimed that they showed inability or unwillingness to engage themselves in careful planning, prioritization and budgeting of policies and programmes.
According to her, the unexpected, badly timed introduction of free Universal Primary Education is one such example. Neighbouring Kenya offers free education which has seen the doubling of pupils? enrolment in schools.
But in practice, the funding requirements of primary schools are not based on submissions made by their advisers who should consult with schools on their budgetary needs.
District officers simply use monthly returns on enrolment, number of teachers and inventories of teaching and learning materials to determine financial requirements in their districts.
In addition, budget ceilings are only given to the sectoral ministries after the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has already consolidated its budget.
At this point it does not again consult with schools and districts in order to revise their funding submissions. This would have made them realign their activities with sectoral priorities and what is possible within the approved budget.
?The difference between what districts ask for and get is so great that there is little credibility in the process,? she said.
However, despite impressive achievements, especially in the expansion of enrolment, HAKIELIMU analyses indicate that in the five years of Primary Education Development Plan (PEDP), a wide regional variation in enrolment rates continues.
Also the rates of repetition, drop-outs and non-completion are relatively high. Worse still, children with disabilities continue to be seriously underserved because of poor finance, the consultant said.
Apart from nation-wide high profile fraud cases, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training loses large amounts of money to ghost workers. These siphon off millions of shillings, Mr Boniface Mtweve (not his real name), a teacher in a reputable secondary schools, said.
The Government has been allocating a large portion of its budget to education which, in recent years, has been between 15 and 19 per cent.
Parents, civil societies, donors and Government officials have high expectations that such a large allocation will improve the quality of education at all levels.
According to stakeholders, however, the amount is insufficient compared to the fast growing demand.
Moreover, the Gross Development Product (GDP) is very low, at less than five per cent compared to the expected over six per cent.
Education priorities are outlined in both the government's Poverty Reduction Strategy and the ministry's Policy and Investment Framework.
These access the quality and relevance of education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
But the most important single intervention to improve access, equity and quality (EFA goals and MDGs) is increased funding, Dr Joseph Kisanji from the Tanzania Education Network (TEN), told The Citizen.
He made a number of suggestions on the capitation grant to Tanzania schools. First, he said, it should be increased to $16 for primary schools and $ 30 for secondary schools. Secondly it should be known to all and lastly it should be delivered in two to four instalments a year, he said.
He said currently the status of teachers and the teaching profession is low. This is reflected by low wages and poor working conditions, apart from lack of political will to address this critical component of quality education.
Periodically the Government has recruited under-qualified teachers to meet needs of expanding primary and secondary education sub-sectors.
"Teachers are assigned to schools to teach after just a couple of weeks training. This undermines teaching as a profession. The low status of teachers is also a reflection of poor teachers' performance," he said.
The don explained that the low status of teachers is responsible for not making it an attractive profession to join. Worse still, some teachers discourage their children from taking up teaching as a career.
Thus there is an urgent need to improve the teachers? conditions of service in order to make the profession more attractive than it is now.
?The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) has developed the Teacher Development Management Strategy (TDMS), the MoEVT 2008, to respond to challenges in teachers' education at all levels, but its implications are enormous.
The training period for teachers was reduced from two years to one because of insufficient funds to finance the whole course. Yet the Government wanted to meet its 2015 vision as quickly as possible.
Mr Kisanji argued that only increased literacy and educational levels would lead to achieving the vision. Meanwhile, access and participation in the pre-primary education is considerably low.
The sector has always been receiving an insufficient funds. Statistics for the year 2007 indicate that there is a serious shortage of teachers for pre-primary education.
In the years 2009/10 and 2010/11 additional 13,542 and 7,349 pre-primary teachers respectively need to be recruited. Of these, a total of 2,617, 9,235 and 10,262 were to be recruited in the years 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09, respectively.
However, this means that 18 million teachers need to be trained and recruited by 2015. But not enough is being done to address the hard-to-reach children, secondary education, adult literacy and early childhood education as well as the Global Campaign for Education (GCE 2008).
A research carried out by TEN in 2007 indicated that there is still a shortage of school buildings and facilities in secondary schools.
Moreover, adoption of skills by teachers has been partial. Therefore, there is need to have quality in service teacher training which is, however, under funded.
In adult and non-formal education (A/NFE), Tanzania has in the past been recognised for the way it provided it at the community level. This resulted in the illiteracy rate being reduced to less than ten per cent.
The literacy rate was impressive at 96.8 per cent in 1986, but currently it is very low as it is not financed, said Mr Kisanji.
Like in all sub-sectors, vulnerable groups like street children, young people, orphans, people with disabilities and those from social groups have limited access to education, something that is totally neglected by the Government. The latter groups include pastoralists and honey gatherers.
The aspect of payments for tutors from the Institute of Adult Education (IAE) compounds the problem. For instance, in urban and rural areas they receive a salary of Sh45, 000 and Sh30, 000 respectively. This is small and always not paid in time.
According to the don, many achievements have been made in raising the enrolment. However, even in this component of education, much remains to be done to achieve 99 per cent enrolment.
More so is the question of completion at primary or basic education level in the Millennium Development Goals 2 (MDG 2) and related Education for All (EFA).
Meanwhile, publicly available budget information does not clearly show the total allocation to the education sector in terms of its main components. This makes it difficult to assess the expenditure on education, for instance.
It would have facilitated knowledge on the total budgeted allocation for the primary education capitation grant for teaching and learning materials.
For the year 2007/08, the total capitation grant was Sh45, 434,399,650. When divided by the total number of enrolled students for 2007 who, according to Basic Education Statistics in Tanzania (BEST), are 8,235,432, we get Sh5, 517 per student.
The figure is about half the amount of Sh12, 000 promised in the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP).
But there seems to be a considerable rift between the education policy and its budget. This creates confusion, distorts priorities and reduces accountability.
An example is the recent policy directive to build secondary schools which has not been accompanied by a distinct budget allocation. As a result, communities are currently scrambling to find resources to meet it.
The apportioned amount does not accurately reflect the funding submissions. Therefore the resource requirements of schools and other learning institutions are little compared to the fast growing demand.
However, education was introduced when the country was neither economically nor administratively ready, Professor Issa Omari of the University of Dar es Salaam, Faculty of Education, recounted.
?A vast amount of additional money and resources should be infused to respond to an increased demand for classrooms, teachers, learning materials and administrative and supervisory functions," he suggested.
He said in Tanzania education gets about 18 per cent of the annual budget compared to Kenya which receives over 30 per cent, but has a smaller population.
Uganda gets over 29 per cent for education which is assisted by several countries for up to 40 per cent. Thus the allocated amount will never improve the quality of Tanzania?s education at all levels.
Out of the allocated 18 per cent, only 50 per cent is directed to shared sectors. The rest will finance consolidated funds like foreign debts, security and the state house.
He added that at the same time, the issued GDP of less than five per cent is still below the expected over six per cent.
A media unit representative at Hakielimu, Ms Anastasia Rugaba, criticised the Government in general and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in particular.
She claimed that they showed inability or unwillingness to engage themselves in careful planning, prioritization and budgeting of policies and programmes.
According to her, the unexpected, badly timed introduction of free Universal Primary Education is one such example. Neighbouring Kenya offers free education which has seen the doubling of pupils? enrolment in schools.
But in practice, the funding requirements of primary schools are not based on submissions made by their advisers who should consult with schools on their budgetary needs.
District officers simply use monthly returns on enrolment, number of teachers and inventories of teaching and learning materials to determine financial requirements in their districts.
In addition, budget ceilings are only given to the sectoral ministries after the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has already consolidated its budget.
At this point it does not again consult with schools and districts in order to revise their funding submissions. This would have made them realign their activities with sectoral priorities and what is possible within the approved budget.
?The difference between what districts ask for and get is so great that there is little credibility in the process,? she said.
However, despite impressive achievements, especially in the expansion of enrolment, HAKIELIMU analyses indicate that in the five years of Primary Education Development Plan (PEDP), a wide regional variation in enrolment rates continues.
Also the rates of repetition, drop-outs and non-completion are relatively high. Worse still, children with disabilities continue to be seriously underserved because of poor finance, the consultant said.
Apart from nation-wide high profile fraud cases, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training loses large amounts of money to ghost workers. These siphon off millions of shillings, Mr Boniface Mtweve (not his real name), a teacher in a reputable secondary schools, said.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Being an Albino student is more trauma than you can imagine
By Kimani Kim
While Hashimu Hassani, 12, has not faced the violent attacks on albinos seen in other parts of the country, he has not been able to escape the psychological trauma.
Unlike several other albino students especially in rural areas who have stopped attending school fearing attacks, Hassani still goes to school. In the city it is a lot better, the attacks are not as rampant as in the remote rural areas where more than 40 albinos have been murdered since 2007. But Hassani who is in Grade Four at a primary school in Mwenge, Dar es Salaam, is faced with two other perilous problems- fear and social rejection.
"Other pupils ridicule me. They have given me a derogatory name 'Mzungu' and some don't even want anything to do with me," says Hassani who lives with his grandmother, Asha Mabruki at Mwenge Mlalakuwa. Life has become a nightmare for hundreds of students with albinism since the country was hit by the ritual killings of albinos in the past two years.
The recent murders of albinos in the Lake Zone regions have battered Tanzania's image and attracted worldwide condemnation. At least 40 albinos have been murdered in the past year alone, apparently targeted because of the belief peddled by some witch doctors that albinos� body parts have magical qualities that can bring riches.
Albinism is a hereditary condition that causes little or no pigmentation in people's eyes, skin or hair. In Tanzania, there are over 200,000 albinos while in some parts of Africa the condition is estimated to affect as many as one in every 1,000 people.
Albinos struggle with poor eyesight, and are prone to skin cancer and have shorter life expectancy. Students with albinism say they now have to contend with fear and sometimes ridicule. After learning of the murder of nine-year-old Esther Charles recently, in Shinyanga Region, Hassani's fear has heightened. "We used to avoid the sun due to our skin problems, now we are avoiding people.
I shudder at the thought of going to school every morning because of these reports," he says. The murder of Esther, whose legs were cut off on a Sunday night at her home in Kahama District, has raised new fears about the Government's ability to stop the attacks.
Despite involving the International Police (Interpol) and launching a poll to identify the murderers in the country, the well-orchestrated murders are proving too complicated for the authorities. With this trend, there is rising concern that a majority of people with albinism are not accessing education and other social services because of fear.
'Too terrified' Hassani who wants to be a judge when he grows up now only goes to school after his grandmother persuades him, and because he is guaranteed to be back home by 2pm everyday. So traumatised by the killings and ridicule that he feels he does not belong to the communities around him anymore.
"What gives me little courage is a few empathetic friends who come to pick me for school, otherwise I wouldn’t be going there anymore. I am too terrified to walk alone even here in the city," he says. His granny also gives him Sh500 as an incentive to attend school everyday but he says the money cannot stop some hoodlums in the streets from calling him ‘zeru’ (ghost). Psychological trauma Salama Peter is a final year law student at the University of Dar es Salaam who has albinism. It is difficult to learn peacefully these days.
There is a price to pay for this skin. It’s so unthinkable how evil human beings can be, he said. Despite the rampant attacks recently, Tanzania has no special law protecting albinos whose lives have been endangered and Peter says something must done to address the problem.
"Foreigners in public colleges and universities are given special treatment like secure residence, I believe the same should apply to us because we face more threats than them (foreigners),"he says. He adds: "The fear that I have everyday is not mine alone.
My parents living in remote parts of Mbeya are worried day and night. They keep calling me, and I also have sleepless nights worrying about them. It is a disturbing situation." Peter says though he appears to be safer than other albinos in rural areas he has been left with a deep psychological trauma because of the killings and abductions of people with albinism.
"Learning becomes difficult when you are not in the right state of mind, and you would need to have an environment that can at least assure you of safety. Sadly, the school or college is not a comfort zone either," says the law student. Last year, President Jakaya Kikwete appointed Tanzania’s first albino MP Al-Shymaa Kway-Geer to fight the discrimination that she and other people with albinism suffer in the country.
Fighting discrimination Ms Kway-Geer was herself victimised when young. While at primary primary school, she says people used to laugh at her and recalls that some didn't even like to touch her fearing to be infected with her skin colour. In a bid to fight discrimination against people with albinism, the Albino Association of Tanzania (AAT) says it is planning to embark on a countrywide educational programme to sensitise communities.
"People, even some parents, still need to know and understand that albinos are human beings just like you. It is a medical condition," Ms Ziada Ally, the association’s secretary-general, says. Priscilla Samuel, a 16-year-old student who features in an advertisement aimed at sensitising people not to discriminate against albinos notes that her family is still suffering life-threatening social rejection.
A Form Two student at Jangwani Secondary School in Dar es Salaam, Priscilla also says she and her albino twin sister are still living in fear despite assurances by the authorities that they are safe at school. "I am too terrified to go to school or to get into bed at night despite calls by Government urging our communities to help us and escort albino children to school," she says. Though Priscilla aspires to be an accountant she is afraid her dream may be shattered because even at school she cannot concentrate on studying. 'Easy targets'
According to the AAT, the majority of albinos who have been attacked and killed recently are children of school going age. Ms Ally said the contract killers target children most, because of the superstitious belief that children are "pure" and hence their body parts are more likely to be effective. "Amongst the over 46 albinos who were attacked, abducted or murdered countrywide, school children have been the main target of these killers. Most of them were abducted or killed on their way to or from school," she said.
But Ms Ally explained that the other reason could be that school children are easy targets because they are less likely to resist attacks by their assailants. "It is also very important for parents in especially rural areas not send to send their children on errands that are likely to expose them to the murderers," Ms Ally who is also a teacher said. The Government banned witchdoctors from practising in a raft of measures announced early this year to stop the widespread killings of albinos in the country.
But some traditional healers in Mwanza are reportedly defying the Government ban announced in January and working secretly. It also launched a ballot in the regions hardest hit by the murders where members of the public would name suspected people behind the vice.
But critics say some people could abuse the secret ballot to settle their personal scores with their enemies and spark conflict. Although more than 90 people were reportedly arrested in connection with the murders since last year, some of the suspects are allegedly colluding with the police to escape prosecution.
For instance, there are reports that among those arrested between January, and a few months towards the end of last year, were four police officers. The policemen were nabbed on suspicion of assisting the killers who trade albino body parts to witchdoctors and superstitious fortune seekers.
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