Teachers. One of the biggest problems in the Tanzanian education system is the overwhelming lack of qualified teachers. It is understandable that their number could not increase to the same extent as the number of students. As a result, assistant teachers and teachers with a very basic education are still being hired by teacher colleges. This training is available to any 17-year-old secondary school graduate (simple degree only). As many school leaders have confirmed to us, this training is not enough to achieve better results using new teaching methods. Another measure is the recruitment of additional teachers from abroad, primarily from Kenya. However, only private schools are usually able to do this.

The impact of AIDS illness and death also needs to be addressed at this point, which also contributes to the distress among teachers.

Teacher salaries. Compared to many other professions, teachers in Tanzania are significantly underpaid. Sometimes, and especially in rural areas, they are not paid at all or late for several months. This has a direct impact on the motivation of all teachers, whose presence in schools is noticeably low. Due to the teachers having second and third jobs, but also simply due to demotivation and resignation, a considerable part of the teaching is simply canceled or distributed to the remaining teachers.

These circumstances are much less pronounced in private schools, where teachers are generally paid more.

Pedagogical requirement. In many conversations we have heard reports that the inadequate teacher training and the lack of will to rethink mean that outdated teaching methods are still being used, which do not lead to the desired results.

Due to the financial endowment of private schools and the employment of more qualified teachers, this problem is much less pronounced here than in state schools.

Class sizes. According to a 2012 study, the average class size in Tanzania is 46 children. The number varies significantly between schools in urban and those in rural regions. Even if we consider this number to be far too high by our German standards, we got the impression that there is a great deal of variation here and that state schools in rural areas in particular have class sizes of well over 60 children.

The situation in private schools is less extreme. However, there is a risk here that, from an economic point of view, the class sizes will be too large.

Teaching material & furniture. In 2012, 14 students shared a book in Dar es Salaam. In rural Kigoma there were 41 children. Computers or chemistry laboratories are the exception in state schools and are financed almost exclusively by donations.

School-building. At the same time as the school fees were abolished, the state had tens of thousands of schools built. Every community today has at least one school. These are the basis for running a school and set a clear signal for reform for the population. However, if the necessary means to maintain the objects are missing, they also stand for standstill and decay. After a decade we now see school buildings without windows and doors, with leaking roofs and catastrophic sanitary facilities.

School routes and meals: two reasons for sometimes considerable lack of concentration. The distances to school in rural areas can be more than 6 km. Children who walk to school at 5 a.m. with nothing but a hot cup of tea must start their school day exhausted and hungry.

Burden on parents. The extent to which the abolition of school fees has relieved parents is a subject of critical debate. Parents are still, and perhaps more than ever, burdened with incidental expenses for school supplies, uniforms, exams, lunch, transportation, excursions, medical exams and much more.

CONCLUSION. Tanzania’s society still has a long way to go to optimize the education system in such a way that the next generations are qualified and motivated enough to master the upcoming challenges and advance their country. Until then, only a small part of the population will be able to avoid the problems of state schools and send their children to private schools. But it is precisely the nationwide education that leads to a general development of prosperity and not only to that of the elite.
We asked ourselves where Schulbank could start with its support without weakening the personal responsibility of society and government. We have been told several times that supporting state schools tends to result in the authorities withdrawing even more from their responsibilities. Furthermore, we got to know a country with a growth in gross domestic product of 7.0 percent, which is aware of these problems and is able to solve them independently.

Our support goes to those in society who don’t have the slightest chance of a qualified education, orphans and children from poor families. From our point of view, there is currently only one way to obtain the required level of education: through private schools and a few state schools. Through our scholarship program, we can send our support directly to the children, without going through third parties, building schools, purchasing school materials, training teachers, etc. We leave the solution of the problems in the hands of a society that has a sense of responsibility wants to show and does so. In doing so, we refrain from teaching and imposing Western views and practices, and support existing schools and their teaching methods, which should serve as a guide for state schools.