A Form Five classroom at Azania Secondary School in Dar es Salaam on Monday. Over 10,000 Form Five places in public schools will remain vacant this year.
Dar es Salaam. Private high schools face tough times due to the shortage of students joining Form Five following last year’s mass failure, it has been revealed.
The government announced on Wednesday that there are over 10,000 vacant Form Five slots in public high schools this year. Education and Vocational Training deputy minister Philipo Mulugo said 33,683 candidates had been selected to join Form Five in public schools against 43,757 available places.
The Tanzania Association of Managers and Owners of Non-Government Schools and Colleges (Tamongsco) said yesterday many private high schools may close down.
Tamongsco chairman Mahmoud Mringo said between 10 and 15 schools could close down in Dar es Salaam alone, adding that the number was likely to be much higher countrywide.
At least six private schools closed down last year due to a shortage of students, he said without naming the institutions. “We are doing business in a difficult environment… we project that we won’t be able to fill half of the places in our schools.”
This is despite the fact that parents and students prefer private high schools, which are better equipped and have more qualified teachers, he added.
Mr Mringo said it would be impossible for many private schools to meet operational costs because since they solely depend on fees paid by parents and guardians.
He added that the situation was so dire that Tamongsco was seeking an audience with President Jakaya Kikwete.
There are total of 294 private high schools with a capacity of enrolling about 4,000 Form Five annually.
The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training said yesterday that the establishment of public secondary schools in every ward was part of the reason for the excess number of Form Five places in recent years.
“With the success of the drive to construct secondary schools, the focus now is shifting to the quality of facilities and availability of qualified teachers,” the head of communications in the ministry, Mr Ntambi Bunyazu, said yesterday.
At a news conference at the ministry’s headquarters on Wednesday, Mr Mulugo said poor performance in arts subjects contributed to the low uptake.
Of the 33,683 students selected to join high school this year, 23,383 were male and 10,300 were female. Another 530 candidates were selected to join training colleges.
The number of selected candidates is an increase of 2,824 (equivalent to nine per cent) over last year’s 30,859 students.
The government cancelled the 2012 Form Four results after a probe team appointed by Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda established that there were blunders in the marking of the examinations.
In May, the government announced new results that slightly improved the overrall performance.
Private schools also had to postpone the commencement of the first term for high school students for lack of students joining Form Five.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training said it has yet to complete the study that aims to lay the ground for establishing school fees structures for private schools.
Mr Bunyazu told reporters yesterday that the move was aimed at addressing the issue of exorbitant fees charged by some owners of private schools.
