KIKWETE APPROVE TEACHERS' BOARD

PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete has approved the establishment of the National Teachers' Professional Board to regulate the teaching profession. 

The president said it was high time the teaching profession was regulated to check on growing violation of professional ethics and code of conduct. “I approve the idea for the establishment of this board in the country. 

Let it be established, and teachers be regulated in accordance to the rules and acceptable standards,” the president told multitude of teachers on the occasion of the World Teachers' Day in Ruvuma region on Tuesday. 

The president denounced the current trend in which teachers were hired on grounds of language fluency, saying teaching is more than mastery of language. The president was reacting to the Tanzania Teachers' Union (TTU) proposal for the establishment of the board in the country. 

Earlier, the TTU Secretary General, Mr Yahya Msulwa, said the union met with other stakeholders in 2009 and resolved to form the Board. As a follow-up to the meeting, TTU submitted to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training a draft bill and recommendations on the matter in September 2009. 

“We decided to send a reminder and a copy of our proposal to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in July this year but no response has come so far,” he said, pleading with the president to give the matter its due prominence. 

This institution, according to the teachers’ association, would regulate teachers’ profession, oversee teaching ethics and conduct, determine professional standards and qualification for teachers at different levels as well as disqualification of teachers when it deems necessary. President Kikwete commended the teachers for their efforts to develop the education sector since 2005. 

Over the past five years, Mr Kikwete said the country has registered higher achievements in terms of enrollment rates, expansion of education sector infrastructure, and increase in budgetary resources for the sector as well as putting in place conducive environment for teachers. 

In addition to commendable record that has earned Tanzania an international education development accolade, the president pledged to continue improving teachers’ welfare and the quality of education in the country. Starting the next financial year, he said, the government will allocate 60bn/- for construction of teachers' houses in ring fence arrangement. 

“We cannot afford the budget for construction of all houses at one time, but in a ring fence arrangement we will allocate 60bn/- every year for the purpose,” he said amid applause from the crowd.