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Judicial Responses to Climate Change in Tanzania: Has the Paris Agreement Sparked Emerging Jurisprudence?
Full text linkThe Paris Agreement has set a legally enforceable legal framework that has enjoyed substantial international support thus creating a global context for climate litigation. This, however, has prompted an increase in climate change cases in many jurisdictions with courts in the global north and south forming new laws to ensure that governments and businesses are held liable for climate-related damages, although this trend has not been uniform across all countries. This study aims to analyze the role of the judiciary in addressing climate change in Tanzania, with a specific focus on the influence of the Paris Agreement in shaping emerging climate change jurisprudence. Through doctrinal research and expert survey, the study finds that Tanzanian courts primarily rely on domestic laws enacted before the Paris Agreement, and the lack of consistency with the Paris Agreement prevents the incorporation of its concepts into judicial decisions. The study suggests modernizing Tanzania's legal structure to reflect international climate commitments and increasing the judiciary's ability to handle climate-related disputes. 
The Internet, Development, Human Rights and the Law in Africa, edited by Danwood M. Chirwa and Caroline B. Ncube, Routledge, 2023, 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN, 250 pp., US$ 192.00 (hardcover), ISBN 978-1-032- 31072-5
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Inclusive Assessment in Tanzania: A Myth or Reality?
Full text linkThe National Examinations Council of Tanzania (NECTA) was established in 1973, following the withdrawal of Tanzania from the East African Examinations Council in 1971. Since then, NECTA has been coordinating and managing national examinations at primary and secondary school levels. It also coordinates and manages teacher college examinations. With such a huge pool of customers, NECTA has been serving learners with diverse learning needs, including learners with disabilities. This requires NECTA to find ways to accommodate those learners. This paper discusses inclusive assessment, an approach to assessment which ensures that assessment policies, procedures, and practices support and enhance the inclusion of all learners, including those with special needs. The paper intends to establish whether inclusive assessment in the Tanzanian context is a myth or a reality. This qualitative study mainly collected data through documentary reviews and individual interviews. The findings suggest mixed feelings; in some areas, NECTA performs well. However, there are a lot of gaps to be filled by the government, NECTA and other stakeholders to ensure inclusive assessment is implemented to the fullest. 
Formative Assessment Practices and its Effect on Employability Skills to Vocational Students in Tanzania
Full text linkThe study evaluated the effect of formative assessment practices on employability skills development. Specifically, the study explored students’ perceptions on essential employability skills for vocational career; examined formative assessment practices in vocational training centres and assessed the influence of formative assessment practices on employability skills among vocational students in Tanzania. It adopted a pragmatism paradigm which enabled the use of sequential explanatory mixed methods design. Data were collected from 97 vocational students and six vocational tutors sampled from Chang’ombe and Mwanza Vocational training centres. The quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using regression model and content analysis techniques respectively. The study found that, vocational Students perceive a number of employability skills as essential for their career. The vocational education and training centres employ workshop, industrial projects and field placement as formative assessment practices to enhance such employability skills. However, formative assessment which is essential for employability skills, accounts only for 40%, compared to 60% of its counterpart summative assessment. Therefore, the study recommends for curriculum review to give formative assessment a more weight than summative assessment. Further study may develop measuring scale for employability skills among vocational education graduates in Tanzania
Proposal for Aligning the National Examinations Council of Tanzania’s Roles with Principles of Education for Self-Reliance
Full text linkThe paradigm shift from content to competence-based curriculum in the first decade of the 21st century had brought with it the inevitability of transforming the National Examinations Council of Tanzania (NECTA) towards competence-based assessment (CBA). Although the council has a success story of fulfilling its mission of providing fair, efficient, and effective educational assessment, it does not seem to have fully shifted its attention to those educational reforms made. This study was undertaken to highlight the need for transforming NECTA so that its operations are in line with the principles of Education for Self-Reliance (ESR) and CBA. It employed the bibliometric strategy; the study retrieved information using the Google Scholar tool using keywords such as education for self-reliance, national curriculum framework, NECTA guidelines and education policy, CBC, and NECTA Act. Although a total of 63 were retrieved, only 8 documents met the inclusion criteria. content analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that although NECTA claims to have shifted its attention towards competence-based assessment procedures, it has not fully integrated those CBA procedures to grasp the principles of ESR. It concludes that NECTA’s current operations are not aligned with the objective for which it was formed. The study recommends a need for transformation of NECTA’s assessment procedures to be able to match with the 21st century situation
Enhancing the Effectiveness of Public Sector Monitoring and Evaluation Systems in Zanzibar Through Stakeholders’ Engagement
Full text linkThe Zanzibar public sector's monitoring and evaluation system engaged numerous stakeholders from diverse organizations. The paper assessed the effect of stakeholder Engagement on the effectiveness of the M&E system in the Zanzibar public sector. The study adopted a positivist philosophy and a quantitative approach. Data were collected through a questionnaire constructed with a points Likert scale from 170 implementers of the Zanzibar Strategy for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction III (ZSSGRP III). Stratified and simple random samplings were used in sample selection. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were applied for data analysis. The results established that stakeholder engagement had a positive and significant effect on the effectiveness of the M&E system. The findings underscored the importance of engaging stakeholders in all stages of M&E including designing, implementation, and reporting. The study suggested the need for the Zanzibar M&E lead agency to enhance fully stakeholders’ engagement throughout the monitoring and evaluation process to nurture their skill mix potential to improve the overall effectiveness of M&E systems in the Zanzibar public secto
The Constraints in the Implementation of Inclusive Education in Public Primary Schools in Njombe Town Council, Tanzania
Full text linkThis study explored the constraints in the implementation of inclusive education in public primary schools in Njombe Town Council, Tanzania. The methodology of the study was qualitative. It employed multiple case study design. The study engaged a total sample of 19 respondents namely; special need education officers, heads of schools and subject teachers who were selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Data collection methods were semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion, non-participant observation and documentary review. Data were subjected to content analysis. The findings of the study revealed that teachers in public school’s face constraints in implementing inclusive education namely inadequate of teaching and learning materials, unfriendly environment to pupils with disability, small budget allocation, inadequate classrooms, less motivation to teachers, absence of in-service training, and curriculum in use is not in favor to pupils with disability. Hence, the constraints in the implementation of inclusive education are an impediment towards achieving the World Education Agenda for all by 2030. The study recommended that; the government should find out suitable ways on how to solve the aforementioned constraints for smooth running of the inclusive schools so as to maintain the teachers’ positivity in the implementation of inclusive education
Contribution of External Quality Assurance in Improving Instructional Practices among Heads of Schools and Teachers in Secondary Schools in Zanzibar
Full text linkIn this study, we explored the contribution of External School Quality Assurance (ESQA) towards the improvement of instructional practices among Heads of Schools (HoSs) and teachers in secondary schools in Zanzibar. A mixed-methods research approach coupled with a convergent parallel design was employed to generate data. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used to get the study participants. Data were collected from the Kaskazini Region in Unguja. The study involved 167 teachers, 12 HoSs, 1 REO, 2 DEO, and 11 ESQ assurers. Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, and documentary review and analyzed through content analysis and bar charts. The findings indicate that although ESQA has a great contribution to the improvement of instructional practices, classroom observation was not effectively carried out by ESQ assurers. The findings also indicate that ESQ assurers created fear and tension among teachers because teachers knew that their work performance was to be reported to higher authority. The findings indicate further that there were irregular school visits which hindered the HoSs' and teachers’ effective improvement of instructional practices. The key argument in this study is that the current ESQA is ineffective in enhancing instructional practices in secondary schools. For ESQA to contribute to the improvement of instructional practices among HoSs and teachers, ESQ assurers need to concentrate on classroom observation. The government needs to support the ESQA with both human and financial resources and training programmes for the ESQ assurers are equally imperative for effective monitoring of the quality of education in secondary schools
Curriculum Contents for Quality Education Delivery and Sustainable National Development in Nigeria
Full text linkThis study “Curriculum contents for Quality Education Delivery and Sustainable National Development in Nigeria’ investigated public opinion and other Education stakeholders’ reservations to the provision of quality education delivery across Nigeria. Three hundred and eighty-two (382) respondents, 268 males and 114 females were randomly selected and used as a sample of the study across six (6) geo political zones in Nigeria. The samples cut across teachers, family members, educational administrators, policy makers, university lecturers, and politicians. Survey research design was employed for the study. Cluster sampling technique was used to identify the sample of the study. Self-developed questionnaire was used to generate information for the study. Chronbach’s reliability coefficient of .701after test re-test was obtained. Simple percentage count was used to report the demographic variables of the study while descriptive statistics was used to answer the research questions, the hypotheses were tested using z test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The Findings of the study have showed there is need to reform the Nigeria Basiceducation curriculum to provide elements of skills acquisition. All education stakeholders should team up to provide conducive learning environment for teaching and learning. No significant gender difference was found across the sample that the perceived curriculum impacted sustainable National Development at z = 2.7, Quality teacher production need to be revisited by the Nigeria National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE). Based on the findings the writer offers some recommendations; the Nigeria National Curriculum Reviewers should reflect National development through education. School plants should be revisited to provide befitting structures, teaching and learning materials as a means for individual and community overall development. There is need to improve salary of teachers to avoiding attrition from schools. Stigmatisation of teachers should be avoided as a means of improving performance of teachers