Tanzania became a lower-middle income country in 2020. It ranks 165 out of 193 countries in the Human Development Index (2023).  The population is very diverse, with more than 120 ethnic groups. The country counts 72 million inhabitants; almost 45% being under 15 years old.

According to UNICEF, 3.2 million children aged 7–17 are out of school, of which 1.2 million have never attended school. The net secondary enrolment rate is only 27%.
The number of teachers in primary education reached 230 000 in 2024 according to the World Bank, for around 11,4 million pupils. The pupil-teacher ratio remains high (1:57) and this average number does not reflect classroom realities across the country, as in some areas for example, schools have more than 1000 students for 3 teachers. Despite the continuous efforts in teachers’ recruitment, the education system still suffers from teachers’ shortage, in particular in secondary education for science, mathematics and practical subjects.

In 2023, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology launched a new education reform, with several major changes:
-     the introduction of a competency-based curriculum;
-    10 years of compulsory education years (6 years primary and 4 years secondary);
-     an education structure built on 1+6+4+2/3+3, meaning one year of pre-primary education, six years of primary education (instead of 7 before), four years of secondary education, two years of advanced secondary or three years of technical education and a minimum of three years of higher education;
-    the division of lower secondary education in two streams: the general education stream and the vocational education stream.
 
Diagnostic assessments in Standard 2 and 4 on reading, writing and arithmetic (3R) show that most of the learners don’t reach the required proficiency level.  To improve foundational teaching and learning, the ESDP 2025/26 to 2029/30 puts an emphasis on teachers’ continuous professional development in pre-primary and primary, with the objective of increasing foundational learning outcomes by 25% by 2030.
Adolescent birth rate remains very high in Tanzania at 123.4 per 1,000 births (UNDP, 2022).  In rural areas, 25% of teenagers have experienced pregnancy, which influences negatively the completion of their schooling. In TVET, socio-economic, cultural and institutional factors undermine girls’ enrolment, particularly in technical fields where female participation remains low due to cultural norms that discourage women from pursuing certain trades.
The implementation of the Education and training policy 2023 and the ESDP intends to be a response to concerns raised in Tanzania around education efficiency and relevance in terms of market’s needs, with graduated youth not able to find a job. As a result, the education reform in Tanzania intends to put in place a duo education system, offering theoretical and practical education simultaneously for education to better prepare young people for their integration into the labour market. 

3.2 COUNTRY ACTION PLAN

The Tanzania CAP intends to contribute to the ESDP objectives and education reform priorities by focusing on in-service teachers’ professional development, to enable 1- a smoother transition from pre-primary to primary and from primary to secondary; 2- enhanced capacities of teachers to deliver the competency-based curriculum, both for the improvement of foundational learning outcomes and for quality vocational and technical secondary education.

As a result, the Tanzania CAP includes three areas of intervention, all under teachers’ professional development. The activity is related to Technical Area 3 : Review and update of TTCs’ (teacher training colleges) programs to enhance implementation of foundational learning teaching practices in the classroom.

Despite the teaching and learning materials developed, the investment of partners in foundational learning and teachers’ continuous professional development programs delivered by the teacher training colleges, the uptake and implementation of teaching practices remain insufficient to lead to improved learning outcomes. The first activities will be to do an assessment of the TCPD program on foundational learning and teachers’ remaining needs, and to carry out a benchmark of innovative and promising practices in Africa to enhance foundational learning outcomes. Based on the results, a strategy will be co-developed to strengthen the TCPD program. This strategy might result in the update / development of training modules, the introduction of innovative approaches, and/or the update/development of monitoring tools.

The Tanzania CAP, despite targeting at the same time pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education, is quite coherent, with a focus on students’ progress across the education system. Foundational learning is at the essence of this progress, and it is important to note that the orientation of children at the end of primary is still heavily focused on their performance. It is essential at the same time to enhance learning outcomes in primary to support retention and transition to secondary, but also to ensure that quality education is delivered in lower education vocational and technical stream for this stream to be valued and not be a compulsory or default choice for struggling children.