THE
PRESIDENT'S OFFICE of Regional Administration and Local
Governments (Tamisemi) has given the opportunity to the fourth form graduates
of 2023 to change their choice of subjects they hope to study when they
continue with higher education after adding 49 specialties.
Tamisemi has given that
opportunity considering the implementation of the 2014 Education and Training
Policy, the 2023 edition and the education curriculum for the fifth form, which
directs the implementation of practical education training.
The Minister of Tamisemi,
Mohamed Mchengerwa who announced the opportunity today March 20, 2024 said,
"the implementation has involved the establishment of 49 new specialities,
from the 16 previously existing to reach 65 specialities."
He has said that the
changes will specifically affect the 'combinations' of the fifth form and the
courses of teaching colleges, middle colleges and technical education on the
electronic system in order to make adjustments to the options according to the
success they got.
Minister Mchengerwa has
said,"this process that starts today (yesterday) will be concluded on
March 30, it will give students the opportunity to make changes to options,
specialties or courses online.
"After making these
amendments, the database will be used to select and assign them positions in
the fifth form and various courses in secondary schools and technical education
based on the characteristics of success and choices," he said.
Minister Mchengerwa has
said that the Government has completed the initial process of entering into the
database the information contained in the students' election forms, as they
filled them in at school.
He said that the changes
in the 2014 education policy for the 2023 edition and the education curriculum
for the fifth form have started to be implemented, including the establishment
of 49 new specializations from the previous 16.
"The truth is that
during the filling of the pre-selection forms, 49 new specifics were not on the
list of choices and also the results of the fourth form graduation exam had not
come out to enable the student to have better choices based on his performance.
"Thus, this process
will give more opportunities to students to increase their options and make new
specific choices and courses, I urge parents and guardians to participate in
this issue to advise children to make the right decision based on their performance,"
said Mchengerwa.
Also, he said that the
new specials that will come into force in July this year are in seven groups
which are social science, language, business studies, science, sports, arts and
religious education specials.
Following the announcement,
the education stakeholder, Dr. Aviti Mushi said that this is a good step taken
by Tamisemi to give students the opportunity to make choices along with
increasing the specialization, although he has doubts about changing the
specialization based on performance.
"We want to build a
society with professional people and work, we have to make sure everyone has a
starting point to change the specifics.
"I have said success
because it may appear that maybe this profession exists, then its success will
be high, something that will deprive others of opportunities who could do good
things if they had the chance to make specific changes," said Dr. Mushi
who is a lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam, (UDSM).
Dr. Mushi has praised
Tamisemi for adding specifically because it expands the scope of young people
to learn various professions, saying that's how life is, not all are engineers,
others are doctors.
Another stakeholder,
Suzan Lyimo, said that many students were being pressured by the exam because
they were filling in before the exam results.
"You find that
someone has filled in before the results come out, when they come out you find
that what you filled in did not work well, but now that they know the results
and the specifics have increased, they will make the right choices and the
field will be wide.
"I think it's a good
thing even where we are going, people should choose a specialty after taking
the exam, what needs to be put in a good order, that's why other schools have
places but students are not because the specialties are not the same,"
said Lyimo.