A New National Curriculum for Tanzania

Two years ago, on the first day of the 2024 school year, the Tanzanian government released a new nationwide curriculum and announced that the new curriculum was to take effect from the beginning of that year. The changes introduced were significant, and at Twegashe we had to scramble to adjust. In fact, we are still adjusting.

Pedagogical approach

The summary document outlining the priorities for the new curriculum is encouraging. For example, the section on teaching and learning methods begins like this: “The implementation of this Curriculum will require the use of teaching and learning techniques that place the pupil at the centre of learning and with the teacher serving as a facilitator. The teacher will employ techniques that engage the pupil in the learning process, taking into account their age, diverse needs, and abilities.” It is wonderful to hear the Tanzanian government singing our tune!

The new approach to assessment described in the document is equally encouraging in its emphasis on the need for continuous assessment in addition to summative national exams. “Assessment should take into account the competence-based curriculum approaches and development of 21st-century skills including fostering creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities.” There’s Twegashe’s tune again! The national exams are no longer meant to be used for “selection” purposes, but to identify gaps so the student can be supported before being promoted to the next class.

It will take a major input of training and teaching resources to fulfill this vision, but we are encouraged that the Tanzania government now seems to be pointed in the same direction that we are at Twegashe School. We look forward to the possibility of working together with the government to help realize this vision.

A shortened student career

In addition to this change in the approach to learning, there have been other more specific and tangible changes. Major among them is that primary education has been reduced from seven years to six. Beginning in December 2027, primary school will end after grade six rather than after grade seven. Notably, the next level of schooling, known here as “secondary school”, will not change in length. Children will still attend four years of secondary school, and those who go on to further academic studies will attend two years of advanced level schooling, just as under the old curriculum. Also notable is that the amount of material to be learned in primary school doesn’t seem to have been reduced a lot – at least not in proportion to the reduction in time. We haven’t done a thorough comparison, but we did find in mathematics, for example, topics such as the Pythagorean Theorem and dividing by fractions that weren’t introduced until seventh grade in the old syllabus now being introduced in grade five or six.

Subject-area changes

There have been changes related to subjects and language, too. To understand those changes, it’s important to know that through grade two in Tanzania, the focus is on reading, writing, and mathematics. Content in other subject areas is very limited. When students reach grade three, there is a big shift to subject-based lessons, which under the old curriculum were English, Kiswahili, Math, Science, Social Studies and Civic & Moral Education. “Social studies” and “Civic & Moral Education” have now become “Historia ya Tanzania na Maadili” (Tanzanian History and Civics) and Geography, with the former now being taught (and tested!) in Kiswahili rather than in English, even at English-medium schools like Twegashe. Previously, Arts and Sports ended after grade two, but it is now part of the curriculum through grade six. Unfortunately, being part of the curriculum also means that it is tested in the national exams. Vocational Studies, on the other hand, has been removed from the curriculum.

One point to emphasize is that the syllabus provided by the government for each curriculum subject is not very detailed. Topics are listed but to know what details kids are expected to learn – and therefore might be tested on – teachers rely on the textbooks. The official textbooks for each subject are printed by the government, and the government requires schools to use these textbooks, although supplemental materials are also allowed. The 2024 curriculum overhaul meant that all schools would need to purchase new textbooks for all their classes.

But not right away. The curriculum changes were rolled out gradually. In 2024, only grades one and three were on the new curriculum. Those textbooks became available several weeks into the year, but at first there were only online copies for teacher use. Interestingly, the new textbooks for grades above grade three were not available at all, even just single copies for planning purposes.

English vs. Kiswahili

There have been changes in the lower grades, too. Kindergartners are supposed to learn to value traditions and faiths of Tanzania. This learning is directed to take place in Kiswahili at all schools, but everything else is indicated as being conducted in English for English-medium schools like Twegashe. In grade one, according to the new syllabus, children should learn basic phonics for both English and Kiswahili. No subject other than Kiswahili phonics is indicated as being in Kiswahili. In grade two, reading, writing, listening and speaking in Kiswahili and in English are listed, along with more Kiswahili and English phonics. By the end of grade two the syllabus indicates that students should be reading English fluently (40 words per minute) and reading Kiswahili fluently (50 words per minute).

Under the old syllabus, Kiswahili was not introduced formally at English-medium schools until grade three. At Twegashe we had decided to start introducing Kiswahili formally in the second half of grade two, but only listening and speaking, although beginning in kindergarten, our teachers have always been mixing some Kiswahili and Kihaya into their instruction. This seemed to work, at least for our first class of students. Having learned to read in English by the end of grade two, they picked up reading in Kiswahili without much difficulty after a period of adjustment in the first half of third grade. Many of them, now in grade six, are already at least as comfortable in Kiswahili as in English.

The new directive for English-medium schools poses special challenges for a school like Twegashe. Most English-medium schools are for-profit schools. Their clientele are children of professionals, from homes and communities where Kiswahili is commonly used. Some are even exposed to English before they come to school. We are unusual in being an English-medium school in the village, with students coming from homes where Kiswahili is not spoken at all. Everything is in the local language, Kihaya. According to the new curriculum, in grade one we should be teaching kids to read using phonics in two languages simultaneously, both of which they barely understand.

The plan for government schools, where Kiswahili is the medium of instruction, is more-or-less the mirror image of the English-medium situation. These schools are now directed to teach English phonics in grade one along with Kiswahili, and by the end of grade two children are expected to be able to read fluently in both languages. There is now a national exam at the end of grade two (previously the first exam was at the end of grade four), and the tests for reading in English and reading in Kiswahili are the same for all schools. We’re guessing that the motivation is to have government school students more adept in English by the time they finish primary school so they will have more chance of success in secondary school, where all instruction is in English. The lack of preparation for the change in language of instruction has been a big problem in the past, and we’re happy to see the government making an effort to solve that problem. However, we wonder about the decision to start with English and Kiswahili phonics before the children have had a chance to learn to speak and understand these languages. Again, this is more of a problem for village schools, where children often aren’t exposed to Kiswahili before they come to school.

We still haven’t figured out exactly how to follow government directives about reading and language and still do what is most effective pedagogically. Grade three history presents a special challenge. The same history textbook, written in Kiswahili, is used for grade three history in Kiswahili-medium schools, where students have been learning since kindergarten in Kiswahili, and in English-medium schools, where they have been learning since kindergarten in English. The text is not accessible to our students. Our third-grade teacher has responded resourcefully to this challenge. He is using his history lessons as a vehicle for also teaching Kiswahili, and said this approach seems to be working.

The next step

In 2025, grades one through four were using the new curriculum, and this year, 2026, grades one though five. Our highest class, currently in grade six, just missed the change by one year. They are still using the old curriculum, and will remain on that curriculum until they graduate at the end of 2027. You may be thinking, “Wait…If starting in 2027 primary school will only go through grade six, Twegashe’s current sixth graders will be graduating next year, and so will the current fifth graders.” That’s right. In 2027, primary schools all over the country will be graduating two classes of students in one year. Graduating more students isn’t difficult – except that we will be sad to see them all leave at once! – but we’re wondering how secondary schools will handle twice as many entering students as in previous years. We’ll find out before too long – the end of 2027 is less than two years away!