What Do Tanzanian Employers View As The Most Useful Combinations of Subjects to Specialize In?
In Tanzania, high school lasts six years. After four years, students take "O-level" examinations in a wide range of subjects. If they achieve passing grades in enough subjects, they can go on to "A-level" studies for the final two years, when they specialize in three subjects. Only 18% of all Tanzanian students in government-run schools achieve a passing grade at O-levels. Among the girls we sponsor, who attend private schools but who come from deprived backgrounds, the passing rate is 61%.
A major issue in Tanzania is that students tend to specialize in arts subjects, and schools typically do not offer science subjects at A-level. This means that even for girls whom we sponsor who want to become doctors or engineers, they can find their ambitions diverted into arts and social sciences because that is what is available.
A recent article examines what employers in Tanzania are looking for in terms of the three subjects students should specialize in at A-level. Only certain combinations are allowed by the government.
Sangoro Ogondiek, director of PR firm ED Consultants, argues that the post-secondary courses employers are looking for most eagerly are IT, accounting and finance, procurement, law, medicine and business administration - “A well qualified person in accounting can fetch at least TZS1m (US$734) a month” - and advises that science students should make sure to include mathematics and possibly geography in their A-level choices, with physics being a requirement.
Makili Frederick, an education researcher at the University of Dar-es-Salaam, argues that Tanzania's Ministry of Education and Culture should introduce a greater variety of A-level subject combinations, mixing arts and sciences subjects, to avoid students who are over-specialized in one or the other. He believes that the best combinations for the current job market are PCM (Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics), PCB (Physics, Chemistry and Biology), EGM (Economics, Geography and Mathematics), HGE (History, Geography and Economics), ECA (Economics, Commerce and Accounts), and HGL (History, Geography and Literature).
Madata Bernard, President of St. Augustine University, a Catholic university in Mwanza where GTL has previously sponsored young women for their studies, criticizes parents for trying to guide their children to study subjects that would be useful for the parents' jobs, saying, "The students’ interest should be considered first. We ask them what they want to become when they grow, this helps us to guide them about which combination they should offer. A student’s future can be ruined once parents and school management fail to identify a fitting combination for the child."
We are currently trying to identify good-quality secondary schools in either Arusha or Kilimanjaro provinces of Tanzania that offer the option to their students of taking science A-levels. If you know of a school we should consider, please contact us at info@growththroughlearning.org.
