Globalization and Education System in Post Colonial Tanzania

Tanzania formally Tanganyika is a relatively large country located in East Africa. Tanzania has a total area of 945,087 square kilometers (364,900 square miles), slightly larger than twice the size of California. The area of Tanzania includes the islands of Mafia, Pemba, and Unguja; both Pemba and Unguja form a semi-autonomous region called Zanzibar that is part of an official union with the republic of Tanzania. . Tanzania was formed by the federation of the nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964 both making total population of 36 million people. Tanzania is the former Germany colony and one of the British colonies after WW I. Tanzania gained its independence in 1961 but adapted British Education system and British parliamentary political system under the leadership of Julius Kambarage Nyerere, the Tanzanian teacher educated aboard. Tanzania shares boundaries with eight surrounding countries via: Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. This paper will focus on Tanzania education system and the impact this education system has on globalization phenomena and vise versa; i.e. Impact of globalization on Tanzania education system as a whole. Early examples of educational globalization include the spread of global religions, especially Islam and Christianity, and colonialism, which often disrupted and displaced indigenous forms of traditional education throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries. Migration of European and Arabs into Tanzania marked the early globalizing influences of education have taken on more subtle shapes. The importance of education to any society is crucial for the preservation of the lives of its members and the maintenance of the social structure. Under certain circumstances, education also promotes social change. Tanzania has two types of education systems; informal and formal education. Informal education is traditional education that emphasizes principles of good citizenship, acquisition of life skills and the perpetuation of valued customs and traditions. The formal education system was introduced during British colonial rule and is a structure comprised of 7 years of Primary, 4 years of secondary, 2 years of Secondary at Advance level and 3 years of university education. Primary education is compulsory to all, there are kindergarten/Nursery schools and some day care centers found mostly in urban centers. Tanzania education system is under the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Higher Education. Over the years Tanzanian economy has witnessed a rapid integration with the rest of the world through a process widely called globalization. Although through history, Africa a whole has established contacts with the outside world early before the 16th century and throughout colonial eras, globalization is the new phenomenon in the free world and post colonial Africa and therefore Tanzania in this particular context. Globalization is defined as the process of increasing economic, political, social and cultural integration, whereby influences beyond national boundaries have a crucial impact constraining and influencing all aspects of national well-being. The interaction is seen in form of increased flow of goods, ideas and services, increased flow of capital, and migration of people (ESRF, 2002). During the German and British colonial periods education provided was restricted to a few individuals intended to serve the colonial interests. Rodney on his book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa argues that in the colonial society, education was designed to serve the colonialist and in the regime of slavery, education was one institution for forming slaves. Other scholars have also argued that colonial education was designed to serve colonial system as it created clerks, messengers, nannies and colonialists puppets. Too much learning would have been both superfluous and dangerous for clerks and messengers. British colonial education focused on teaching English as the media of communication. Even after independence, although both Kiswahili and English were made the Media of instruction in schools. English speaking groups or individuals were considered more educated than Kiswahili speakers. British education was discriminative against tribes, male and female and most educational centers were concentrated on regions of the British interests such as agricultural areas, mining or British neighborhoods. Therefore was unequal distribution of schools and educational centers and hence classes among Tanzanians; educated and uneducated communities. Colonial education prepared class structures during and after independence, communities that were equipped with education centers became future leaders. The educations system was patriarchal therefore, the most privileged in the educations system were men and therefore women were left behind. Immediately after independence in 1961, the education act of 1962 to regulate the provision of education so as to abolish racial discrimination in provision of education, streamline the curriculum, examination, administration and financing of education to provide uniformity as well as to promote English and Kiswahili as the media of instruction. Although Kiswahili was added as another medium of instruction along with English, the legacy of colonial education system was made to prevail and continued to serve the need of the colonial masters. Since British colonial education was discriminative; schools were built in the areas where the colonial government has interests; regions with fertile soils for agriculture such as sisal and cotton plantations as well as administrative colonial centers to intensify exploitation. Some scholars have argued that colonizers did not introduce education in Tanzania: they introduced a new set of formal educational institutions which partly supplemented and partly replaced those which were there before. The colonial system also stimulated values and practices which amounted to new informal education. The main purpose of the colonial school system was to train Africans to help and manage local administration at the lowest ranks and to staff the private capitalist firms owned by Europeans. In effect, that meant selecting a few Tanzanians to participate in the domination and exploitation of the continent as a whole. Along with colonial formal education, religious education was introduced by missionaries as it served colonialist culture while absorbing traditional culture. Seminary schools were made available to few religious followers who were converted into Christianity. Non Christians did not have access to missionary schools. Even after independence, Roman Catholic missionary schools only admit catholic followers. unlike other parts of the world, literacy in Tanzania is connected with religion, so that in Islamic areas it is a Koranic education and in Christian education train priests and monks. Even up to this day Tanzanian educational system is not designed to give young people confidence and pride as members of Tanzania societies, but one which sought to instill a sense of deference towards all that was European and capitalist. Unlike American education which is designed to prepare students to become entrepreneurs or other challenges of life, Tanzanian education system is designed to generate civil servants. The small working class of colonial Africa held jobs such as agricultural labor and domestic services. Most of the working class was unskilled, in contrast to the accumulating skills of capitalism. According to Rodney, projects that required technical expertise, Europeans did the supervision by standing around in their helmets and white shorts (Rodney 1973). Even after independence it was not surprising to see European experts supervising government projects such that of road and railway constructions. During this era of globalization, Chinese workers and experts have taken over railway constructions and most government constructions. As I write this paper the city of Dar- ES Salaam has many Chinese businessmen than it was during British colonialism. Chinese workers are believed to have very strong work ethic that if they take over any project, they are more likely to deliver before deadlines or right on time. It does not mean that Tanzania has no railway experts and engineers, but since Chinese government provides loans, grants to the government or bid at the lowest possible bids, they have better chances to get any contracts they place a bid on. Most critics have argued that Tanzanian education system does not provide confident professionals for competitive advantages in the global economy. Therefore foreign investors enjoy competitive advantage from skilled labor, strategic business management, access to high technology and big capitals. Colonial education was patriarchal because it only targeted men. Women did not have equal opportunity to education as that of men and therefore man continued to dominate women in most aspect. What happened to African women under colonialism is that the social, religious, constitutional and political privileges and rights disappeared, while the economic exploitation continued and was often intensified. Although international organizations and human rights activists from other parts of the world have made it clear that women in all countries must be given equal opportunities to education so as to meet the growing need for both men and women in the global economy, women in Tanzania still focus on certain careers and avoid careers that are thought to be designed for men. As more women have gained more access to education, more opportunities have become available to women of all races worldwide. For example in early 2007, United Nation Secretary General nominated the first Tanzanian female as Depute secretary General, Asha Migiro from Tanzania. This is one indication that even women from poor countries as long as they are well educated can serve international bodies like the United Nations and this is made possible by globalization processes. One of the advantagesof colonial education was that it created nationalism. African independence was conditioned by the administrative framework of the given colonies. The few Tanzanians who gained access to colonial system and education were able to rise later on to created nationalism awareness. For instance, Mr. Julius Kambarage Nyerere who attended colonial education system was later successful in his struggle for independence. In 1961 Tanzania achieved independence under Nyerere’s leadership. Scholars have argued that colonialism modernized Africa politically through nation states; therefore created political structures same as that of the colonialists. Tanzania adapted British parliamentary system as the legacy of the colonial system. In popular discourse, globalization is often synonymous with internationalization, referring to the growing interconnectedness and interdependence of people and institutions throughout the world. The need for education systems that supports globalization has become more important than ever. Countries that have good education systems have competitive advantages in this era of free trade than that of developing countries like Tanzania. Since the British colonial education did not prepare Tanzania for global economy, Tanzania continues to be one of the poorest countries in the world. Tanzania continues to rely on importation of manufactured goods, books and other educational technologies, dependence on international organizations and financial institutions like UNICEF, World Bank and IMF. This worries me even more and it becomes another concern to whether Tanzania will ever have full control on its education system and the economy. As developed nations such that of the west aggressively market their products using high technologies, capital and high tech medias such as television stations, internet and radios, developing countries like Tanzania continue to be marginalized as they struggle with unskilled labors, lack of capital and poor technologies. It will therefore take Tanzania many years before adequate skilled labor force is provided to face the challenges of global forces. Unlike in United States of America, Tanzania does not have adequate schools to generate more skilled labors to meet economic needs of globalization. This has discouraged foreign investors to fully utilize all the labor force Tanzania can provide and instead, they are seeking skilled labor forces for management positions elsewhere. As part of the globalization process, the spread of education is widely viewed as contributing to democratization throughout the world. Schools prepare people for participation in the economy, giving them the knowledge to make responsible judgments, the motivation to make appropriate contributions to the well being of society, and a consciousness about the consequences of their behavior. But with limitations found in Tanzania education system including luck of funds, the benefit of globalization and the ability for Tanzanians to become global players is significantly affected hence unequal share in the global economy. The stronger and the rich have access to all the tools they need to succeed in the global markets and free economy. As the world gets so interconnected through the era of globalization, immigration has become a major concern where non-skilled and skilled labors have migrated to countries that have stable economies like United States and United Kingdom. Skilled labor such as doctors, engineers and accountants, in recent years have been encouraged to migrate to United States, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom to seek for better salaries and better living standards. For instance, the US embassy in Tanzania is crowded by student visa applicants who want to leave the country. In spite of high non-refundable applications fees at the embassy, Tanzanians who want to leave the country for schools abroad are not being discourages. At the same token, professionals are seeking for better paying jobs elsewhere. Higher education is increasingly becoming a commercial product to be bought and sold like any other commodities. Higher education commercialization has now reached the global marketplace. In Tanzania the poor are left behind as the rich pick schools abroad. In US for example, colleges have done a great job in advertising programs to attract international students from all over the world. Although globalization has created more opportunities to those who can afford colleges abroad, most of those students never return to their home countries; they seek for permanent residence in foreign countries for more competitive salaries while enjoying modern life standards. Through globalization process, there have been spread of education that is widely viewed as contributing to democratization throughout the world. National and international assistance organizations, such as the U. S. Agency for International Development and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), embrace these objectives. Mass provision of schools and scholarships, technological advances have permitted distance education to convey Western concepts to the extreme margins of society, exposing new regions and populations to knowledge generated by culturally dominant groups and helping to absorb them into the consumer society. For instance, Tanzania today has more foreign universities than local universities such as American colleges like Waldorf College with foreign dressed students embracing American culture and high desires to migrate to United States of America. Foreign colleges are teaching foreign values and significantly contribute in dissolving traditional morals and values. Tanzania with the population of more than 36 million people it has only four public universities; University of Dar es Salaam and Sokoine University are the only major universities, Institute of Development Mzumbe, and Institute of Financial Management. The need for westernized skilled labor force has grown very tremendously since many transnational companies and other foreign companies have established branches all over the world. Local labor force educated within local universities is considered incompetent and not aggressive enough to face the challenges of globalization. “Given the increasing economic globalization and restructuring in the world political and economic systems, and the requirements for knowledge and information within that system, educational needs (in terms of structure, function, curriculum and approach) at all levels, especially at the tertiary level, have changed” (Mr. Derick). In recent years, Tanzania has emphasized is English as the media of instructions but most college graduates can barely speak English and hence makes it difficult to communicate with foreign investors in this era of free trade in a global village setting. Educational requirements for the workforce of the future are extremely important. More work is needed for Tanzania to face the challenges of global economy.