Lots of kudos for putting up buildings for schools but picking the lowest grades for teacher’s houses and non recruitment of teachers. I parsed through a chain letter by Onesmo Mushi and it pricked my conscience to give the letter some serious attention. This article reviews what is in that letter, and makes its own views known.
According to TAMISEMI and NECTA statistics, the non-hiring of teachers has left second schools bare, and incapable of ensuring students are thoroughly taught. Just to cite some few examples to drive this point home, I have the following cases from Dar-es-Salaam region to consider. These examples are only a tip of an iceberg.
Chamazi Secondary School has one English teacher to cater for 2 800 students. The English teacher-to-student ratio is one teacher per 2,800 students. Out of 624 students who took the NECTA exams, 409 students got zero division. That means 65.54% of the students who sat for the 2024 NECTA exams got a zero division! Such poor results have never historically propelled any nation to prosperity.
This is unacceptable since we can trace the problem to a poor English teacher-student ratio. We must not forget most subjects are taught in English, meaning once a student is deprived of mastering the language, the chances of underperforming looms large. I can impute a very low student English teacher ratio to explain why these students in question failed all subjects. We cannot consider ourselves on the path of development if failure rates hovers above 25%
Mbande secondary school there are 2, 426 students and 4 English teachers, a ratio of one English teacher there are 606.5 students. Out of 743 students from Mbande secondary school who sat for their 2024 NECTA exams 586 students got either division four or zero. This is a whooping 78.87% of a failure rate! Low number of English teachers to students ratio attributed to this poor performance.
Saku secondary school with 2, 548 students had one English teacher. That puts one English teacher to 2, 548 students! Out of 536 students who sat for the 2024 NECTA exams 459 students got fourth or zero division. This is an eyesore of 85.63% failure rate.
Nzasa secondary school has 3, 000 students and 6 English teachers. That is a ratio of one English teacher to 500 students. Out of 683 students who sat for 2024 NECTA examinations 494 got either division four or zero. This is a mind boggling 72.33% failure rate.
Kijichi secondary school with 2, 460 students has 7 English teachers. This is a 351 English teacher-student ratio. Out of 441 students who took part in the 2024 NECTA examinations, 334 students got division four or zero. This is an astonishing 75.74% failure rate.
In Mbagala secondary school has 3, 500 has 4 English teachers. The English teacher to student ratio is 875! Out of 929 students who performed the 2024 NECTA examinations 725 students got division four to zero. This is an excruciating 78.04% failure rate.
Overall, in the whole of Tanzania’s secondary schools one English teacher serves more than 500 students. The examples cited above are a mere drop in ocean. No secondary school in Tanzania can nurture talent worth of its name. This, in many ways, expounds why not a single political or senior civil servant has one of their children studying in these secondary schools because the government is intentionally undermining quality education for a reason. As I have disclosed in the past CCM has designated ignorance as a governance tool, a necessary evil to tame dissent. Deprivation of resources in our schools os aimed to ensure graduates are not well prepared for the challenges ahead.
Onesmo Mushi, a former secondary teacher himself testified in thos chain letter that during his teaching days was teaching more than 210. He asked the president Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan which teacher could bear such heavy loading? He also asked madam president whether she could allow her own child or one of her closest relative to attend such low quality schools.
Teacher employment has been frozen since 2016 for the purposes of flashing out ghost employees but thereafter the stopgap has become permanent. Since president Magufuli died in 2021 when this temporary freeze of teachers came into effect total number of secondary school candidates was 483, 000 while the number of candidates has more than doubled to over 1, 000, 000 candidates. However, the number of teachers remain stagnant!
In 2022, enrolled form one students was 1, 073, 941. In 2023, the figure went up to 1, 092 984 and in 2025, the new enrollment of Form One was 974,332. Within nine years (2016 – 2025), the number of secondary school students has more than doubled from around 1, 500, 000 to over 3, 000, 000. What is alarming is while the number of secondary school students has more than doubled, the number of teachers has been dwindling once you incorporate deaths, resignations and non-recruitment of new teachers. Whom do we expect will teach our children and their children’s children?
During this period in question our teacher’s training colleges have endow us with over 500, 000 secondary school teachers bit none has been employed! When will the government open the closed spigots of employment of the teachers? Dies the government really care about the future of these children who go to schools for the sake of it but are not properly trained? Do such students have a future when their education is intentionally sabotaged?
These hapless secondary school students don’t lack just teachers but don’t have books too yet are expected to learn most subjects in English and sit and pass examinations in English language. Are we not deliberately setting them up for failure? Who is the real beneficiary when our own students are nurtured and groomed to fail? No country in the world has prospered by intentionally undermining her own touth the way Tanzania is doing. Look at China and other Asian tigers that were at par in terms of development about sixty years ago but have now become high income nations. They have deliberately invested heavily in the education of their own people. Education is more than building it is a package that teachers and their welfare tops the menu.
Is there a universally recognised student-to-teacher ratio?
While there isn’t a single internationally accepted standard, a common benchmark for secondary school teacher-student ratios is around 25 students per teacher (25:1), as suggested by UNESCO’s model for achieving SDG 4.
From the UNESCO Institute for Statistics Model:
This model, used for teacher projections to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), suggests a benchmark of 40 students per teacher (40:1) in primary education and 25 students per teacher (25:1) in secondary education.
OECD Data:
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data shows an average of around 13 students per teacher in upper secondary education across OECD countries.
Variations Across Countries:
The student-teacher ratio can vary significantly between countries and even within countries, depending on factors like school size, subject area, and educational policies.
Examples of variations
In some countries, such as Norway and Belgium, the ratio is as low as 10 students per teacher, while in others, like Mexico, it can be as high as 24-27 students per teacher.
Importance of Ratios:
While the student-staff ratio alone does not guarantee academic success, many teachers believe it is important and that teacher shortages and increased class sizes could lead to a detrimental impact on pupils’ progress, attainment and behaviour. The internationally accepted teacher-student ratio in secondary schools is not strictly standardized, as it varies significantly by country, region, and educational priorities. However, key benchmarks and trends can be derived from global organizations and data sources:
Regional Disparities.
Developed economies.
Citing a few examples student to teac ratio stands as follows U.S. at 14.5:1, France at 12.7:1 generally most of these developed economies maintain ratios below 20:1.
Low-income countries.
Low-income countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, often exceed 30:1 due to resource constraints and high enrollment demands. For example, Tanzania and Nigeria report overcrowded classrooms with ratios over 500:1, impacting teaching effectiveness.
Limitations and Considerations.
Student-teacher ratio ≠ class size:
Ratios do not account for part-time teachers, multi-grade classes, or school shifts. For example, OECD countries report average class sizes of 21 students in primary schools despite lower ratios.
Teacher qualifications and workload:
UNESCO stresses that ratios should factor in teacher training and workload, as “qualified” standards vary globally.
Policy Targets.
Some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa aim for ratios of 30:1 or higher in secondary education to manage costs, though this often leads to compromised learning environments. Conversely, nations like South Korea prioritize lower ratios to enhance quality.
Concluding remarks.
While there is no single “internationally accepted” ratio, OECD and UNESCO data suggest that 12:1 to 15:1, respectively, is a common benchmark for secondary education in developed systems. However, regional disparities and systemic challenges mean ratios can range from 10:1 in high-resource settings to over 60:1 in under-resourced regions. Policymakers often balance these metrics with contextual factors like teacher training, infrastructure, and funding.
Our government should stop procrastinating in hiring teachers because our national development is at stake. The government should treat lowering student to teacher ratio to about 60 as a matter of urgency. The current student to teacher ratio of over 600 is unacceptably too high! Since teacher employment has been paused, we now ought to recruit teachers in large numbers to compensate for the past mistakes. We need at least 20, 000 teachers hired in one gulp and we should cease immediately to cite unrelated matters to evade solving this problem.
More importantly, the issue of pausing teachers’ employment to help curb ghost employment was shooting blanks because the two matters were unrelated. The real reason why there was a freeze not only in new government employment but also in salary increments was because public employment was exploited to finance large investments in infrastructure and procurements. We overstretched ourselves and the soft parts of government machinery suffered in the process.
Over investments even in education targeted areas where principal government officials could extort bribes, no wonder school buildings bolted with trillions while teacher employment got nothing. Our priorities, regrettably, are not synchronised with the real national objectives. This may also explain why we are an indebted nation at the mercy of the creditors for failures to focus on our own capacity building, where employment of teachers tops the list.
Read more analysis by Rutashubanyuma Nestory
