The need for, and the
Possibilities of, Distance Education at Tertiary Level in Tanzania
INTRODUCTION
Practically all developing countries are facing similar educational
problems although they may differ in the degree of gravity. They include the problems of
Quality: how to improve the quality of education at all levels
through pre-service and in-service teacher training programme, production of quality
teaching materials and the equipping of educational institutions;
Access: how to increase access to education at all levels so that all
the people will have the right to basic (primary) education while at the same time
ensuring that a bigger percentage of the output at the primary and secondary levels will
have access to the level above, that is, secondary and university education respectively
than is the case at present;
Adaptability and relevance; how to make education adaptable and
relevant to the existing realities of the country;
Effective management; how to ensure that educational institutions and
programmes are managed effectively so as to make the process of providing education to the
nation an economic one;
Meeting skilled manpower needs; how to provide adequately trained
manpower to meet the needs in the economic and social services sectors of the country etc.
In responding to these problems and many others, governments have
resorted mostly to the traditional methods and approaches such as expanding existing
institutions and establishing new ones, establishing educational management institutes and
curriculum development centres. Attempts have also been made to re-write curricula in
order to make them more relevant to the existing realities of the time.
All these efforts have produces commendable results but developing
countries continue to experience them and because of economic decline their impact is
greater now than before.
The problem is no longer one of expansion, teacher education management
and production of teaching materials only if it includes also major rehabilitation work to
bring the existing facilities to a reasonable standard. Thus, the meagre financial
resources allocated to education cannot meet all the needs in the education sector.
Consequently, governments have had to adopt innovative approaches to providing quality
education at reasonable costs. One approach which is gaining ground is the use of distance
education in many of the developing countries including Tanzania.
This short paper attempts to present albeit briefly the historical
development of distance education in the world in general and in Tanzania in particular.
It examines the reasons which led to the introduction of distance education in the country
and the experience which has been gained so far. The paper then looks at possible
development of distance education in the country. It concludes with optimism about the
future of distance education as a system with a specific role in the provision of
education and training in Tanzania.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Definition
Distance education has been defined by Perrator (1986) as "an
educational process in which a significant proportion of the teaching is conducted by
someone removed in spare and /or time from the learner…." Many distance teaching
programmes use a combination of media-correspondence courses, radio, television,
telephone, computer and face-to-face teaching. The choice of which media mix to use is
usually dictated upon by the existing realists in each country.
The phrase distance education is sometimes used interchangeably with
open learning although as Daniel (1988) and Farrel (1989) state the two are different.
Farrel defines open learning as "a system based approach to the
provision of education…" and it means much more than jus "distance
education delivery model which uses carefully designed instructional materials to
facilitate independent study …" Open learning refers to open access to
education. Thus, open learning institutions usually have fewer formal admission
requirements than are demanded by conventional institutions.
Origin of Distance Education:
Distance education has its origin in the correspondence courses in
shorthand introduced in England by Sir Isaac Pitman in 1840. Then in 1856 West Germany
established in Berlin a Correspondence Course Institute (Kaye, 1988) for the teaching of
languages. Since then there has been a study growth although the acceptance of distance
education as a viable and effective method of imparting education has gained ground only
in the last 25 years. Before then it was considered good only for those who dropped out of
the normal school system. Thus, presently, many countries both in the North and South have
established distance teaching institutions for various purposes. The literature shows that
distance teaching has been used at all levels of education primary, secondary and higher
education, formal and non-formal, vocational and professional training.
In its early history teaching was only used in the teaching of social
sciences and humanities but now it is used in the teaching of wide range of subjects which
include natural sciences, engineering sciences as well as health sciences.. It is
important to note that the present trend in the development of distance education is to
establish tertiary level institutions in order to increase access to higher education.
These may be independent ones or departments/units of conventional higher education
institutions.
India has opted for both approaches, that is, establishing autonomous
institutions as well as creating departments of distance. Teaching in conventional
universities. It already has 5 open universities and 133 departments of distance teaching
commonly known as "Department of Correspondence courses". On the other hand,
Australia, with a well established education system, has decided to concentrate on dual
mode institutions. Thus, several universities and colleges have distance education
programmes for external students. China and USSR like India, have autonomous distance
education institutions as well as dual mode institutions. Out of 800 conventional
universities in China 311 are dual mode (Daniel, 1988), while there are many TV
Universities which have "sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain in
China" (Xuxu, 1986). USSR has 14 autonomous distance education institutions while
each conventional university has a department of correspondence courses.
The Open University of the UK has served as a model for a number of
autonomous distance teaching institutions in the world. Its administrative structure and
operational system have been emulated by many of the distance teaching institutions which
have been established since its birth in 1969. Besides the Open University there are
several other open learning institutions in Britain. At the time the traditional
commercial correspondence institutions which offer professional and academic programmes
exist side by side with new ones established under the current concept of distance
education.
The final example for Europe, Asia and North America is that Canada
where the trend is to establish faculties or departments in conventional universities
rather than creating autonomous institutions. Many universities have added departments,
faculties or centres of external studies to increase access to their programmes or to meet
specific needs. Sometimes provincial governments have established open learning networks
to respond to needs of regions, which are geographically disadvantaged. For example, the
government of Ontario has established the Northern Ontario Distance Access Network and the
Contact North Network for the purpose of providing education to the people of the Northern
Territories. But Canada has also full-fledged distance teaching institutions. The
Athabasca Open University in Alberta and the Open University of British Columbia which is
part of the Open Learning Agency of that province. The Agency has three separate
institutions, namely the Open University, the Open College and the Open Learning Network.
The latter provides back up services to any distance teaching institutions including its
two sister institutions.
Africa’s experience in distance education lies more in the
provision of secondary education and teacher education than in the provision of tertiary
education. For example, Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Tanzania and Zambia have a district
feature. The governments of these countries have decided to set up study centres to be
used by students. While in the centres students are supervised by monitors trained or
untrained ones to ensure that they make full use of the opportunity given to them to
attain secondary education. On the other hand Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbwabwe make use of
the distance teaching in the training and re-training of teachers for primary (Kenya and
Tanzania) and secondary schools (Kenya and Zimbabwe). In West Africa, Nigeria has
established an autonomous Teacher Training Institute, which will provide pre-service and
in-service teacher education at a distance in order to overcome the problem of untrained
teachers and improve the quality of teaching.
At the tertiary level, Africa has limited experience. The longest
existing institution in this regard is the University of South Africa (UNISA) which was
established as an autonomous body in 1947. Accordingly it is the oldest Open University in
the world. Then the University of Nairobi and the University of Zambia have centres for
external studies offering degrees through distance teaching, the former in teacher
education and the latter in Social Sciences Daniel (1988) states that Africa’s
experience in distance education is minimal due to the lack of resources and continuity.
He cites the example of the Open University of Nigeria which was closed down almost as
soon as it began.
Some Salient Elements in the Development of Distance Education
When studying distance education – its form modes of delivery,
purposes and the impact it has on the public, one can identify a number of salient points,
which are worth noting. Some of these are presented below:
Dual mode institutions have small distance education programmes as
well as enrolments. They do not grow much because they have to compete with other
departments/faculties for financial and human resources. But single mode institutions tend
to grow into large sizes very fast. Examples of double mode institutions with their
student enrolments of distance education for 1986/7 as against the overall enrolments in
brackets, include, Australia, (1,545 out of 2050); Queensland Australia (2046 out of
10,449); University of Delhi (37,350 out of 146,311); and the University of Mysore (13,576
of 72,734). (ACU:1896)
There are some exceptions to this generalisation, but they are few. It
will suffice to mention only three examples as an illustration of this point. These are
Deakin University of Australia, Massey University of New Zealand, and Ramkhamheang
University. Deakin University has 1,799 full-time students as against 4,619 distance
education students, while Massey has 6,209 compared to 12,279 who study at a distance.
(Commonwealth University Year Book). Unfortunately the figures for Ramkhamheang University
are not broken down by mode of delivery but it is suggested (IAU, 1986) that the majority
of students study at a distance. Total enrolment is 269,697. This is an example of a
conventional University which has as open admission policy (IAU 1986).
As stated above, single mode institutions tend to grow fast into large
sizes. A few examples will illustrate this point. The Open University of the UK which was
established in 1969 has over 170,000 students of whom about 50% are degree students, the
rest take non-degree courses. The Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University of Thailand has
over 300,000 students, and finally Allama Iqbal Open University of Pakistan has more than
100,000 students pursuing degree and non-degree courses at a distance.
Dual mode institutions tend to apply the same admission regulations
to distance education students as for full time ones, thus blocking the possibility of
those who don not have formal qualifications to register for university education.
However, there are a few full-fledged distance education institutions which apply also the
same regulations as conventional institutions. For example, the Open University of the
Nertherlands and Fern Universitat of West Germany use the same regulations which are used
by conventional universities in the responsive countries.
In the early years of their existence open learning
institutions’ enrolments in degree programmes are dominated by adult learners.
However, as years go by the situation changes in favour of direct entrants, except where
such institutions are linked to industries as in Russia and China. In such cases
programmes are designed to meet needs of the firms to which the institutions are linked.
Developing countries which face problems of training adequate
manpower to meet the current and future needs tend to opt for full-fledged distance
education institutions in order to increase access and flexibility.
The success of distance education programme depends, to a large
extent, on the co-operation established between distance teaching institutions and the
existing conventional institutions since the former relies heavily on the use of resources
and facilities of the latter.
In African countries, apart from South Africa, distance education is
poorly provided with resources became of poor economic conditions. Consequently, distance
education in Africa lags far behind of the other continents.
TANZANIA’S EXPERIENCE IN DISTANCE EDUCATION
In Tanzania distance education has a fairly long history. It began in
the 1940’s with the introduction of correspondence courses by foreign-based
institutions. The British Tutorial College, Rapid Results College, Wolsey Hall and the
International Correspondence School have all provided courses leading to ‘O’ and
‘A’ levels, higher and professional qualifications. Some of them are still
operating today. Local institutions were established or began to offer distance education
only in the early 1960s.
The Co-operative Education Centre (CEC) was established by the
Co-operative Union of Tanganyika (now known as the Co-operative Union of Tanzania) in 1964
to cater for the educational needs of the co-operative societies. The Institute of Adult
Education, (IAE) established in 1964. In 1970 IAE established the National Correspondence
Institution (NCI) to engage fully in the provision of distance education. Both CEC and in
the NCI were established with financial and technical assistance from the Government of
Sweden.
The early programmes for both the CEC and the IAE (before the
establishment of NCI) -were in non-formal education sector. Currently, the CEC has also
distance teaching for professional qualification in accountancy and management, while the
NCI has only a small programme in the non-formal education sector.
The Co-operative Education Centre:
The CEC is the education arm of the Co-operative Union of Tanzania
(CUT). However, it operates under the Co-operative College, which is a government
institution. The primary purpose of the CEC is two folds:
to educate members of primary co-operative societies about their
duties and responsibilities;
to equip employees of primary societies with the knowledge and skills
which they require in order to perform duties efficiently.
So, it had two target groups, namely, members of primary societies and
employees of these societies. When CEC launched its first programme in 1965 the
Co-operative Movement had 1,500 primary societies. Therefore, it decided to use a
multi-media approach in order to reach the target groups throughout the country. The
approach involved the use of the study materials called study letters, study groups for
committee members and study circles for employees. In 1967 radio broadcasting was
introduced for both programmes to support the correspondence courses.
As the programmes kept on expanding it became necessary for the CEC to
re-organize itself to ensure that support services were adequately provided to students as
the local level. Thus, it established zonal education wings, which have been given
administrative as well as academic responsibilities. They help to establish study
groups/study circles, and service them, they distribute study letters and receive
responses from individuals and groups and comment on them; they run seminars and provide
feedback to the headquarters. In fact the success of the programmes has, to a larger
extent, depend on the efficient performance of these Education Wings.
Unfortunately, the work of CEC was interrupted in 1976 when
co-operatives were officially abolished by the Government. Consequently the Centre decided
to embark on programmes leading to formal qualification in accountancy and management. But
now the Co-operatives have been re-established, and so the programmes have also been
re-introduced.
Effectiveness of the Programmes:
It is not easy to assess achievements of the programmes purely on the
basis of radio study groups and correspondence course methods as these were supplemented
by several other methods. For instance, short seminars, general meetings and film shows
were sometimes arranged in conjuction with discussions. However, expansion of the
programmes, the increase in study groups and the sustenance of the programme until the
abolition of co-operatives indicate adequately the effective role of CEC in promoting
co-operatives through distance education.
THE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE INSTITUTION (NCI)
The established in November, 1970 as a department of the institute of
Adult Education to provide distance education in both the formal and non-formal education.
However, till now it has focused its attention on the formal sector of education. It
offers courses leading to ‘O’ level and ‘A’ level national
examinations. It also offers a few elementary professional courses in Bookkeeping and
Elements of Auditing; Production Management and Man- In-Organisation. In addition there is
a teacher-education programme which presently is only concerned with the upgrading of
primary school teachers. The mode of delivery is completely by correspondence courses.
So far no serious evaluation of the programme has been done and so it
is difficult to tell the extent to which it has been successful. On the other hand,
programme has suffered a stunted growth. It has remained small and the course materials
have not been revised to date for the lack of financial inputs. This situation has led
Daniel (1988) to comment that Tanzania is a "striking example of a country where
education and DE are claimed to be central to national development but have languished
because national development has not generated the economic resource to do much
…" Therefore, a lot needs to be done in order to improve the existing programmes
of distance education in the country.
NEW DEVELOPMENT
So far Tanzania has virtually no experience in the provision to
tertiary distance education. The little that is available is confined to a small programme
offered by the Baptist Seminary in Aurusha. This is a bachelor’s degree in Theology
service the eastern and southern region of the Church. However, some thinking is going on
in the Government on the possibility of establishing an institution of higher distance
education in the country.
A number of factors have led to the current thinking about the role
distance education can play in the development of higher education. First, the increasing
costs of running higher education institution has made the Government to consider
different alternatives which can supplement the present efforts to expand higher education
at reduced costs. Secondly, expansion of secondary education demands a parallel expansion
of higher education in order to respond to social demand and expectations. Thirdly,
experience to-date has shown that there is a need not only to expand the training capacity
of our institutions in order to increase output, but also to have a flexible system which
can respond quickly to changing needs of the country in human resource development. And
finally, after a successful adult education programme in the last twenty years the
Government is now challenged to establish a firm foundation of continuing education.
The new thinking has passes three states already. The first stage was
the study carried out by Anglo-Tanzanian Team in 1979 on how best mass media could be used
in providing higher distance education. In its final report entitled "Educational
Media in Tanzania: Their Role in Development" the study Team recommended the
establishment of a Correspondence Institute (Extension Department) at the University of
Dar Es Salaam (Study Team Report – 1979). The Institute was to offer a limited range
of degree courses for a carefully controlled number of students so as "to keep the
workload on the University within acceptable limits". It was to be a paced learning
system on print supported by radio broadcast, student assignments and face-to-face
teaching lasting about a week once a year. The intake was to be limited to about 200
students in each course.
The recommendations had not been acted upon by the time the second
stage was entered into in 1980. In that year a Presidential Commission on Education (PCE)
was established to review the country’s education system. In the review the
Commission saw a need for establishing an education for the people. Therefore it
recommended the creation of an institute at one of the existing universities while the
others should have departments of correspondence Institution should be elevated to an
autonomous body so as to allow it to develop degree programmes as well. The Commission
believed that, if implemented, its recommendations would go a long way towards increasing
access to higher education, and in opening up opportunities to adults to study while
working.
Again none of the recommendations had been implemented by the time the
committee for establishment of An Open University was set up in October 1988. As the name
implies the Committee was set up to study the possibility of establishing an Open
University in the country. Its terms of reference included among others, the study of the
different types open learning at University level in both developed and developing
countries and recommend to the Government the type which is more suited to Tanzania’s
situation; to draw up an implementation plan for the establishment of the
university/university institution and its operation; and to identify both local and
foreign institutions with which the proposed open university could co-operate in carrying
out its responsibilities.
Committee has completed its task and has already submitted its report
to the Ministry. The contents of the report have yet to be made public. However it may
suffice to state that the committee undertook a detailed study to state that the Committee
undertook a detailed study of existing modes of distance education, operational systems,
types of courses offered, modes of delivery, entry requirements and evaluation methods.
The Committee did also study the different countries. The study was carried out through
reading available literature on distance education and by making personal visits to
various countries abroad.
From the knowledge gained during the study seems appropriate to suggest
that distance education has a greater potential in Tanzania than we have acknowledged
hereto. The range of subjects which can be taught through distance education at University
level has increased from purely social sciences to include natural sciences, engineering
and health sciences. Distance education can be used to provide pre-service and in-service
training and to meet special needs on skills or professional knowledge needed by
particular firms or institutions. For instance, the Open College of Britain has about 1000
different courses aimed at meeting needs of groups of industries or enterprises which have
common problems.
The Open University of UK has many modular courses aimed at meeting the
needs of related firms or institutions, such as financial institutions; or aimed at
meeting the needs of certain professions for example management, public administration,
public health and teaching.
Rationale for an Open University of Tanzania
Tanzania faces basically two types of problems, namely, economic
problems and social problems. The first can be a cause for the second and vise-versa.
However, for both types of problems there are external as well as internal reasons. For
example, the decline of our economy is partly caused by the falling prices of the raw
materials we export abroad and the ever rising prices of the goods we import. In turn the
high prices affect the cost of living of our people. On the other hand there are internal
causes which bring about economic decline and deterioration of social services. For
instance, the decline in productivity in most of our industries and in public offices,
mismanagement of enterprises, misallocation and under utilization of trained man-power and
so on. To a large measure the internal problems could be solved through proper planning,
good and effective management and through appropriate training and retraining programmes.
However, one must appreciate the commendable job which has been done by
the Government and the training institutions in production the trained manpower we have in
various sectors without whom have been subservient to foreign experts. Yet to be able to
cope with the problems additional efforts are needed.
Social demands:
Currently, the Government and the people are making great efforts to
expand secondary education so that at least 20% of the primary school graduates who will
soon number about 600,000 yearly, enter secondary schools. This will be the same as
creating opportunities for 120,000 pupils to obtain secondary education. Unfortunately,
the present higher education institutions would only be able to take about 4,000 of these
when they graduate from high school. Socially this will not be acceptable as people will
be expecting larger numbers to benefit from higher education. Thus, new alternatives have
to be found in order to increase access to higher education at the rate proportional to
the expansion of secondary education.
Meeting Manpower Needs
There are types of needs. The need for training of new personnel and
the need for re-training/professional upgrading. Both are important but have a limited
scope at present. This is because the existing conventional higher education institution
are constrained both of space and time because of the rigid timetable which they follow.
The country needs also to establish institutions which will have flexibility, capacity and
the time to carry out the functions, which are kept in the peripheral by the conventional
institutions but which are very important for the development of the country.
Meeting Specific Needs:
There are special areas which require special attention immediately for
economic and social reasons. One area is the training and retraining of teachers. With
rapid expansion of secondary education and the emphasis on improving education at all
levels it is necessary to expand rapidly teacher training and retraining in order to meet
the requirements.
This cannot be done by expanding conventional institutions because it
will be a slow process. The country will have to take an innovative way to accomplish this
task as it did when introducing UPE. This means resorting to distance education. In doing
this the country will not be unique since there are many other countries which will not be
unique since there are many other countries which have adopted this approach. They include
Kenya, Pakistan, Nigeria, Canada and South Korea..
Further more distance education at tertiary level will increase
opportunities for women to attain higher education. The experience obtained during the
study of distance education abroad has shown that in most open learning systems women form
close to 50% of the enrolments. In fact in Canada they form 60% of the total enrolments.
Concluding remarks
Tanzania has made great strides since independence in providing
education to its people. It has introduced Universal Primary Education and a serious adult
education programme. The two efforts have resulted in making the nation literate by 90.4%.
Secondary education is being expanded at a fast rate through a combined effort of the
Government and the people. The result is that close to 40,000 primary school leavers are
able to enter secondary schools.
The efforts have borne fruits in producing trained manpower too. Most
positions in all sectors of the economy and social services are now held by Tanzanians,
the majority of whom have been trained locally in institutions established after or just
before independence the University of Dar Es Salaam Institute of Development Management,
the Co-operative College Moshi, the College of Business Education, National Institute of
Transport, Technical College, Dar Es Salaam and Sokoine University of Agriculture. All of
them have contributed.
However, additional efforts are needed in expanding higher education if
the country is to keep pace with social demands and manpower needs arising from success in
expanding secondary education and adult education programmes, on one hand, and on the
other, because of expanding economic activities and social services. What is needed in
these new efforts is an innovative approach to providing higher education, which can keep
up with changing needs. Distance education has proved to be such an approach, which has
been introduced in many countries developed and developing alike with admirable success.
It should be noted, however, that it is expensive to introduce distance
learning institution but if properly planned and operated it can become a cheaper way of
providing higher education and training. It should also be pointed out that distance
education cannot replace traditional approach to providing education and training, rather
it can only complement it. Thus, the establishment of distance education should not pose a
threat to conventional institutions.
Judging from the experience of other countries, there is no
particularly suitable time for introducing higher distance education. What is needed is a
firm decision by the government even where there is opposition. For at no time have people
accepted innovations readily for fear of the unknown. It is therefore recommended that
Tanzania should join the bandwagon now and establish an open learning institution to
provide higher education and training. I am convinced that such a decision will not be
regretted in the future. |
