WELL TRAINED,QUALIFIED,COMMITTED AND DEDICATE TEACHERS IS NOW THE PRIORITY OF THE GOVERNMENT.

COMMISSIONER for Education in the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training Prof Eustella Bhalalusesa COMMISSIONER for Education in...

COMMISSIONER for Education in the Ministry
of Education and Vocational Training
Prof Eustella Bhalalusesa

COMMISSIONER for Education in the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training Prof Eustella Bhalalusesa has said the best way to achieve quality education in the country is to ensure availability of well-trained, qualified, committed and dedicated teachers.

Prof Bhalalusesa made this revelation in Dar es Salaam when launching the Teacher Educators’ Programme at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT) aimed at improving the quality of education in the country by making all teacher educators more competent in their work.

“For us (government) to ensure provision of quality education in the country, we should ensure we acquire well trained, qualified, committed, dedicated teachers who are proud of being teachers,” she said.

Commenting on the programme, Prof Bhalalusesa said the programme will help to update and improve the extent of teacher educators’ knowledge, skills and practices in teacher education.

The programme, according to the commissioner, will lead to the development of a knowledge base that will enable teacher educators to participate in educational development activities such as research.

“The programme will help in designing and run tailored-made courses for different groups according to the needs, guide teacher educators to continually reflect on their practices for the purpose of continuous improvement,” she said.

Prof  Bahalalusesa said the programme, to be developed by OUT and the government, will focus on curriculum development, teaching and learning models, HIV/AIDS and sexuality education, teacher professionalism and classroom practices.

Ms Lihawa, who was speaking on behalf of the Director of Teachers Education, said that from 1998 to date, teacher educators’ porgrammes had passed through phases, reviewing the models and broadening its activities.

“One of such new models in the programme is HIV/AIDS and reproductive health education that has been included in order to help to cope with the changing societal needs that are often taking place,” she said.

“The government agenda is to ensure that attention to HIV/AIDS, reproductive health Education and other cross cutting issues are comprehensively included in the overall education policy and in mechanism for reviewing the implementation of this policy at all levels,” she noted.

In another development, Ms Lihawa said that the future plan of the programme is to strengthen the professional capacity of tutors and enhance teaching and learning process in the country.

Source Daily News.