The United Republic of Tanzania is a union of Tanganyika (Tanzania Mainland) and Zanzibar (Njingu, 2014). Tanzania is an African country located in the eastern part of the continent, with a total coverage area of 945,087 sq. km, including 61,000 sq. km of inland water (URT, 2023). The country is bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south. The country’s eastern border lies in the Indian Ocean, which has a coastline of 1,424 km (URT, 2023). According to the 2022 Population and Housing Census, Tanzania has a total population of 61,741,120 people, of which 30,053,130 are male and 31,687,990 are female (URT, 2022a). Moreover, out of 61,741,120 people in Tanzania, 1,967,582 are children under 1 year old, while 9,484,171 are children 0–4 years old and 16,694,763 are children 0–8 years old (URT, 2022b).
Early childhood education (ECE) in Tanzania started as the means to free women from rearing and provided them with an opportunity to fully engage in economic activities and then became the official system for providing education and care to children (Shukia & Marobo, 2022). In 2024, the government and private schools had a total enrolment of 1,676,559 students, with 824,648 boys and 851,911 girls (URT, 2024).
ECE in Tanzania means either the child care given to children aged 2–5 years at the registered centres (daycare centres) or education given to young children of 5 years that prepares them for primary education (pre-primary education) (Education Amendment Act, 1995; URT, 2016; URT, 1995: Law of the Child Act, 2019). Daycare provides childcare services for children of the age not less than 2 years but below the age of 5 years (URT, 2020a). Pre-primary education prepares children for primary education, especially to join grade 1, and receives children aged 5 years and above (URT, 2023).
Currently, ECEC is classified into two types. The first is early childhood care, sometimes called pre-school or pre-primary. Early childhood care is provided in places known as daycare centres that are owned by either government or private organizations, NGOs or an individual person. The second category is pre-primary education. This is provided in primary schools. It prepares children to be enrolled in primary education. Thus, in Tanzania, ECEC is referred to as pre-primary education: kindergarten, daycare, nursery school and early childhood development (Day Care Centers Act, 1981; UR, 1995; 2014; Law of the Child Act, 2019).
The cost of ECE depends on the type of school in which the child is enrolled. If enrolled in public ownership with no fee, the family will be required to provide other requirements, such as uniforms and exercise books. However, if enrolled in private ownership, the family is required to pay a fee and provide any other requirements, such as uniforms and exercise books. The fees are determined by the providers themselves, based on their wishes and how they perceive the quality of the service they offer.
The 2023 edition of the 2014 Education and Training Policy states that Kiswahili and English are the media of instruction in pre-primary education. The pre-primary education curriculum has been prepared in two languages: Kiswahili and English. Kiswahili will be used as the language of instruction in Kiswahili medium schools, while English will be used as the medium of instruction in English medium schools.
The implementation of ECEC is guided by the National Curriculum Framework for Basic Teacher Education, the curriculum for ECE and the syllabus of ECE (URT, 2023). The operations of ECE in Tanzania are supported by different policies, regulations and policies, such as the Day Care Centres Act of 1981, Day Care Centers Regulations of 1982, Education and Training Policy of 1995, Community Development Policy of June 1996; Women and Gender Development Policy of 2000, the Law of the Child of 2009, Education and Training Policy of 2014 and National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty Phase 1-2000-2005.
The coordination and management of ECE has been changing over time, depending on the changing ministries responsible for ECEC. For example, from the 2000s, ECE was coordinated by the Ministry of Regional Administration and Local Government under the National Coordinating Committee for Child Survival, Protection and at central government (AMANI ECCD, 2001). This ministry was guided by the policies of four other ministries regarding the needs and rights of young children: the Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Community Development, Women’s Affairs and Children; the Ministry of Labour, Youth Development and Sports under Social Welfare Department; and the Ministry of Education and Culture (AMANI ECCD, 2001). Currently, ECE is provided by public schools and private centres and is coordinated by three ministries, while the care and education of children aged 0–4 years is under the Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups. The education of children aged 5 to 6 years is under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government (Ndijuye, Mligo, & Machumu, 2020).
According to the national curriculum and the national syllabus of pre-primary education of 2016, the monitoring and evaluation of ECEC is done in the form of quality assurance to private and public schools. It involves different groups of quality assurers from different levels (i.e. assurers at the school level, ward level, district level, region level and national level). Therefore, the quality assurers, head teacher, ward educational officer, district and regional educational officers and school quality assurance officers from district, region and national levels are responsible for ensuring the quality of ECE (URT, 2016). In addition, inspection in the form of quality assurance follows the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (URT, 2016). The evaluation of ECE focuses on determining the extent to which objectives have been achieved. This is normally done by the Tanzania Institute of Education, but it does not involve written examinations (URT, 2016).
Quality assurance is conducted at various levels, with zonal and district quality assurers visiting schools. Ward educational officers are also responsible for visiting ECE schools in their respective areas. Furthermore, school heads and their internal quality assurance committees oversee the day-to-day execution of ECEC-related educational activities. In all inspection cohorts, observations and checklists are employed to collect vital information about the development of ECEC.
In ECE, children are expected to learn relationship skills, reading, writing, early numeracy skills, science and application of ICT. Similarly, children are expected to learn to appreciate the culture of their communities, faith, national virtues, as well as health and environment preservation (URT, 2016, URT, 2014; 2014 version of 2023).
In Tanzania, men and women can be employed as ECE teachers; however, in most cases, women tend to outnumber men due to the role of parental care. The required qualifications of ECEC teachers are either a certificate of teacher education, diploma or bachelor’s degree in ECE (URT, 1995). To be enrolled in teacher colleges, an applicant should have at least division three (Div. 3) in ordinary-level secondary education (four years) during the cycle of the education system (URT, 1995). The certificate and diploma of teacher education take two years each. A bachelor’s degree takes a minimum of three years (URT, 1995; 2014). The teacher–child ratio in a regular pre-primary class is 1:25 (URT, 2016). According to URT (2024), the overall number of teachers working in ECE is 20,270, with 14,806 permanent and 5,464 non-permanent teachers. In addition, only 9,854 (66.6%) of the permanent working personnel have a certificate in pre-primary education. As a result, information suggests that ECE has unqualified staff, accounting for 33.4% of all permanent working teachers in ECE schools and centres.
The program in daycare is provided for the day or a substantial part of the day, with or without fees (Law of the Child Act, 2019). The learning program in pre-primary education is 3 hours and 30 minutes per day. The length of the period is 20 minutes. Therefore, children stay at school or daycare centres for 4 hours and 30 minutes. For government schools, the program is for half a day, while in some private schools, the program is for the full day.
Children at government schools are expected to come at 7 a.m. and depart at 11:30 a.m., while those in private schools may leave at 2:30 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. The ECE class takes no more than 25 children in pre-primary; therefore, the teacher–child ratio is 1:25 (URT, 2020b). However, at daycare centres, there are 20 children in each class, resulting in a 1:20 ratio (URT, 2020a).
| Activities of the day | Time |
|---|---|
| Morning circle | 20 minutes |
| Learning activities | 80 minutes |
| Learning corners | 40 minutes |
| Breakfast | 30 minutes |
| Break | 30 minutes |
| Departing circle | 10 minutes |
Tanzania faces challenges in ECE, including a shortage of infrastructure, particularly in public schools, leading to overcrowding and violating recommended class sizes. Additionally, a shortage of qualified teachers affects the quality of instruction, causing teacher–child ratios to exceed 1:25, causing high workloads and affecting teacher effectiveness. In addition, most ECE children often require long distances, leading to physical fatigue, humiliation and high dropout rates. Furthermore, the low socio-economic status of parents also hinders funding and access to necessary school requirements for their children. Furthermore, some parents often lack awareness of ECE and hold traditional norms, cultural values and gender discrimination, negatively impacting the development of ECE. This resistance from parents and the community contributes to the poor establishment of ECE.
To improve ECE quality in Tanzania, immediate measures include increasing infrastructure and resource quality, establishing ECE teacher training programs and constructing accessible schools for all children. These strategies aim to enhance efficiency, reduce workload and align with class size and teacher–child ratio frameworks, ultimately enhancing the country’s ECE development. In addition, improved parent and community engagement in ECE programs can enhance the quantity and quality of the establishment. Advocacy should be adapted to discourage restrictive practices, and adequate funding should be provided to support ECE schools and centres, ensuring sustainable development.
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