mosabiy
JF-Expert Member
- Jul 3, 2017
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Prof. CASMIR MUSHANGORE LUBAGUMYA has echoed remarks made recently by Ex president BENJAMIN WILLIAM MKAPA who doubles as Chancellor of university of Dodoma. H.E MKAPA said, in March 2018, that our education system is in crisis hence there is an urgent need for a national dialogue on the state of our education.
Prof. LUBAGUMYA has left no stone unturned when discussing the said hot button issue:
"My tenure as Principal at the University of Dodoma opened my eyes to the deteriorating quality of education in the country. The quality of students we received from secondary schools was worse than I had seen at UDSM. Each year we received a worse crop of students than the previous one. Students were unable to communicate fluently either in Swahili or English. The problem was not only the language but also the inability to think clearly, in whatever language."
"Students were also ignorant of basic general knowledge about the world and even about Tanzania. One day I was shocked to learn that a second year university student did not even know the name of the Vice President of Tanzania, something even a Grade 2 pupil would be expected to know. On another occassion, a finalist student whose major subject was Swahili wrote a letter in Swahili which was incoherent. This is of course not something that one may solve at university level. It is a symptom of a bigger, more fundamental problem of the whole education system in the country. Nor was this a problem faced by the university of Dodoma alone. My role as external examiner in Tanzania revealed the same problem in other universities as well".
" These students seem to constitute a different generation, not really interested in the rigours of the academic life. Most students of the current generation would be happy to use shortcuts in order to get their certificates. This approach included bribing their way up the educational ladder from primary school all the way to the university level. Unfortinately, some parents and teachers are part of this dirty game, which explains why we have so many cases of forged certificates at all levels. We also have cases of students who pay people to write their dissertations for them. All these are worrying symptoms of a system that does not work properly."
"Unfortunately, these corrupt practices are not confined to students alone. We also have corruption even in the highest level of government. There are very few people with the moral authority to condemn students involved in these malpractices."
"Where will all this deterioration lead us to? Whenever I visit Dsm nowadays and see so many young people in the streets doing nothing, my heart bleeds. Have we forsaken them? Is there nothing society can do to channel this force to useful purpose? These are people who have nothing to lose and can be easily used by selfish politicians to achieve their ends."
"We will have, over the years, an army of graduates at all levels of the education system with no knowledge or skills, which means they cannot be employed. Some of them will be employed through corrupt practices or because of "technical know who" instead of "technical know how." This situation will fuel incompetence and further corruption in the whole fabric of the society; it is a vicious cycle. We will have a crop of leaders who are only interested in amassing wealth by any means, fair or foul, because that will be the only thing they are capable of doing. It will be a Marcheavellian society where the end justifies the means."
"Top government officials are chauffeur driven in very expensive four wheel drive vehicles. They pay themselves alot of allowances, many of which cannot be justified in any way. The same officials own private property, the grandeur of which is inconceivable in a poor country. Much of this private property is in fact obtained by stealing public funds."
"One day I was amazed to see the Ambassador of Japan accredited to Tanzania being driven in a Toyota Rav 4, a cheap Japanese car. Yet Japan is the third biggest economy in the world after US and China. I cannot imagine an African Ambassador being driven in a Toyota Rav 4. When the Japanese Ambassador goes to sign documents for assisting Tanzania, he meets a government official who is being driven in a much more expensive Japanese car!!!."
"Sometimes I ask myself: why would one want to own 10 cars? You can only drive one at a time. Why would one want to own 10 mansions? You can only sleep in one room at a time, usually in a corner. While it is legitimate to seek to be comfortable in life by earning an honest income, living ostentatiously because of ill-gotten wealth is unacceptable. You cannot enjoy this wealth, especially when you know quite well that people around you are miserable because you have stolen from them. Your conscience, assuming you have one, will always nag you. Education is the key to proper success in life".
*PROF. LUBAGUMYA*
Prof. LUBAGUMYA has left no stone unturned when discussing the said hot button issue:
"My tenure as Principal at the University of Dodoma opened my eyes to the deteriorating quality of education in the country. The quality of students we received from secondary schools was worse than I had seen at UDSM. Each year we received a worse crop of students than the previous one. Students were unable to communicate fluently either in Swahili or English. The problem was not only the language but also the inability to think clearly, in whatever language."
"Students were also ignorant of basic general knowledge about the world and even about Tanzania. One day I was shocked to learn that a second year university student did not even know the name of the Vice President of Tanzania, something even a Grade 2 pupil would be expected to know. On another occassion, a finalist student whose major subject was Swahili wrote a letter in Swahili which was incoherent. This is of course not something that one may solve at university level. It is a symptom of a bigger, more fundamental problem of the whole education system in the country. Nor was this a problem faced by the university of Dodoma alone. My role as external examiner in Tanzania revealed the same problem in other universities as well".
" These students seem to constitute a different generation, not really interested in the rigours of the academic life. Most students of the current generation would be happy to use shortcuts in order to get their certificates. This approach included bribing their way up the educational ladder from primary school all the way to the university level. Unfortinately, some parents and teachers are part of this dirty game, which explains why we have so many cases of forged certificates at all levels. We also have cases of students who pay people to write their dissertations for them. All these are worrying symptoms of a system that does not work properly."
"Unfortunately, these corrupt practices are not confined to students alone. We also have corruption even in the highest level of government. There are very few people with the moral authority to condemn students involved in these malpractices."
"Where will all this deterioration lead us to? Whenever I visit Dsm nowadays and see so many young people in the streets doing nothing, my heart bleeds. Have we forsaken them? Is there nothing society can do to channel this force to useful purpose? These are people who have nothing to lose and can be easily used by selfish politicians to achieve their ends."
"We will have, over the years, an army of graduates at all levels of the education system with no knowledge or skills, which means they cannot be employed. Some of them will be employed through corrupt practices or because of "technical know who" instead of "technical know how." This situation will fuel incompetence and further corruption in the whole fabric of the society; it is a vicious cycle. We will have a crop of leaders who are only interested in amassing wealth by any means, fair or foul, because that will be the only thing they are capable of doing. It will be a Marcheavellian society where the end justifies the means."
"Top government officials are chauffeur driven in very expensive four wheel drive vehicles. They pay themselves alot of allowances, many of which cannot be justified in any way. The same officials own private property, the grandeur of which is inconceivable in a poor country. Much of this private property is in fact obtained by stealing public funds."
"One day I was amazed to see the Ambassador of Japan accredited to Tanzania being driven in a Toyota Rav 4, a cheap Japanese car. Yet Japan is the third biggest economy in the world after US and China. I cannot imagine an African Ambassador being driven in a Toyota Rav 4. When the Japanese Ambassador goes to sign documents for assisting Tanzania, he meets a government official who is being driven in a much more expensive Japanese car!!!."
"Sometimes I ask myself: why would one want to own 10 cars? You can only drive one at a time. Why would one want to own 10 mansions? You can only sleep in one room at a time, usually in a corner. While it is legitimate to seek to be comfortable in life by earning an honest income, living ostentatiously because of ill-gotten wealth is unacceptable. You cannot enjoy this wealth, especially when you know quite well that people around you are miserable because you have stolen from them. Your conscience, assuming you have one, will always nag you. Education is the key to proper success in life".
*PROF. LUBAGUMYA*
