The Practice of Open and Distance Learning

Part 1: The Genesis and Development of Distance Education in Tanzania1.1 The “Talking Drum” and Distance Education 3 – 5 1.2.2 The Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre 1.2.6 Sokoi

The Practice of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in Tanzania: Some Reflections on the Open University of Tanzania (OUT)

ODL Tower Building at the OUT Temporary Headquarters, Kawawa Road, Kinondoni Area,

Dar es Salaam.

Table of Contents

Part 1: The Genesis and Development of Distance Education in Tanzania

1.1 The “Talking Drum” and Distance Education 3 – 5

1.2.2 The Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre

1.2.6 Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) 21 – 22

1.2.8 Southern Africa Extension Unit (SAEU) 23 – 241.2.9 Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) 24 – 251.2.1

Education

59 – 60

Part 3: Quality Assurance in ODL Practice at the OUT:

The Unfinished Business

3.4 The Need and Features of a Comprehensive Quality

Assurance Framework

81 – 89

3.5 Summary and Conclusion 89 – 90

List of Acronyms

AVU: African Virtual University

BRN: Big Results Now

CEC: Cooperative Education Centre

DEATA: Distance Education Association of Tanzania

DVC (LT & RS): Deputy Vice Chancellor (Learning Technologies & Regional Services)EFA: Education For All

ETP: Education and Training Policy

IAE: Institute of Adult Education

ICTs: Information and Communication Technologies

IF: INADES-Formation

IUCEA: Inter – University Council of Eastern Africa

MDGs: Millennium Development Goals

MoCU: Moshi Co - operative University

MOOCs: Massive Open Online Courses

MP: Member of Parliament

MUCCoBS: Moshi University College of Cooperative and Business Studies

NAAC: National Assessment and Accreditation Council

NACTE: National Council for Technical Education

NCI: National Correspondence Institution

NFE: Non – Formal Education

NICTBB: National Information and Communication Technology Broadband

Backbone

NSGPR I & II: National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction I & II

ODEX: On Demand Examination

ODL: Open and Distance Learning

OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

OERs: Open Educational Resources

OERUs: Open Educational Resources’ Universities

OUT: The Open University of Tanzania

OUTSO: The Open University of Tanzania Students’ Organisation

PCE: Presidential Commission on Education

PSRP: Public Service Reform Programme

QA: Quality Assurance

SADC: Southern Africa Development Community

SAEU: South Africa Extension Unit

SPA: Student Portifolio Assessment

SUA: Sokoine University of Agriculture

TCU: Tanzania Commission for Universities

TGDLC: Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre UDSM: University of Dar es Salaam

UKOU: United Kingdom Open University

URT: United Republic of Tanzania

VETA: Vocational Education Training Authority

List of Tables and Figures

7 Cumulative Undergraduate Students’ Admission by

Programme and Gender : 1996 – 2013/14

32 – 33

8 Cumulative Enrolment in Postgraduate Programmes:

2001 – 2013/14

33 – 35

9 The Number of Phone Subscribers in Tanzania 56

10 A Comparison of Infographic Data – Kenya and Tanzania 57

11 Institutional Status of Internal Quality Assurance 76

12 Enrolment Rates in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary

Education -

80

List of Figures

Map 1: OUT Study/Coordinating Centres in Tanzania 29

2 Quality Assurance: An Object of Negotiation Between

Relevant Parties

71

5 A Comparison of Actual and Expected Enrolment

Distribution

80

Part 1: The Genesis and Development of Distance Education in Tanzania 1.0 Introduction

Although Africa is widely believed to be the cradle of mankind, it is theMiddle East which is credited as the spring of human civilisation (Chambers’,1973: 807) Among other elements of civilisation, current World dominantreligions i.e Christianity and Islam were initially revealed in the Middle East,before their underlying beliefs were transmitted to other parts Besides religiousbeliefs, another feature of civilisation, the art of reading and writing, was invented

in Mesopotamia in present day Iraq in about 3000 BC (Ibid) Incidentally, the basicmedium of communication in correspondence education, the precursor of distanceeducation, is writing It is, therefore, logical to trace the genesis of distanceeducation to the Middle East in general and Iraq in particular It has been observed

“ all the archaeological evidence available seems to prove that true writing(based on signs representing sound), was first developed in SouthernMesopotamia” (Hawkes & Woolley, 1963: 634)

Distance education is reputed as a very old approach to teaching andlearning It began about 3000 BC with the invention of the art of writing inMesopotamia in present day Iraq Its informal use in education and learning isassociated with the practice of writing letters in order to give information,instruction or even directives to another person or group of people For example,from the period of the early Christian movement from about 60 AD (1st CenturyAD), this art of communication was extensively used by people like Paul, Timothy,John, Peter and others to educate followers in various churches and places Islamictraditions show that Prophet Mohamed employed a similar method in spreading histeachings from the 7th Century AD (Dodds, 1991:7) In fact, according to religious

beliefs, the genesis of the art of writing can be traced to divine inspiration as theten commandments and the Holy Quran were handed over to Moses and ProphetMohamed respectively, in a written form (Sheung-wai, 2002: 658) Initially,distance education relied solely on the print medium (correspondence education),

in instructional delivery However, in the course of time it has embraced usage of awider range of media including face to face contact, broadcast, recorded, telephoneand more recently Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) This isthe context within which it is popularly referred to as Open and Distance Learning(ODL)

ODL is a philosophy about the purpose and ends of education and about thebest means of achieving that purpose Open learning has the purpose of opening uplearning opportunities to a wider range of population in order to enable them to

learn what, where, when and how they choose to learn Unlike the rigid

admission criteria of the conventional system, the flexible admission criteria of anopen learning system allows all interested clients to access educational and trainingopportunities on a mass scale More significantly, the use of media technologiesincluding print as the mode of instructional delivery (distance learning) ensures

that every enrolled learner is accessed with what and how; when and where;

he/she wants to learn The best means of achieving the ideal of ODL is, therefore,distance learning This essay attempts to review the practice of ODL in Tanzania,with a special emphasis on the Open University of Tanzania (OUT) It is dividedinto three parts:

Part 1: The Genesis and Development of Distance Education in Tanzania.

Part 2: Convergence of Distance Education and Conventional Learning:

Innovations and Developments at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT).Part 3: Quality Assurance in Open and Distance Learning Practice at the Open

University of Tanzania (OUT): The Unfinished Business

The first part reviews the performance and experiences of ODL projects andprogrammes in the country since Independence in 1961 Within the context of ahistorical perspective, marks of historicity are highlighted in order to illuminate thechallenges facing the OUT in vindicating the rationale of the ODL practice in thecurrent epoch Among others, the challenges of the parity of esteem betweendistance and conventional education and quality assurance are dealt with in thesecond and third parts respectively

1.1 The “Talking Drum” and Distance Education

Whereas letters delivered by courier pre-date present forms of distanceeducation in the earliest literate societies, the drum may be assumed to have played

a similar role in the non - literate societies of Africa This is evident from thefollowing statement:

long before radio or television were introduced into the Continentduring the colonial era, the “homo Africanus” relied on hisinstrument par excellence – the drum, in order to communicatethrough distant space with his fellow men That special drum came to

be known as the “talking drum” Its messages of joy and sorrow,mourning and celebration travelled over hills and mountains to linkman in a two – way exchange In a way, therefore, the “talking drum”was a precursor of the modern correspondence (read distance)education in so far as it linked the distant learner to his teacher orknowledge holder (Kabwasa and Kaunda (Eds), 1973:3)

While the educational significance of the “talking drum” may be subject todebate, there is no doubt that the mass – orientation of its message represented aphilosophy of education which aimed at serving the needs of the greatest numbersirrespective of physical barriers The capacity of distance education to employ

media in order to span the distance between educators and learners is a uniquefeature of this instructional delivery methodology According to Erdos:

Distance education requires educators to teach students despite separation byspace This separation must be overcome by writing or by one or more of thevarious channels of communication which technology has made possible:radio, television, tape recording, telephone Any general discussion of themethodology of the system and sub-systems of distance education musttherefore relate to the use of any medium or combination of media whichcan be used to span the distance between educators and learners (Erdos,1967)

In so far as the drum managed to span the distance between educators andlearners, it can be regarded as an authentic medium of communication within thisprimitive distance education system However, there is no evidence that thisinformal distance education system was developed significantly anywhere inAfrica during the pre-colonial or even the colonial eras A low technological level

as well as the absence of highly institutionalized formal and non - formal educationsystems are largely responsible for the non-development of distance education inpre-colonial and colonial eras in Africa Incidentally, informal distance educationsystems in literate societies had to await for socio – economic changes unleashed

by the Industrial Revolution from the second half of the eighteenth century, tosecure formal existence as correspondence education This scenario has beendescribed as follows:

For many of us, the term, "distance learning," calls forth the image of agroup of students communicating with an instructor on another point of theplanet, or outside it, by means of computers and video devices However,education at a distance predates computers and has been around for morethan a century, spurred by technological advances and social changes of thenineteenth century With the mechanization of the printing process,information could be reproduced in faster and more economic ways Theinformation could then spread farther and faster by a well-organized post

office system, through the newly built infrastructure of roads and railways.Issues of national security and economic competitiveness brought education

to the forefront of national interests and the introduction of public educationcreated a large constituency able and eager to read The time was ripe forcorrespondence education (Jurich, 1999)

Correspondence education filled the gaps of educational systems that wereeither too small to absorb the increasing demand, or too rigid to respond to theneeds of societies in transformation Erdos has periodised the history ofcorrespondence education into four periods:

 a period of individual initiative and experiment by the late 1800's;

 a period of incorporation into national systems of education in the 1900's inmany countries;

 the expansion period during the Second World War; and

 the post-war period of rapid and widespread development (Ibid)

A fifth period that began about 40 years ago, characterized by a renewal ofdistance learning with the rise of the Open or Mega Universities (the pioneer beingthe Open University of the United Kingdom (UKOU) set up in 1971), and theintroduction of computer and video technology into the traditional structure ofstudies by mail can be added to Erdos’ periodisation Given that most parts ofAfrica were exposed to correspondence education from Overseas from the secondhalf of the 20th century, the genesis and development of distance education inTanzania, is normally traced from the post – war period of rapid and widespreaddevelopment

1.2 Distance Education in Tanzania

Distance education has existed in several forms in Tanzania, since the post –World War II period For example, immediately after the War, correspondencecourses were introduced by foreign commercial correspondence institutions inschool education, business and management studies The institutions included the

British Tutorial College, Rapid Results College, Wolsey Hall (presently OxfordOpen Learning) and the International Correspondence School All these providedforeign oriented curricula in school education and professional courses Similar tothe conventional adult education programmes, the basic motive of the distanceeducation programmes was to develop middle level cadres for colonialadministration (Bugeke, 1997) After the attainment of independence in 1961, theGovernment introduced school radio programmes to supplement school teaching,

as part of the efforts of addressing human resource needs The programmes werevery popular during the 1960s and 1970s Virtually, every primary and secondaryschool in the country had a radio set, and students had to spend at least severalhours per week listening to appropriate programmes on the radio (Mattee, 1994).During the same period, the Government successfully implemented radio studygroup campaigns on various themes (Hall, 1978) The campaigns demonstratedbeyond doubt the potential of radio as a powerful medium for reaching a widemass of the people within a short time and without much investment ininfrastructure Little wonder, when the former Cooperative College launched itsdistance education courses in cooperative management and farming in 1965, itblended correspondence materials offered to learners with radio broadcasts

Early in the 1970s, the Government established the NationalCorrespondence Institution (NCI) within the Institute of Adult Education, with themain purpose of providing continuing education opportunities to the neo –literates The specific objectives of the NCI included to equip Tanzanians withknowledge and skills to fill jobs which meet the manpower needs of the country; tohelp Tanzanians understand the nation’s policies, and thus participate more fully incarrying out national policies and programmes and to supplement efforts beingmade by leaders and educators in various departments of Government to bringabout economic and social development in the rural areas (Ntirukigwa, 1986) The

major thrust of NCI programmes was in mass, secondary and professionaleducation courses This helped those with primary-level education to attainsecondary level education (as a pre-requisite for professional training), and thosewith secondary-level education to obtain professional qualifications, particularly inthe areas of public and business administration as well as in the teachingprofession The courses were targeted at adults mainly in rural areas with literacyskills but limited formal education (Dodds, 1996).

Other notable distance education programmes in Tanzania included theprimary distance teacher training programme which was launched in the 1970s tosupply teachers to meet the needs of the Universal Primary Education (UPE)programme The conventional teacher training colleges could not help solve theproblem of teacher shortage, while the demand for teachers increased with theintroduction of UPE (Chale, 1992) Since then, the Ministry of Education hascollaborated with the Institute of Adult Education in organizing in – service teachertraining programmes by distance learning methods The African Medical ResearchFoundation (AMREF) programme, was established in the 1970s, to provide publiceducation in health using distance learning methods, in addition to its flying doctorservice (Chale, 1995) The Health and Sanitation through Water health educationproject (HESAWA) study group programme was launched in 1986 The targetaudience consisted of adults in rural communities in Tanzania’s lake region.Distance education methods employed included audio-cassettes, flip-charts,participants’ illustrated books, study groups and so on (Ibid; Dodds, 1996) Besidesnon – formal and formal education programmes in basic education andprofessional training, different organizations and institutions have employeddistance education in widening access to tertiary and higher education as discussedbelow

1.2.1 Institute of Adult Education (IAE)

One among the roles of the Institute of Adult Education (IAE, 1975),stipulated in its establishment Act No.12 is to provide correspondence educationunder the Distance Education Department (DED) (previously known as NationalCorrespondence Institution (NCI) The economic crisis of the 1980s as well as thedecision to set up the OUT in 1992 derailed the implementation of therecommendation of the Makwetta Commission to upgrade NCI into anautonomous National Institute of Distance Education Moreover, the FourthSchedule (Section 64), of Act No 17 of 1992, provided for the NCI to constitutethe nucleus of the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), of the OUT However,the provision was never implemented Eventually, it was deleted by Act No 3 of

1995 (OUT, 2001: 242)

As NCI, the IAE’s DED has been providing foundation and continuingeducation courses since 1972 The courses target Primary School leavers, dropoutsand workers who want to upgrade their levels of education and junior secondaryschool leavers preparing for “O” and “A” level National Examinations (IAE,2009)

The Institute’s special programme for training teachers for UPE conductedfrom 1976 to 1978 was able to enroll 45,596 teacher trainees, out of whom 36,297(79.6%) completed the course and were awarded Teacher Grade “C” certificates.Similarly, 16,777 students were enrolled in upgrading courses between 1980 and

1987, whereby 6,798 (40.52%) completed the course The Ministry of Educationand Vocational Training (MoEVT) continued to provide upgrading courses to C/Bteachers who are teaching in primary schools The in service courses upgrade thesegroups of teachers to Grade III A level enabling them to acquire higher level of

knowledge and skills for better performance in their career (Katoba & Kimathy,2005).

The IAE has enrolled a total of 333,857 students in various correspondencecourses since the inception of its distance learning programme in 1972 However,the total number of Students’ enrolment for Secondary Education Stages I and II inthe last five years, i.e from 2004 to June, 2009 is 39,686 (11.9%) (Mahai, et al,op.cit)

1.2.2 Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre (TGDLC)

Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre (TGDLC) is one of theInstitutions in the country with modern IT equipment It is a governmentInstitution and member of World Bank Initiative - Global Development LearningNetwork (GDLN) (www.gdln.org) TGDLC forms part of over 120 existingknowledge sharing hubs on six continents under GDLN Launched under Cap.245

on 11th December 1997 and Government Notice No 83 of 2003, TGDLC wasofficially launched as an Executive Agency - Tanzania Global Learning Agency(TAGLA), on 11th July 2012, in order to enable decision makers, professionals andpractitioners to learn and share knowledge and information through online andoffline dialogues and discussions (Kombani, 2012)

Similar to the TGDLC, TAGLA provides for global dialogues, Videoconference courses, online courses, face to face and blended courses Thesecourses are organized in collaboration with the government and other institutionswithin and outside the country (TGDLC, 2008)

As indicated in the Table below, TGDLC offers within and outside thecountry, high profile short – courses mostly for executives, strictly on commercialterms.

Table 1: TGDLC ONGOING COURSES

Strategic

Negotiations for

Senior Managers

9th – 13th May,2011; IFM, Dar

es Salaam

ExecutiveAssistants

es Salaam

ExecutiveAssistants

ExecutiveAssistants

TZS 620,000

Tzs 980,000/=

Source: www.tgdlc.go.tz

Courses offered by TAGLA are based on the same principle as anyGovernment Agency is required to provide service in order to enhance productivity

on the basis of value for money (Kombani, op.cit)

Table 2: A Sample of Courses Offered by TAGLA

Critical Skills for Senior Managers Video Conference 15th – 19th April

2013Cyber Security and Its Effects on

Corporates and Government Institutions

Workshop, Arusha 16th – 19th April

2013Finance for Non – Finance Managers Video Conference 22nd – 26th April

2013Leadership Skills Enhancement Workshop, Dubai 22nd – 26th April

2013Empowering Leadership for Change and Workshop, Dubai 22nd – 26th April

Sustainable Development 2013

ICT – Based Financial Management and

Disbursements for Accountants Working

in Government and WB Funded Projects

Workshop,TAGLA

6th – 10th May2013

Global Transformation Leadership for

Women Empowerment

Workshop,TAGLA

6th – 10th May2013

Fraud Investigation and Prevention Video Conference 6th – 10th May

2013Strategic Leadership of E – Government

Initiatives

Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

20th – 24th May2013

Source: www.tgdlc.go.tz visited on 6th February 2015

Two projects are presently been run by TAGLA The first one is theTanzania Development Information Centre (TDIC) This is a multi – partner one –stop – shop for development information It provides economies of scale toinformation dissemination and access The second project is Tanzania CountryLevel Knowledge Network (CLKnet), which provides a countrywide knowledgenetwork for research and policy development platform for decision makers,professionals and practitioners In the last 12 years, about 2000 Governmentemployees, have benefited from these and related services TAGLA is a member ofthe Association of African Distance Learning Centre (AADLC) which forms a part

of the GDLN

1.2.3 Moshi Co - operative University (MoCU)

It is the oldest training institution in Tanzania, with more than 50 years ofteaching experience in the fields of co-operative accounting, co-operativemanagement and rural development However, MoCU is the youngest publicuniversity in the country as it was only on 3rd July 2014 that the TanzaniaCommission for Universities (TCU) ratified the decision to elevate the formerMoshi University College of Cooperative and Business Studies (MUCCoBS) to a

full university status MUCCOBS came into being as a result of upgrading of theinitial Cooperative College into a Constituent College of Sokoine University ofAgriculture (SUA) in May 2004 Starting as a Commercial College of a RegionalCooperative Union after the Second World War, the College was upgraded into aNational Cooperative College in 1963 With 18 regional centres scattered all overthe country, the College served as a training institution for the co-operativemovement and staff of the Ministry responsible for co-operative development(www.mocu.ac.tz visited on 10th February 2015)

The Cooperative College released its earliest courses – Principles ofCooperatism, Elementary Book – keeping and Management of CooperativeSocieties, in 1965 All employees of primary cooperative societies as well astrainee cooperative inspectors were required to study courses offered by theCooperative Education Centre by correspondence Learners were advised to formstudy circles In a study circle, a learner was given the opportunity to participate inthe studies with other circle members but in the end he submitted personalsolutions to assignments in the study units Between 1965 and 1986, a total of39,381 learners were enrolled in the study circles Later on, the CEC introducedthe system of study groups supplemented by radio broadcasts The study groupswere forums for radio listening and discussion Furthermore, the study groups weredesigned to assist semi – literate and illiterate learners to participate effectively instudies by contributing ideas and exchanging experiences with other groupmembers In a study group, members were required to write assignments andforward answers for correction as a group The first CEC programme was aired bythe National Radio Channel on 6th January 1967 Unlike previous educational radiobroadcasts, CEC radio programmes were well integrated with the correspondingstudy materials The CEC distributed study units to all study groups with a timetable showing dates, time and the lesson to be covered by each radio broadcast

The CEC can rightly be regarded as the country’s first distance educationinstitution However, as indicated in the Table below, by 2011, among a total of 22programmes being offered by MUCCOBS, only 1 programme was being offered

by distance learning This shows that the former CEC was not able to transmit itsentire package of distance learning programmes to MUCCOBS, hence, to MoCU(Ibid) Presently, MoCU is offering a total of 35 programmes; 32 at its MainCampus in Moshi, and 3 at Kizumbi Campus in Shinyanga Region(www.mocu.ac.tz)

Table 3: MUCCoBS PROGRAMMES

POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA PROGRAMMES

Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting

and Finance(PGD-AF)

Fulltime One Year (Two Semesters)Pre – service and In – servicePersonnel

Postgraduate Diploma in Community

Development (PGD-CD)

Fulltime One Year (Two Semesters)Pre – service and In – servicePersonnel

Postgraduate Diploma in Savings

and Credit Cooperative Societies

Management

(PGD-SACCOS MGT)

Fulltime One Year (Two Semesters)Pre – service and In – servicePersonnel

EVENING POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMMES

Cooperative Business Management

(PGD-CBM)

One and a half year – Pre – service

and In – service Personnel, MoshiCampus only

Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting

and Finance(PGD-AF)

One and a half year – Pre – serviceand In – service Personnel, MoshiCampus only

Postgraduate Diploma in Community

Development (PGD-CD)

One and a half year – Pre – serviceand In – service Personnel, MoshiCampus only

Postgraduate Diploma in Savings

and Credit Cooperative Societies

One and a half year – Pre – serviceand In – service Personnel, Moshi

(PGD-SACCOS MGT)

Campus only

DISTANCE LEARNING POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMME

Postgraduate Diploma in Savings

and Credit Cooperative Societies

Management

(PGD-SACCOS MGT)

One and a half year distance learning

DEGREE PROGRAMMES

Bachelor of Arts in Community

Economic Development (BA-CED)

Three-year programme (sixsemesters) Pre-service and In-servicepersonnel

Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and

Finance (BA-AF)

Three-year programme (sixsemesters) Pre-service and In-servicepersonnel

Bachelor of Arts in Cooperative

Management and Accounting

(BA-CMA)

Three-year programme (sixsemesters) Pre-service and In-servicepersonnel

Bachelor of Arts in Procurement and

Supply Management (BA-PSM)

Three-year programme (sixsemesters) Pre-service and In-servicepersonnel

and In-service candidates

Certificate in Accounting and One academic year (two semesters)

Finance (CAF) programme for Pre - service

and In-service candidates

Certificate in Information

Technology (CIT)

One academic year (two semesters)programme for Pre - service

and In-service candidates

Source: Kolimba et al, 2011.

On the occasion of the Third Forum of the Distance Education Association

of Tanzania (DEATA) hosted by MUCCoBS, 22nd – 23rd August 2013, thePrincipal, Prof Faustine K Bee hinted about the rise of another ODL provider inthe country:

Moshi Cooperative College, the forerunner of MUCCoBS, pioneered theestablishment of DEATA in 1992, alongside the OUT, Institute of AdultEducation (IAE), Southern Africa Extension Unit (SAEU) and the Faculty ofEducation at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) It played an activerole in activities and forums organised by DEATA, including the historicNational Forum organised at the IFM in 1997

The third forum deserves to be regarded as historic Besides the foundinginstitutional members and others like the Ministry of Health, MUHAS, SUAand VETA, the Ministry of Home Affairs joined DEATA as an institutionalmember as early this year, the Police Force launched a proficiency trainingprogramme by ODL, for about 40,000 members of its rank and file (Bee,2013)

Further details on this latest provider, will be deferred to another forum On thecontrary, below we shall take up from Prof Bee by providing further details onDEATA

1.2.4 Distance Education Association of Tanzania (DEATA)

The Distance Education Association of Tanzania (DEATA) is a nationalassociation, which was established in December 1992 and registered in August

1993 The goal of DEATA is to promote networking and collaboration amongdistance education professionals in Tanzania, by way of organizing conferences,workshops, seminars, etc; as well as by providing for them a platform fornetworking with distance education and open learning professionals and

organizations in the World Furthermore, the Association aims to facilitateformulation and adoption of a comprehensive National Policy for Non – FormalEducation (NFE), Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Information andCommunication Technologies (ICTs) This task is extremely crucial in Tanzania,

as educational enrolments and budgets for education at all levels, are still very low

In such a situation, distance education has an important role to play in enhancingaccess to quality education cost – effectively In order to realize this objective,distance education practitioners have to network and share resources for optimaldelivery of services

Since its inauguration, the Association has been involved in a range ofprofessional development activities, including representing the country at regionaland international distance education gatherings; participating in a National Forum

on the formulation of proposals for a National ODL Policy in 1997; and runningprofessional development workshops on topics such as study materials’development, provision of student support services, planning for sustainabledistance education programmes, etc Besides assisting in setting up NationalDistance Education Associations in the sister East African countries of Kenya andUganda, DEATA organized and hosted the founding meeting of the Open Learningand Distance Education Association of Eastern Africa (OLDEA - EA), in Dar esSalaam, in September,1998 (www.virtualcampuses.eu/OLDEA-EA)

OLDEA – EA Country members include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi andSeychelles Each of the five countries has representative national association asfollows:

 Kenya - Open Learning Association of Kenya (OPLAK)

 Uganda - Uganda National Distance and Open Learning (UNADOL)

 Tanzania - Distance Education Association of Tanzania (DEATA)

 Malawi - Open Distance Education Association of Malawi (ODEAM)

 On OLDEA - EA establishment, Seychelles was in the process ofregistering a National Association

In spite of their noble objectives and even initial achievements, both DEATAand OLDEA – EA have been dormant pressure groups for quite some time.However, in a Special Meeting held on the occasion of the First National ODLConference organized by the OUT in Arusha on 11th May 2011, DEATA membersresolved to revive the Association by filling in vacant posts within the ExecutiveCommittee Since then, DEATA Executive Committee has successfully organizedthe second, third and fourth National ODL Conferences in 2012, 2013 and 2014respectively All the conferences have been hosted by OUT, with the exception ofthe third conference which was hosted by MoCU Certainly, this is a significantcontribution of OUT in coordinating and promoting ODL practice in Tanzania.

1.2.5 INADES-Formation (IF)

INADES is the French acronym for the African Institute for Economic andSocial Development INADES-Formation (IF) is an off-shoot institution formedwith the aim of providing training to rural communities It started its operations in

1962 in West African countries, with Abidjan, Ivory Coast, being the headquarters.The aim then was to train farmers and extension workers through seminars andcorrespondence courses With time, more francophone countries were added,including Cameroon, Burkina-Faso, Chad, Zaire (now Democratic Republic ofCongo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Togo In the early 1970s, two anglophonecountries; Ethiopia and Kenya, were included The programme in Tanzania wasstarted in 1989, as a branch of IF-Kenya In 1992 it became an autonomousnational office, IF-Tanzania, with its own offices in Dodoma in central Tanzania.From its creation in 1962, INADES-Formation devoted itself to correspondencetraining, first for African officers through the Economics course, and from 1965 forAfrican farmers through the Agricultural Training course Later on, other courseswere added: Training in Rural Self-Advancement, also for farmers; Agricultural

Extension and Small Projects Management for extension agents Later still, acourse on Perspectives in Development was designed for development workers.Correspondence courses dominated IF’s training approach up to the 1990s, whenother methods started taking precedence At the end of the 1996/97 financial year,correspondence courses consumed only seven per cent of the time spent onactivities in National Offices There were 11,853 trainees enrolled oncorrespondence courses, compared with 20,599 in 1992/93, and more than 25,000

in 1989/90 (INADES-Formation, 1998)

Since the collapse of CEC distance education programmes in the mid –1980s, IF-Tanzania has been the only institution in Tanzania offering distanceeducation in the form of correspondence courses to farmers and rural-baseddevelopment workers Originally IF-Tanzania operated two parallel programmes:(i) Correspondence courses offered to trainees from all over the country

(ii) Seminars organised for farmers and extension workers in Dodoma, Singida andMorogoro Regions

The initial activities of IF - Tanzania were to run an agricultural trainingcourse in the form of seminars for farmers at Ipala Mission near Dodoma Later,the Agricultural Training course was offered by correspondence to farmers andextension workers, using booklets which had been developed at IF-Kenya Whilethe Kenyan booklets have now been replaced by new books developed to reflectthe Tanzanian context, this course has been the most durable and the most popular,and has come to symbolise the original mission of IF In due course, two othercourses were added: Management for Development Workers (in English), usingbooks developed by IF - Kenya and CORATAFRICA (a development managementNGO); and Leadership and Development, a revised and expanded Swahili version

using materials developed at IF - Tanzania The former course was aimed mostly atthose who had completed at least four years of secondary education, and wereeither working or aspired to work as development workers, village leaders, middle-level managers, extension workers, teachers, trainers, religious leaders andgovernment officials The latter course was aimed primarily at farmer leaders (forexample, of groups, cooperatives or income-generating projects), extensionworkers and other rural development workers with at least primary level education(Ibid).

As with the rest of the IF network, emphasis has significantly shifted inrecent years from correspondence courses to other approaches The correspondencecourses were seen as merely facilitating the transfer of knowledge from experts tofarmers without really creating the necessary capacity for managing change in therural context As a result, correspondence courses are seen as merely playing asupplementary role to the main approach, and slowly the amount of time andresources devoted to correspondence courses has declined During the 1998reporting year, only a total 106 person-days were devoted to the marking ofassignment sheets from trainees, and out of these, only 25 days were contributed

by IF - Tanzania staff, compared to 823 days devoted to the training projects Thus,currently, correspondence courses no longer form the core of IF activities, butrather are seen as supporting the training projects and benefiting those who cannot

be reached directly by IF - Tanzania, but who are still interested to acquire thisknowledge (Ibid) In this particular case, the institution is a replica of SUA’s ICE

as discussed below

1.2.6 Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA)

SUA was established on the 1st July, 1984 by Parliamentary Act No 6 of thesame year The University is currently made up of four campuses and one

constituent college The campuses are the Main Campus and Solomon MahlanguCampus in Morogoro; the Olmotonyi Campus in Arusha, and the MazumbaiCampus in Lushoto The constituent college is Moshi University College ofCooperative and Business Studies (MUCCoBS) located in Moshi Municipality(presently an autonomous university).

SUA has four mandates, namely training, research, consultancy andoutreach The Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) in collaboration withfaculties, centers and other institutes offers short-term in-service programmes tofield and operational staff as well as training and extension services to farmers andcommunity leaders It also coordinates outreach programmes where distancelearning is based Activities of the ICE revolve around four major programmingareas:

 Extension and farmer's education

 Continuing education

 Educational technology

 Distance learning and correspondence

SUA-TV is one of the facilities that provide distance learning and adulteducation The SUA TV is also an education technology facility managed by theICE Programmes broadcast by SUA-TV cover a wide range of disciplinesincluding: agriculture e.g documentary programme on research activities andagricultural technologies, management of natural resources, human health andnutrition, soil conservation and land management, integrated pest management,environment and development, veterinary, animal health and production Also thereare cross-cutting issues like gender, HIV/AIDS and good governance Furthermore,the SUA TV encourages programme exchange and cooperation with other TVstations worldwide (sua@suanet.ac.tz) This account shows clearly that SUAemploys distance learning methods in offering support services to some of itsconventional mode programmes Incidentally, similar demands have compelled the

University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) to integrate distance education techniques inits instructional delivery mode as discussed below.

1.2.7 University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM)

This is the oldest higher learning institution in the country Since its inception as a National University in 1970, UDSM has grown steadilyboth in student numbers and academic programmes.From 1998, UDSM started to supplement conventional teaching and learning with

e – learning in order to:

(i) Meet new learner styles

(ii) Reduce training cost per student

(iii) Meet increased demand of access to higher education

The extent to which the University was failing to cope up with the rising demandfor access to its “lecture theatres” is apparent from the Table below:

Table 4: Variation Between Application and Registration Levels at the UDSM: 2002/03 – 2006/07

Source: UDSM Facts and Figures 2006/2007

Efforts made in order to address the problem of coping up with risingenrolment through e – teaching and learning, include introducing and improvingICT infrastructure by:

(i) Putting in place fiber optic backbone and networking in all UDSM

Units

(ii) Providing video conferencing facilities

(iii) Establishing computer labs in all Faculties and Departments

(iv) Connecting the University network to the Internet

(v) Setting up Centre for Virtual Learning (CVL) to spearhead,

coordinate and train staff and students in all ODeL orientedactivities

Current Projects and Plans in ODeL underway at the UDSM include:

(i) Enhancing University Teaching and Learning Capacity through the

ICT mediated distance learning mode

(ii) Creating UDSM E – Content Warehouse through E- pedagogy

(iii) Building of three ODeL Centres

(iv) Developing E – Content for three programmes (PGDE, PGDEM and

BBA) (Twaakyondo, 2008)

1.2.8 Southern Africa Extension Unit (SAEU)

The SAEU is a distance education institution It was initiated as a project by

a decision of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in NewDelhi, India, in 1983 The Unit was set up in Dar es Salaam, in November 1984, toserve the educational and training needs of South African youths and adults living

in exile in Frontline States in Eastern and Southern Africa As South AfricanExtension Unit (SAEU), its courses focused on the foundation and secondarylevels of education By the time of the repatriation of the South African exiles fromthe early 1990s, more than 3000 students had been enrolled by the SAEU in itsdistance learning programme in Angola, Botswana, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia andZimbabwe

As Southern Africa Extension Unit (SAEU), it took the followingtransformational steps between 1990 and 1994 to cope with the repatriation of itstraditional target group:

 introduced vocational courses to South African students in exile;

 extended the courses to the returnees in South Africa;

 diversified its role in order to cater for other refugees and non-refugees;

 introduced the Local Government Councillors’ Distance TrainingProgramme in Tanzania; and

 extended its distance learning programme to Burundian refugees in WesternTanzania.

As a result of diversifying its role in order to cater for non – refugeecommunities, the SAEU mounted the Local Government Councillors’ DistanceTraining Programme in Tanzania in 1995 A total of 3000 councillors studied andcompleted the three modules of the programme designed to introduce them to theirroles in a multi – party democracy system While the SAEU has immenseexperience and even a track record in providing ODL programmes within andoutside the country, it has not been able to sustain its services in this area due to thetime limitations of the specific projects it undertakes from time to time Forexample, some of its projects include management of small arms and lightweapons in North Western Tanzania, development and production of schools’training materials, short – term skills enhancement, Local Government CapacityBuilding Support Project (2005 – 2007) (SAEU, 2007)

1.2.9 Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW)

The health sector has a human resource shortage of about 60% Meanwhile,effective implementation of the current Primary Health Sector DevelopmentProgramme (PHSDP) requires more human resources to be deployed both inquality and quantity As institutional training capacity through conventionalinstruction is limited, MoHSW has recognized distance education as a key strategyfor continuing professional development which can effectively alleviate the crisis

of human resource shortage For this reason, since 2000, the Ministry isimplementing a Distance Education Programme, largely for upgrading healthworkers (Kisimbo and Kinemo, 2013) The Centre for Distance Education (CDE)

in Morogoro is the National Coordinating Centre of 8 Zonal Health ResourceCentres and several study centres which implement various distance education

courses Presently, upgrading courses are available in two major programmesnamely Ordinary Diploma in Clinical Medicine and Ordinary Diploma in Nursing.Under the first programme, a total of 250 Clinical Assistants will be upgraded toClinical Officers after successfully completing two years (four semesters) ofblended training combining face to face sessions, self – study, practicum/clinicalapprenticeships, hospital field attachment and exam sessions Using a similar mode

of delivery, the second programme is expected to benefit 16,000 enrolled nurseswho work in different levels of health care facilities Presently, they have limitedopportunity to conventional upgrading courses to become registered nurses (Ibid)

1.2.10 The Open University of Tanzania (OUT)

The history of university student enrolment in Tanzania shows a very smalltransition rate from secondary to university level in comparison with othercountries Therefore, in 1990, an investigation by a National Task Force onEducation found that although the transition rate to both public and privatesecondary schools had risen to 40,000, the transition represented only about 15%

of those completing primary education This was the lowest transition rate in Sub– Saharan Africa (URT, 1993:9) By 1992, transition rate to secondary educationwas 40% in Uganda and Zambia; 50% in Kenya and 70% in Zimbabwe (Ibid) Astudy conducted by the World Bank in 2000 revealed that only 43 out of 100,000students were admitted in tertiary education as compared to 152 students in SouthAfrica, 738 students in Namibia and 626 students in Zimbabwe Although fouryears later the transition rate tripled to 129 out of 100,000 students, it was stilllower than the transition rates in the other East African countries of Kenya andUganda (URT, 2004) Meanwhile, by the turn of the last century, Tanzania’scombined Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at primary, secondary and tertiary levels(33%) was slightly better than that of war – torn Sierra Leone (30%) but far below

the mean for Sub – Saharan Africa (44%) (UNDP, 2000:14) Scores for Kenya andUganda were 50% and 40% respectively; and 99% for Canada (Ibid).Consequently, in terms of Human Development Index (HDI), Tanzania was ranked

156 out of 174 countries; Sierra Leone was ranked last and Canada first (Ibid)

Aware of the foregoing situation, the Government of Tanzania, at varioustimes, commissioned studies aimed at finding an alternative method of providingmore places for university education at affordable cost The idea of setting up anOpen University was mentioned for the first time by the then Minister of NationalEducation, Hon Nicholaus Kuhanga in 1979 In his letter to the BritishGovernment for relevant guidance, he noted:

the Government would soon have to come to a decision on setting upanother university and it would like to avoid the heavy investment inresidential accommodation, lecture rooms and libraries which accompanyconventional institutions They would like guidance on the possibility ofestablishing an Open University (British Council, 1979: 2)

Contrary to the initial idea of the Minister, a Joint Study Team set up toexplore the request, recommended the setting up of a Correspondence Institutewithin UDSM under the control of the SENATE as any other Institute TheUniversity Staff were to provide the teaching input with a small coordinating andclerical staff to man the Unit Using a low resource teaching package consisting ofStudy Guides, Textbooks, Assignments, Long Vacation School and RadioProgrammes, the Institute was to develop in phases to become eventually aseparate distance learning based University, using a multi – media package withlocal support through a Regional Network (Ibid: 51 – 52; Mmari, 1996)

The following year, i.e 1980, a Presidential Commission on Education(PCE) chaired by a Cabinet Minister, Hon J Makwetta, reviewed the entire

education system in the country Besides recommending the elevation of the NCI,then a Department of the IAE into an autonomous Institute of CorrespondenceEducation, the PCE resuscitated the idea of setting up an Institute to coordinatestudies by correspondence at the UDSM and in other universities These and otherrecommendations of the PCE suffered the same fate as those of the Anglo –Tanzania Study Team It was not feasible to implement any of theserecommendations, as a result of the economic crisis of the 1980s, the lost decade(Nyerere, 1999) In 1988, a Committee appointed by the then Minister ofEducation, Hon A Mayagila, explored prospects for establishing an OpenUniversity in Tanzania The Committee, chaired by Hon Kuhanga, recommendedthe university’s resource requirements and also identified the overall benefits of theproposed university to the society (URT, 1990) Previous experiences, may havedictated the decision to move straight into an autonomous and dedicated distanceteaching university.

The recommendations of the Kuhanga Committee provided the basis for theGovernment’s decision to establish the OUT in 1992 As an Open University, theOUT was intended to promote the ideals of adult education and lifelong learning

by making tertiary level education accessible to all aspirants including employedstaff who cannot study in conventional universities due to their careercommitments; disadvantaged groups like women, rural dwellers, people withdisabilities; and school leavers who cannot be admitted in conventional institutionsdue to capacity limitations The efforts of the Government in providing open anddistance learning opportunities to Tanzanians, reached their climax when the OpenUniversity of Tanzania (OUT) was established by Act No.17 of 1992 and becameoperational in 1993 Its first cohort of 766 students was registered in January 1994.Some of the students managed to complete successfully non – degree and even

undergraduate studies and were awarded their certificates at the OUT’s maidengraduation ceremony held on 22nd March 1999 This was a historic graduationceremony due to several reasons which will be discussed later on However, onenotable reason was that among the graduands, was the Founding President,Mwalimu Julius K Nyerere who was conferred with his first and last HonoraryDoctorate from an Open University (Nyerere, op.cit) Incidentally, his acceptancespeech has gone into the annales of history both as his last public speech as well ashis last lecture on education In order to streamline and ensure effectivecoordination of programmes in both public and private Universities, Act No 17 of

1992 was repealed and substituted by the Universities’ Umbrella Act of 2005and the OUT Charter incorporated in 2007

Currently, a cumulative student enrolment in non - degree, undergraduateand postgraduate programmes is 27,558, 48,526 and 16,940 respectively With atotal enrolment of 92,568 students, the OUT has qualified as the largest tertiaryinstitution in the country Meanwhile, the university has an estimated total of31,821 active students (OUT, 2014: xiv) Furthermore, the OUT has been able tooffer to the adult population, within and outside Tanzania, a broad range ofacademic programmes at the non – degree, undergraduate and postgraduate levels

as well as demand driven courses in the form of seminars, workshops and tailormade courses This thrust has enabled the University to come up with programmeswhich are responsive to community needs The cumulative number of graduatesfrom 1999 to 2013 was 18,099 whereby 7,167 (39.6%) were females Among18,099 graduates, 7,802 students (43.1%) graduated in non – degree programmesout of whom 3,508 (45%) were females; 8,202 students (45.3%) graduated inundergraduate programmes out of whom 2,997 (36.5%) were females, and 2,095(11.6%) were graduates for postgraduate and honorary degrees (Ibid: xv) While

the university has set up Regional Study Centres in every Region on TanzaniaMainland, it has Coordinating Centres in Zanzibar, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda andNamibia

Map 1: OUT Study/Coordinating Centres in Tanzania Source: Directorate of Communication and Marketing, OUT.

The following Tables (5, 6, 7 & 8), show cumulative enrolment in non – degree,undergraduate and postgraduate programmes up to 2013/14

Table 5: Cumulative Enrolment in Non – Degree Programmes:

Source: OUT Facts and Figures 2013/14: 32

Non – degree programmes, specifically the Foundation Course (OFC), wereintroduced two years after the launching of undergraduate programmes Thepurpose of this non – degree programmes is to widen access to undergraduatecourses To date, the OFC is the leading programme in terms of students’enrolment This shows that many adults in the country are eager to pursue higherlearning but they lack direct entry qualifications to university level courses

Table 6: Cumulative Undergraduate Students’ Enrolment:

1994 – 2013/14

Although there was a fluctuating enrolment trend in various Faculties duringthe first six years of the University (1994 – 2000), currently, there is a steady risingenrolment trend in all Faculties This trend signifies growing recognition and trust

by the community to the undergraduate programmes on offer at the OUT Asindicated in Table 6 above, FASS has the highest admission (35.9%), followed byFED (20.3%); FBM (15.6%) and FLW (15.6%) FSTES has the least enrolmentamong all the Faculties (12.6%)

However, admission in terms of undergraduate programmes, shows that BA(Ed) has the highest enrolment among both male and female students (Table 7below) Female enrolment in all programmes is, however, significantly low, withthe exception of BA (Social Work) and BA (Sociology) BSc (ICT) and BEd (SE)programmes have the least admission figures in spite of the urgent needs toenhance the effectiveness of open and distance learning through innovative use andapplication of the ICTs as well as the promotion of equality and equity in serviceprovision by addressing adequately special educational and training needs of themarginalized sections of the community particularly people with disabilities.Similar to the challenge of increasing access to Science, Technological andBusiness Education undergraduate programmes, the OUT has to promoteincreasing access to BSc (ICT) and BEd (SE) programmes in order to address

effectively community needs

Table 7: Cumulative Undergraduate Students’ Admission by

Programme and Gender 1994 – 2013/14

Source: The Open University of Tanzania (June 2014): Facts and Figures, p.12.

Admission into postgraduate programmes shows significant enrolment rates

in humanities and the social sciences but extremely low admission rates in scienceprogrammes (Table 8 below)

Table 8: Cumulative Enrolment in Postgraduate Programmes: 2001 – 2013/14

Source: TheOpen

University

of Tanzania(June 2014):

Facts and Figures, Tab

le 7

1.3 Marks of

Institutional examples discussed here, demonstrate that ODL is wellestablished in Tanzania ODL provision has grown during the last 50 years innumbers of projects/ institutions, programmes and students This trend hasvindicated the prophecy made in the early 1990s that ODL expansion was bound tooccur in the following areas (Dodds, 1991):

 Refresher and in – service courses for professionals and technicians, as ameans of keeping them abreast of rapidly changing skills and technologies;

 Initial and up – grading courses for apprentices in various vocations andprofessions, allowing such initial training to become increasingly on – the –job;

 Courses at secondary and tertiary level for adults who never had theopportunity to take such courses earlier in their lives, or who dropped outfrom such opportunities if they did; such courses will recognise thatuniversal opportunity for education at any level is not enough: motivationsand attitudes and even aptitudes change, hence the need for continuingeducation

Furthermore, the decision to establish the OUT can rightly be regarded as a boldand significant measure taken by the Government in order to widen accessopportunities in adult education in the widest sense of the term Previous attemptswere limited in terms of scope and programmes (Shemwetta, et al, 2008).However, a historical perspective of the genesis and development of distanceeducation in Tanzania needs to underscore three important marks of historicity.First, prior to the post – World War II period, the colonial government set up acorrespondence education programme in primary education exclusively for thechildren of government officials and white settlers in remote areas (TanganyikaTerritory, 1929) The programme ran until early in 1961, when it was transferred toKenya By then, it was serving white children in Tanganyika, Kenya, Nyasaland

(Malawi), Northern and Southern Rhodesia (Zambia and Zimbabwe) (Ibid, 1961).Secondly, as already noted, initial attempts in initiating distance teaching at theuniversity level, were not successful Thirdly, the initial proposal provided for theintroduction of distance teaching at the university level in a dual mode structure.Using a low resource teaching package consisting of Study Guides, Textbooks,Assignments, Long Vacation School and Radio Programmes, the CorrespondenceInstitute was to develop in phases to become eventually a separate distancelearning based University, using a multi – media package with local supportthrough a Regional Network In short, similar to SUA, MUHAS and ARU, OUTwas to evolve out of the womb of UDSM With the advantage of hindsight, it isnow obvious that the rise and development of the OUT, deviated from thistrajectory These historical marks can shed considerable light in attempts aimed atclarifying the current status as well as the challenges facing the practice of openand distance learning in the country as will be discussed in subsequent parts

1.4 Summary and Conclusion

In this first part of the essay, we have reviewed the performance andexperiences of ODL projects and programmes in the country since Independence in

1961 Through a cross – section of institutional examples discussed, it has beendemonstrated that ODL is well established in Tanzania Meanwhile, ODL provisionhas grown during the last 50 years in numbers of projects/institutions, programmesand students Furthermore, within the context of a historical perspective, marks ofhistoricity have been highlighted in order to illuminate the challenges ofvindicating the rationale of the ODL practice in the current epoch In the followingpart, we will focus on the OUT whose major challenge is to vindicate its vision ofbecoming a World – class university in the delivery of affordable quality education

by ODL Can this noble objective be realized solely by ODL? Assuming it cannot,

do we have to abandon it in favour of conventional delivery? In case this will be an