A Study On Literacy Education In Tanzania During Nyerere Era

The founding president of Tanzania,Julius Kambarage Nyerere,was not only the great leader of the African National Liberation Movement,but also known by the Tanzania people as the “Father of the Country” and “Mentor”.He had made tremendous contributions to the cause of economic and social development and education in Tanzania,enjoys a lofty reputation in the world and is known as the “African sage”.Since Tanzania gains independence in 1961,Nyerere had viewed education reform as the most urgent development goal.According to Nyerere,literacy education is an important initiative for Tanzania people to move away from ignorance,develop their economy and eradicate poverty.The Tanzanian literacy program was based on Nyrerer's national development Blueprint,which combines his personal education ideas with government policies,had made remarkable achievements in literacy education.He was highly recognized internationally and awarded the “King Sejong Literacy Award” by the United Nations in 2007.Literacy education in Tanzania served as a model for literacy work in African countries at that time.This article mainly includes the following parts:The introduction briefly analyses the literacy situation of adults and young people in Tanzania during the early years of independence and raises the negative impact of low literacy rate on the country,such as social development,employment,gender equality and so on.Through the analysis of the problems of illiteracy and social development in Tanzania,the achievements and influence of Nyerere's work on literacy education in Tanzania were introduced.The first part of the thesis discusses the development of the literacy education in Tanzania during Nyerere Era.Before the education reform was carried out,the conditions of primary education,secondary education,vocational and technical education,teacher training are briefly introduced.According to the three Five-Year Plans,the study goes into the educational development goals.Firstly,it disserts the first statement of the literacy campaign.Then the paper introduce the policy of literacy education promulgated by the government during the second Five-Year plans,and sort out the organizational forms and management institutions of literacy education.During the third Five-Year plans,post-literacy programs are explored.The second part of thesis mainly summarizes the achievements and influences of the Tanzanian literacy education project during the Nyerere Era.The main achievements were that the literacy campaign had a great influence on the whole country,thus the enrollment of literacy class were huge.The literacy rates increased a lot,along with the productivity improved greatly.The four rural areas of Tanzania were elected for case analysis,joint the situation of local natural resources,industrial structure and productivity levels,to further analyze the actual impact of literacy education on local villagers.The final part of the thesis mainly analyzes the enlightenment significance of literacy education during Nyerere Era to the development of African education.There are some main practices of the literacy education during Nyerere Era,such as the government actively mobilized all social forces to participate in literacy campaign and advocated active learning for all;Strengthening the influence of national polices and guaranteeing the development of literacy education;Paying attention to civilians and vulnerable groups,highlighted the concepts of educational equity;Combing literacy education with productivity,reduced the cost of education.The “ self-reliance” education policy proposed by Nyerere has received widespread support in African countries,such as Kenya,Botswana,Uganda and Ghana,which have put the “selfreliance” education principle into practice in education reform.The state should develop education in light of its national conditions and strive to adapt education to social and economic development.