INTRODUCTION
     G. R. V. MMARI'"
           As will be apparent to readers of this issue of UT AFITI, practically all
     the articles are on Education. The choice of the theme is not accidental since
     education has figured so prominently in Tanzania recently. The choice was
     also made in the full realization that Education is one of the most important
     ideological apparatuses in any society.
           Tanzania is fully committed to educating all her citizens, irrespective of
     age, background or social status. This spirit perhaps is a reflection of what
     Mao has described in these terms "conditions are changing all the time, and
     to adapt one's thinking to the new conditions, one must study. Even those
     who have a better grasp of Marxism and are comparatively firm in their
     proletarian stand have to go on studying, have to absorb what is new and
     study new problems". In this issue we therefore see the result of study on
     different problems in Tanzania as perceived by the writers. They do not all
     use the same type of lenses and this is just as well. Not everyone at the
     University of Dar es Salaam wears glasses whose lenses have identical power.
     No apology is made for this since each appears to have done full justice to the
     scene he was observing, given the type of lenses used.
          Apart from the article by Joseph Ki-Zerbo, all the other major articles
     are written by Tanzanians. Ki-Zerbo is himself a West African who gave his
     address in Dar es Salaam on which the article is based. The significance of
     this observation is that we are here reading how a group of Tanzanians inter-
     pret their ecology given the types of tools of analysis picked from other
    cultures. It is likely that what they see is different from what we think they
     should be seeing or that what they say about what they see is different from
    what we think they are seeing. This does not necessarily deter from the
    objectivity of their studies nor does it imply that they are reacting like Plato's
    prisoners in his allegory of the cave. The "narrow sharp focus" Professor
    Temu referred to in his introduction to UTAFITI Number One is facilitated
    through their relationship to the ecology they are studying.
       Mulokozi focuses on the role of poetry in interpreting a people's history,
    in this case a history of subjugation and exploitation. He shows how a people's
    world outlook is coloured by the political conditions of the times they live in
    as recorded by the poets of the period. Tanzanians' resistance and struggle
    to free themselves from the dehumanizing conditions are adequately docu-
    mented by the poets studied by him. Non-Swahili speakers will probably miss
    some of the finer points expressed through the Swahili idiom but the effects
]25 * Professor and Head, Education Department. University of Dar es Salaam.


 of cultural imperialism will be easily understood through reading the text of     UTAFITI
 the article.
      Mlekwa tackles adult education using the wider definition embracing
 function rather than simply literacy and numeracy. He does this through a
 micro-study which brings out in very clear terms the glaring contradictions
 between policy and practice and between intent and reality. Those who judge
 Tanzania's performance solely on the pronouncements of the national leader-
 ship will be well advised to study closely the findings of this research. Some
 will read into it a national socialist revolution from the grassroots while
 others will read into it attempts by the national leadership to appease the
 masses through token services of this type. Where does the truth lie?
      Omari looks at students attitudes to teaching as a profession in the contcxt
 of planned manpower development. Although his emphasis appcars to be on
 secondary education, the generalisations from the study are significant to
 educational planners for the other levels as well.
      Using a historical approach and sociological tools of analysis Ishumi
 traces students activism on University campuses-both       ancient and modern-
 and relates the general observations to students activism at the University of
 Oar es Salaam. Those who remember reading through the UT AFITI Notcs
 in Number One will recall that Ishumi's article is based on a paper read at
 a seminar organized by the Department of Education last academic year.
 Recent events on African University campuses indicate that the issue tackled
 in this paper is far from dcad. The future of some governments hang in
 balance depending on student politics.
      Writing as a school pupil, Chachage presents through his poem a
 challenge to all educators as regards the true essence of education. This
 reminds one of Mao's admonitions to the young men and women in China
 during and after the Cultural Revolution and of his views on source of know-
ledge.
      Joseph Ki-Zerbo is a well known historian. educator and a statesman in
Upper Volta. He writes on a topic of significance to those outside French-
speaking Africa, especial!y for comparative purposes.
      As promised by Professor Temu in Number One, UT AFITI Notes in
this issue provide a critical analysis of debates and issues which have occupied
the minds of social scientists at the University of Dar es Salaam in recent
months. Some of the issues were not confined to social scientists alone since
they involved other faculties as well-Law,       Science, Engineering, Medicine,
Agriculture and Forestry. The analyst has tried to use tools different from
those in the main articles but in no way distorting the overall picture. Judging
from the first and this issue's coverage of UT AFIT! Notes, these should prove
to be a very useful mirror of what the social scientists have been doing on
campus and the kind of issues they have been grappling with.
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