POLICY AND PRACTICE IN ADULT EDUCATION A DISTRICT CASE-STUDY* VICfOR M. MLEKWA** The importance of adult education for national development was implied in the Arusha Declaration (1967). The Second Five Year Plan (1969-1974) first spelt out the content and strategies for implementing adult education in the country. In President Nyerere's speech of December 1969, the official policy on adult education was proclaimed, to be further reflected in subsequent policies such as "Mwongozo" (1972) and the recent Musoma Resolutions (1974). But so far little is known about the actual programmes themselves and how they operate in a given region, district or village. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent to which adult education policy has been implemented in Tanzania, since the Adult Educa- tion Year (1970), with focus on one district. ]n this study adult education is defined as lItl educational activities planned for adults outside the formal school system. Policy of adult education means official statements determining the plan of action in the domain of adult education in Tanzania. The term practice was used to denote the notion of implementation of the plan of action rather than its impact on the living habits of the target population. In that context, the official statements on adult education that were examined were the following: 1. The Second Five Year Plan (1969-1974). 2. President Nyerere's Adult Education Year Speech (1969). 3. The fifteenth and sixteenth TAND Biennual Conferences Resolutions (1971 and 1973 respectively). 4. The Prime Minister's Directive on Workers Education in Tanzania (1973). Emerging from the analysis of the policy itself were five variables that needed empirical investigation: I. The adult education programmes offered. 2. The agencies and personnel. 3. The adult learners and adult literacy. 4. The materials and costs. 5. The problems and constraints. *Thcse are only preliminary thoughts on the research project that the author conducted in the district in December 1974. Data is still being more systematically processed and analysed. Do not quote without the permission of the author. **Victor M. Mlekwa is a tutor at the Institute of Adult Education, University of 1.~9 Dar es Salaam. To guide the empirical investigationsthe following were used as key questions: UTAFffi 1. Are the adult education programmes related to the objectives of adult education in Tanzania? 2. What agencies and personnel are involved in the dissemination of adult education in the district? To what extent are their activities co-ordinated to harmonise with the national philosophy of adult education? 3. Who are the adult learners and how far has the district moved in the direction of eradicating illiteracy? What problems are faced and what are their possible solutions? 4. What facilities are provided for adult education; what are the costs of adult education? 5. What are the general problems of adult education in the district and what are their implications? The methods of collecting data were mainly documentation, structured and unstructured interviews, and participant and non-participant observation. An interview schedule and an observation check-list were used for the structured interviews and the non-participant observation respectively. SOME CHARACfERISTlCS OF TIIE RESEARCH AREAl The district has long been one of the labour exporting areas of Tanzania, characterised by low levels of education. It covers an area of approximately 19.943 kilometres or about 4,537,500 metres. The population is small, about 147,628 people, of whom 69,882 are men and 77,746 women. The population density is only nine per kilometre. About three-fourths of the people have been moved into the new planned villages of which there are now 28. It is hoped that, after the farming season the campaign for moving people into the villages will be accomplished in accord- ance with the country's policy which requires that all people live in planned villages by 1976. Still, the district remains sparsely populated, so much so that about two-thirds of it is covered only by forest, i.e. about 1,343,388, hectares. The population itself is somewhat mixed, the major ethnic groups being Nyamweziand Stikuma in the East and Sumbwa in the West. Another small tribe is the Tusi who are cattle herders and agriculturalists. A few Rongo people live in the border areas. The language that is generally used in the district is Kinyamwezi,the form of which varies according to clans and localities. The township which has already assumed the status of a division, is not located in the centre of the district: the district extends as far as 90 miles from the town to the west. about 30 miles to the east, and approximately 18 miles to the south-east. Thus, it is situated right in the middle of the Nyamwezi part of the district and. before the abolition of the chiefdoms the town was surrounded on all sides by a Nyamwezi chiefdom. One important consequence of the geographical location of the town has been the demarcation of the 150 UTAFITl district into two almost separate socio-economic zones-the Nyamwezi east and the Sumbwa west. Generally speaking. the Nyamwezi area is relatively more developed than the rest of the district. It is a more open area with scattered bushes while the Sumbwa area is mainly forest and infested with tsetse flies. The district as a whole has a great deal of potential for development but the existing resources are not exploited and utilised to the maximum. For example. the average rainfall is 622 millimetres. which is not bad at all; how. ever there is only one rainy season lasting from about October until April, while from May to October the district receives practically no rain to support plant growth.. Nevertheless even under such circumstances ways could be found of cultivating and harvesting twice a year instead of only once as is now the practice. Agriculture is the mainstay of the district's economy. and about 60.000 hectares are cultivated every year. The main crops include cotton, tobacco, paddy. sunflower. legumes. maize. and groundnuts. Although there has been some steady increase in the output of these crops. the district still suffers from the use of poor methods of cultivation. mainly shifting cultivation. and the use of backward farming implements. Regarding animal husbandry, the statistics show that there are about 382,398 cattle. 31.042 goats. and about 21,188 sheep. If it were decided to distribute the cattle to all the people. everyone resident in the district would get two cows. However. the cows belong to the herders who are only about 12% of the population. which means that out of 100 inhabitants only 12 have cows. The Wanyamwezi and Wasumbwa were historically great traders. but their position changed with the development of the colonial economy. The whole district has about 567 serious traders out of whom only about 23 people (or 5%) are indigenous people engaging in worthwhile business. Thus. 95% of the district's traders are of "foreign" origin. In some areas a barter system of trade can still be observed. The district continues to be confronted with numerous problems. mainly bequeathed to her by colonial history whereby the district was exploited particularly for cheap labour and through taxation. Some of these problems are enumerated below. First. traditional methods of cultivation are still prevalent leading to the situation whereby most of the food crops are produced on a smallholder peasantry basis for consumption or for limited sale. especially within the district. Second. means of communication are generally poor and unreliable. Throughout the district there is only one all-weather road. which runs largely through bush and forest without adequate feeder roads. 151 Third. the educational level is very low in the district as a whole. For example, in 1968, seven years after independence and one year after the UTAFITI promulgation of "Education for Self-Reliance", only "300/0 of the children in Standard One age group were able to attend school compared to the national average of 45%. Enrolment rate was the lowest in the country". (Second Five Year Plan, 1969). A major reason for this low enrolment is the reluctance of the parents to send their children to school. One explanation for this attitude is the tradition of labour migration particularly from Usumbwa area, and the early demands made on the children to take part in the daily chores in the homestead or to help in solving the family's economic problems by being hired out for labour. Fourth is the apparent problem of "government-phobia" developed through contacts with the administrators of the colonial government. Fear of officialdom, it appears, contributed to the beginning of migrations by some people away from the roads and into the bush where they would live undis- turbed by the tax collectors and the labour agents. Fifth, there is the problem of superstition in the district, so much so that if someone gets a big harvest, for example, his neighbours would wish either to destroy the harvest or the successful peasant because it is believed that his harvest has resulted from the use of some supernatural means either to destroy the crops of the neighbours or to transfer some of their harvest to his field. Such superstitions make the people refrain from working hard to improve their lives. Sixth, and finally, are some traditions and customs which are retrogressive at best and harmful at worst. For example there are traditions and customs which forbid women to eat goats' meat, fish and chicken. There are beliefs which discourage pregnant mothers from eating certain foods which they really need, such as the belief that if they eat eggs they will give birth to bald- headed children. Other traditions and customs discourage in-laws from using the same toilet, etc. The role of adult education in changing the quality of life of the people in such a situation has been officially proclaimed in Tanzania. The objectives of adult education have been formulated, and the operational structures have been set up. But how far does the theory relate to the actual practice? INTERPRETATION OF TIlE POLICY Adult education policy, like any other policy, cannot be implemented well unless it is well understood. One of the problems of adult education is that it is so wide in its aims and objectives and its methods that it can almost be equated with life itself and it may be as varied. Because of its broad nature and its apparent capacity to include almost everything other than formal education of children and adolescents, there is often a lot of semantic confusion surrounding the term "adult education". Many people tend to give it different interpretations. This renders adult education ..... nebulous and with no secure roots. It is about something important. but nobody is very clear what that elusive something is".2 152 UTAHU In the district, different categories of respondents showed that they had different interpretations of adult education, its aims and objectives and its organisation. Generally speaking: 1. The professional adult educators, five of whom were interviewed, understood adult education to include literacy, functional literacy and continuing education. 2. The Party, including affiliated bodies, Government and Parastatal leaders, 29 of whom were interviewed, tended to understand adult education only in terms of functional literacy. 3. The adult learners, including those who had been awarded certificates. ten of them altogether, considered adult education to be merely literacy. In the last two cases, therefore, the concept of adult education was only partiaIly understood, one group thinking of it as literacy with some function in it and the other group, in fact the target group, perceiving it as literacy without function. Such conceptions of the notion of adult education appeared to determine the way the policy itself was understood. Many of the Party, Government and Parastatal leaders who interpreted adult education to mean mainly functional literacy tended to believe that adult education was the duty of only the Ministry of National Education. They did not seem to be very much aware of the fact that they and the institutions they were leading were or should be indispensable instruments of change which adult education was all about. Indeed the broader dimension of adult education such as that emphasised by Jack London (1970), and indeed by the President Julius K. Nyerere, was not vividly portrayed and the importance of co-ordination of adult education activities by the various adult education agencies did not seem to be stressed. On the other hand, because the adult learners thought adult education was only literacy education, they tended to believe that as such it would not really benefit them, especially those who were more aged. Thus, in reply to a question, "Why do you attend adult education classes", the general answer was, "Because we have been told to". Although it is true that literacy is an important element of adult education, when attention is paid to it alone, its significance from the point of view of the adults becomes difficult to justify. THE PROGRAMMES OFFERED The adult education programmes offered in the district include the following: political education, agriculture, health education, literacy, domestic science, Kiswahili, arithmetic, English, economics and crafts. Table 2 shows the number of participants per programme. There are normally three categories of adult education classes, namely: literacy classes, continuing education classes (kujiendeleza) and practical projects or demonstration classes. As can be seen from Table 2 literacy classes have the largest enrolment, together with 153 Kiswahili and arithmetic. It is interesting that these subjects have the same UTAFITI ci .g .s'-''" 0$ '-' ::l o "Cl l:l • o ~.S bfl '" .!!g .-6"0, .S:! "0 155 t:l.. enrolment. This may be because Kiswahili and arithmetic are totally integrated UTAFITI into literacy classes. The other subjects listed are not necessarily taught as independent subjects. Indeed, subjects like political education, agriculture, health, domestic science, as well as KiswahiIi, arithmetic and even economics are in most cases taught as integrated subjects in the literacy campaign. This may explain why total enrolment exceeds the total population figure. The syllabus is derived from the primers that are being used for functional literacy. English, Kiswahili and domestic science are offered to those who already know how to read and write but would like to gain more knowledge. Table 2. Number of Participants per Programme Attendance Programme No. Registered Attendance as % of Registration 0/ ,0 Political Education 24,570 13,225 53.8 Literary 56,078 27,257 48.6 Agriculture 28,876 14,670 50.8 Health 11,888 7,146 60.7 Domestic Science 810 588 72.5 Kiswahili, Arithmetic 56,078 27,257 48.6 English 114 76 33.3 Economics 16,387 12,573 76.7 Crafts 41 16 39.0 Total 194,842 102,808 52.7 Source: March Report, 1974. The idea of integrating other subjects into the literacy campaign must be investigated further for its worthwhileness. In the district for example, it appears that most of the focus is on literacy per se, i.e. ability to read and to write. Yet, even in the domain of literacy not all the required skills are imparted for the following reasons, among others.3 I. There is no proper balance between knowledge gained in reading and ability gained in writing. Insufficient stress is put on sentence construction, and the adult learners find themselves memo rising the sentences in the primers. 2. In connection with I, it is noticeable that more emphasis is put on reading than on comprehension. The questions which appear at the end of the lesson are elementary, and tend to be answered by the adult learners more adequately through oral discussions than through individual writing. Technically the adult may know how to write, but since he is incapable of the required synthesis of the structure of the sentence, he fails to answer the questions. and likewise he fails to put them into writing. 156 UTAFITI 3. Adult learners in the same class aften have different abilities awing to' variaus reasans such as different rates af attendance. It is therefore especially difficult far the inexperienced and untrained adult educa- tian teachers to' handle them all tagether in the same instructianal setting. 4. The mathematical element in same primers. such as the Palitical Educatian Primer, is taa thin to' benefit the learners. In thase centres where only such primers are used. literacy is therefare limited to' reading and same writing; it is nO' langer learning the three R's. The andragagy af functianal literacy requires that there be practical ar demanstratian prajects whereby the adult learners will be able to' translate what they have learnt intO' practice, So' that adult learning daes nat became a detached and thearetical canstructian af reality but creates the reality itself. As far as the district is cancerned, there are three such demanstratien prajects (a) agriculture, (b) crafts, and (c) damestic science. But these prajects are nat in aperatian in every ward and even where they have been intraduced, nat every adult learner is participating in them. They appear to' be designed anly far thase adults with special interests in them. Far the rest, learning cantinues to' be theoretical. The projects themselves started early enaugh in the district, but were initially meant far the illiterates alene, and the facilities, i.e. materials and equipment, were nat adequate, particularly far damestic science. Same of the materials were stalen, sa that the prajects cast mare to' maintain than was being realised from them. It was nat until 1974 that the district received relatively sufficient funds far the prajects. 24,000 shillings was given to' the district far the three prajects, and it will be the duty af the District Adult Educatian Committee to' decide haw to' allacate these funds to' the different projects in the variaus centres. Before 1974 anly about 12,000 shillings was given, and the amount was nat sufficient. causing prablems af haw to' allacate it to' the respective projects. Finally, with respect to' adult educatian pragrammes in the district, nate must be taken af a very important pragramme which the Prime Minister annaunced in July 1973 when he directed that warkers' educatian be offered throughaut the cauntry to' all warkers af all levels of educatian. In the district the Directive had nat yet been implemented as af January 1975. Same subjects such as ecanamics, accauntancy and book-keeping used to be taught before the Directive, but even these had stapp ed, mainly awing to' lack af teachers and irregular attendance by students. The main reasan given by the authorities far the delay af Warkers' Educatian pragrammes in the district has been that, awing to' the full invalvement by the Party, Gavernment and Parastatal Officials in the resettlement af the people in the new planned villages, it was 157 difficult to' get teachers to' teach in the Workers' Educatian Classes. THE AGENCIES AND PERSONNEL UTAFITI Towards the end of his "Adult Education Year Speech", President Nyerere emphasised the fact that various bodies like TANU, the Ministries of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Institute of Adult Education must align their activities, which the Ministry of National Education would then co-ordinate. He also said that in 1970 more would be done to improve the organisational structure of adult education. As far as the organisational structure is concerned the adult education committees have been operating since 1970 and were operating relatively well from the district level down to the class level. However, these committees were interrupted in the course of shifting people to the new planned villages which began in mid-1973. By December 1974 attempts were being made to re-establish the adult education committees so that they could begin operating in January 1975. The whole district has a total of 1.791 adult education teachers, the majority of whom are volunteer adult education teachers who are paid honoraria, followed by the primary school teachers. Table 3 shows the sources of these adult education teachers. Table 3. Square of Adult Education Teachers in the District* Source No. of Teachers Primary School Teachers 163 TANU 6 Government Civil Servants 174 Religious institutions 14 Voluntary teachers 1,376 Others 59 Total 1,791 *As per September, 1974. The volunteer adult education teachers were supposed to be paid honoraria amounting to 30 shillings per month. This was considered to be a kind of incentive that would show the teachers that the Government did appreciate their work. But in the district, despite several attempts by the Government officials to clarify that the 30 shillings were really not a salary for the teachers, it has come to be believed by the volunteer adult education teachers that it is their light to get this amount of money. Unfortunately the amount has now been reduced to 15 shillings in the district and this at a time when the cost of living is shooting up. Yet even this small amount is not paid regularly. For example, the ]974 honoraria were paid only in April. May, June and July while they were supposed to be paid every month. Such 158 UTAJ.