Decentralisation Policies And Their Rationales In Tanzanian6 Education System

Abstract Decentralisation of education is among the current reforms that have been taking place in different African countries. Tanzania, as part of African countries, has also adopted decentralised policies in its education system. The arguments for advocating decentralisation are to give more power to the local people, minimise unneccesary bureaucracy and to ensure a proper utilisation of the educational resources. Findings from Dar es Salaam and Mbeya in Tanzania indicated that community involvement in school development plans has reduced the absenteeism and truancy among the pupils and it has improved the pupils‟ disclipline and attendance. There were also some improvements in classroom contruction especially in peri-urban schools in both Kindondoni Municipality and Mbeya City. The school committee members, however, focussed their attention on the Standard VII results and did not take care that the schools improve in all levels from Standard I-VII. The visited schools faced a massive problem of congested classrooms and shortage of desks. While the government promised the schools to receive the Capitation Grants (CGs) and Development Grants (DGs), the provisions of these funds from the government were far short of these promises. The findings in the visited schools indicated that the amount that was contributed by the pupils far exceeded the amount pledged and provided by the government. The school committee members appeared to be a mere signatory tool of the funds from the District Education Office (DEO) as they came with specifications on how to use them. The argument in this paper is that while involving the community in school-development plans in a decentralised setting may be good for local democracy and for the improved accountability of the service providers. The government needs to intervene where seems to be a problem in order to safeguard the interests of the pupils. Key words: Decentralisation, Education, School Committee,