Schools Inspections

THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA
NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE
A PERFORMANCE AUDIT
REPORT ON SCHOOL
INSPECTION PROGRAMME
FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN
TANZANIA
A REPORT OF
THE CONTROLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL OF
THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA
REGIONS VISITED DURING THE COURSE OF AUDIT
ii National Audit Office

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preamble .............................................................................................................................. vi
Acronyms ............................................................................................................................ ix
Chapter One:
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1
Chapter Two:
The School Inspection System .............................................................................................. 6
Chapter Three:
Planning And Priorities ........................................................................................................ 17
Chapter Four:
Conducting School Inspections ............................................................................................ 20
Chapter Five :
Communication On Results ................................................................................................ 25
Chapter Six:
Monitoring And Impacts ..................................................................................................... 28
Chapter Seven:
Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 32
Chapter Eight:
Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 36
References ............................................................................................................................ 38
Appendeces ......................................................................................................................... 39
A Performance Audit Report On School Inspection Programme iii

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1:
Budget and actual expenditure of the School Inspectorate Department .. 31
Table 2.
School Inspectors, inspections per team of inspectors of schools an and
secondary schoosl... 36
Table 3.
Subject matters being addressed by the special school inspections
of secondary schools... 39
Table4.
Irregular behaviour among headmasters/mistress, teacher and students
being examined through special school inspections of secondary schools. 40
Table 5.
Other issues than irregularities that initiated special school inspections
during the years 2004 and 2005........ 41
Table 6.
Issues addressed by the special school inspections of secondary schools during 2006-2007,
based on a selection of 91 out of the total 2900 special inspections....... 42
Table 7.
Issues specifically related to poor performing students in the handbook for the
school inspection...................................... 52
Table 8.
The extent in which vital aspects of poor performing students are
targeted in the school inspections 2004-06..... 54
Table 9.
The School Inspectorates advices in 2004-06 and school inspection
reports recipients 66
LIST OF FIGURES
System graph of School Inspectorate and key players........................... 10
iv National Audit Office

PREAMBLE
The Public Audit Act No. 11 of 2008, Section 28 authorizes the Controller and Auditor General
to carry out Performance Audit (Value-for-Money Audit) for the purpose of establishing economy,
efficiency and effectiveness of any expenditure or use of resources in the Ministries, Regions, Local
Authorities and Public Authorities and other bodies.
I have the honour to submit to the Minister of Education and Vocational Training for presentation
to Parliament my Performance Audit Report on School Inspection Programme for Secondary
Schools in Tanzania.
Performance Audit is currently being introduced at the Tanzanian National Audit Office as part of a
capacity building project in co-operation with Sida and the Swedish National Audit Office. It may
be noted that Performance Audit normally has a wider coverage than Financial Audit. Performance
Audit aims at better use of resources, improved operations and better decision-making in reaching
policy objectives set by the Parliament, in this case the School Inspectorate which is responsible for
school inspection programme.
The report contains conclusions and recommendations that directly concern Ministry of Education
and Vocational Training. The Ministry has been given the opportunity to scrutinize the factual
content and comment on the draft report. I wish to acknowledge that the discussions with the
Ministry has been very constructive.
My office intends to carry out a follow-up at an appropriate time regarding actions taken by the
Ministry in relation to the recommendations of this audit report.
This report has been prepared by Robert Cheyo, Henry Martin, Warento Nyanchogu and Esnath
Henry under the guidance of Gregory G. Teu and Carl Ake Gerden. I would like to thank my staff
for their assistance in the preparation of this report. Thanks go also to the University of Dar -es
-Salaam experts (Prof. Issa Mcholo Omari and Dr. Allen R. Mushi) and the Ministry for their
fruitful interaction with my office.
Ludovick S.L. Utouh

Controller and Auditor General
Dar es Salaam
December, 2008.
A Performance Audit Report On School Inspection Programme v

Role of the National Audit Office
The National Audit Office scrutinizes public spending on behalf of the Parliament. We audit
the accounts of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as a wide range
of other Public Authorities, and report to Parliament on the economy (minimising costs),
efficiency (maximising the ratio of the output from goods or services to the resources to produce
them) and effectiveness (comparing actual outcomes - what was intended with which MDAs and
Public Authorities have used public monies).
Our work does not question the merits of the policies, but assesses the way Government policies
are implemented.
The National Audit Office is ambitious and determined to publish four performance or
value for money audit reports in every year. The reports aim at examining Central and Local
Government Programmes and activities in order to assess performance, identify good practices
and suggest ways in which public services could be improved.
The National Audit Office has reported on school inspection programme on Mathematics
and Science subjects and has shown how the School Inspectorate substantially contributes
towards improvement and maintaining education standards in the country. This report has
actually been prepared as reference tool to help School Inspectorate to identify and tackle
the issues that we have found to be important to school performance.
vi National Audit Office

Photos
Education an opportunity for all
Facts and figures that give an insight

There is shortage of teachers in some subjects, such as Mathematics and Science.
A Performance Audit Report On School Inspection Programme vii

Secondary School students in a mathematics class
viii National Audit Office

ACRONYMS
DAS - District Administrative Secretary

DC - District Commissioner
DEO - District EducationOfficer
HIV/AIDS - Human Imuno Virus/Aquired Imuno Deficiency Syndrome
MoEVT - Ministry of Education and Vocational Training
MES - Mpango wa Elimu wa Sekondari
NAOT - National Audit Office of Tanzania
OCAG - Office of the Controller and Auditor General
PS - Personal Secretary
RAS - Reginal Administrative Secretary
RAO - Regional Adminstrative Officer
REO - Regional Eduaction Officer
RAO - Regional Adminstrative Officer
SLO - Statistic and Logistic Officer
UDSM - University of Dar es Salaam
A Performance Audit Report On School Inspection Programme ix

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
What are the audit issues

Poor performing students in science subjects in Secondary Schools such as Mathematics and Sciences
are an issue that has been well known and discussed by many people for so long in Tanzania.
It is a concern that good performance of students in science subjects is essential for social and
economic development. The aims among others in the Governments Education Policy for secondary
school are to achieve equity in education and also, to prepare all students for higher education.
Despite these ambitions there are massive failures in mathematics and science subjects in secondary
school.
For example, the National Form Four Examination results for 2004, 2005 and 2006 failures in
Mathematics were 70, 77 and 76 per-cent respectively. There were massive failures in Mathematics
and Science subjects in secondary schools. The focus in Mathematics and Sciences in this audit, is
legitimate as there is infact a crisis nationally on the teaching, learning and performance in these
vital subjects.
Furthermore, the percentage of failures in physics, chemistry and biology were, 43, 35, 45 in the
year 2003 and 45, 35, 43 per-cent in the year 2004 respectively.
School inspection is an important instrument for the Government to assure that there is good
performance in secondary schools. This makes it important that the School Inspectorate conducts
their duties in an efficient and effective way.
This audit is focused on how and to what extent the School Inspectorate genuinely addresses the
issue of poor performing students in mathematics and science subjects in secondary schools, and
how it operates in terms of planning, conducting school inspections in order to achieve the intended
objectives. The National Audit Office has examined school inspection documents and relevant
literatures. The office has also, conducted a large number of interviews with various stakeholders
who are concerned with the audit object to share experiences, collect their views as a part of
auditing process as shown in Appendix 1.
What we have found

We noted that there are no clear priorities on poor performing students in mathematics and science
subjects in the School Inspectorates own annual and operational planning for inspection. The issue
of poor performing students is not addressed in issued guidelines to the school inspectors.
According to these guidelines the school inspectors are supposed to go through 148 items at each
inspection. But only sixteen of these items are referring to the issue of poor performing students.
The guidelines contribute to a more or less standardized behaviour with the inspections and this
hampers the possibility for the school inspectors to provide the Government with adequate
information, like advices on targeted and cost-effective measures, and on how to improve the
education system in the country.
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From the randomly selected 110 inspection reports the audit revealed that, the issue of poor
performing students is not efficiently addressed in the conducted school inspections. Failure to
capture the issue of poor performing students in the School Inspectorates planning and conducting
of activities seriously hampers the efficiency and effectiveness of conducted inspections.
The National Audit Office has found that the wide mandate for communication on the school
inspection results is not always used in a suitable way to address the issue of poor performing
students. Moreover majority of the recommendations in the school inspection reports can only
be implemented by the Government and are thus aimed for the Ministry even if this is not clearly
stated. And in many cases they are of general character, unrealistic and costly as they include a lot
of additional resource.
The National Audit Office has also found that there is room for improvement when it comes to
the communication of the results of the school inspections. Although the Education Act directs
that the school inspection reports are to be sent to the Chief Education Officer at the Ministry of
Education and Vocational Training, other stakeholders like the District Administrative Secretaries
who represent the Government at this level can also, be the recipients of these reports. It is also
important that the results from the school inspection are genuinely communicated to Headmasters/
Mistresses and Teachers.
Other options which can improve communication of the results of the inspections are delivering
of compiled and analyzed data to the Government representatives like District Administrative
Secretary (DAS), media and public opinion which have not yet been exploited.
Failure to capture the issue of poor performing students in the school inspectorates planning and
conducting of activities to a greater extent hampers the efficiency and effectiveness of conducted
school inspection programme
We noted that there is no routine for monitoring and evaluation for conducted inspections which are
important part of a learning system about implementation and impact of provided recommendations.
Furthermore, there is no compilation of the recommendations, their implementation and the
impact on schools performance.
Main conclusion
We conclude that, in order to enhance the performance of students in mathematics and
science subjects in secondary school, there should be clear priorities in the planning of school
inspection.
The problem of poor performing students should be addressed during school inspection.
School Inspection results should be widely communicated to all stakeholders and monitoring
and evaluation of school inspection recommendations should be done on a routine basis.
We recommend the following as the way forward

On the way forward we recommend that:
The Ministry should provide more clear priorities in their guidance for the School Inspections
on how to address poor performance in secondary schools.
A Performance Audit Report On School Inspection Programme xi

The Ministry should request for compiled, problem oriented and analyzed information and
conducted evaluations about poor performing students from the School Inspectorate.
The School Inspectorate should be more problem oriented, learning system with increasing
elements of follow up and evaluation and poorly performing schools should give priority
to improving school leadership and establish a positive culture centred on teaching and
learning for students.
The School Inspectorate should efficiently communicate with concerned stakeholders about
the result of the conducted inspections both in single cases and in general for follow up of
schools progress with a desire to improve.
The recommendations to teachers, Headmasters/Mistresses and other local stakeholders

need to provide more of practical guidance, adjusted to observed and discussed situations
in the schools during the conducted school inspections.
Poorly performing schools need an assessment of their potential to improve and a plan
that minimizes the number of students who fail particularly in Mathematics and Science
subjects.
More efforts should be done to identify and tackle the barriers that discourage potential
students not in favour of Mathematics and Science subjects.
SCRUTINY OF FACTS
The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT), which is directly concerned with
this report has been given the opportunity to correct factual errors in the draft report. We wish
to put on record that the meetings with the Ministry under the School Inspectorate have been
constructive.
xii National Audit Office

CHAPTER ONE
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Good education is important to any society and is often seen as a cornerstone of social and economic
development. Since 1995 Tanzania has had a policy objective of enhancing equitable access to
quality education to all of its citizens1.
However, according to official statistics, students in primary and secondary schools in Tanzania still
have problems in vital subjects such as mathematics and sciences. In fact, a large number of students
fail to pass the exams. This has been the case for many years, but the problem has become more
critical and debated over the recent years. It has also been reflected in the media.2 For example, the
National Form Four Examination results in 2004, 2005 and 2006 failures in Mathematics were,
70%, 77% and 76% respectively.
There is a complex relationship between poor results in Mathematics and Science subjects in the
primary schools and how these poor results also manifest themselves in the secondary schools. For
example, there is a different mix of subjects at the primary compared to the secondary level. Also,
the primary schools are run in a decentralized system while the secondary schools are run in a
centralized, nationwide system.
The school inspection reports are separate for the primary and secondary schools and do not dwell
on the mentioned relationship. The correlation between the primary and secondary education is
acknowledged by NAOT but not focused in this performance audit. We limited ourselves to the
school inspection reports at secondary school level.
Obviously, the factors external to the secondary schools are necessary for the Ministry to take into
account when addressing poor results in Mathematics and Science subjects in an optimum way. The
results from the NAOT audit on the secondary level of education will hopefully contribute to the
strategy formulation for both primary and secondary levels.
Poor performing students in secondary schools in such vital subjects as mathematics and science
represent a huge loss for the individuals as well as for the society. It affects the possibility for
students to move on to higher education. It also hampers the ability for the Government to reach
strategic development goals; not just for the education sector, but for the society and the country
as a whole.
Many issues have influence on the quality and the progress of schools and students performance.
The students social and economic background as well as their parents education and engagement
are examples of factors influencing the students performance. Some of these factors are perhaps
not seen as influential by the government in a short term perspective.
1
See for instance Education Acts (1962,1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978) and Education and Training Policy for the United Republic
of Tanzania, The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (1995)
2
Statistics from the National Examination Council of Tanzania, 2004-2006. Daily News (March 14 and July 10, 2007; and Febru-
ary 13, 2008). Guardian (February 1, 2008).
A Performance Audit Report On School Inspection Programme 1

The Government is however not without means. In fact, it has a lot of instruments at its disposal.
The government is for instance able to influence curriculum, number and competence of teachers,
training materials, pedagogical practices etc.
The school inspection is at the same time one important tool for the Government with the mission
to notice and ensure the quality of good performance in the schools. This makes it important that
the School Inspectorate conducts its duties in an efficient and effective way.
There have earlier been indications showing that the school inspection is not as efficient and effective
as intended.3 Measures have also been taken to improve the situation. However, when it comes to
students performance in secondary school, the results are still poor.4
This indicates that the School Inspectorate is not efficiently addressing its mission to enhance good
quality in education. The National Audit Office of Tanzania has therefore decided to conduct a
performance audit in this area.
1.2 Purpose and audit questions

The purpose of this audit is to examine whether the School Inspectorate appropriately fulfils its
mission to safeguard good quality of training in secondary school.
Inspection is the main instrument through which the School Inspectorate fulfils its mission. Or
in other words, inspection is the core business. Consequently, the audit is mainly focused on how
these inspections operate. This is done by an examination of actual school inspections, including
planning, implementation and achievements.
The National Audit Office has therefore chosen to examine whether the School inspection addresses
the problem of poor performing students in secondary schools, given the resources available.
The specific audit questions are the following:

Does the planning by the school inspection genuinely address the problem of poor performing
students in secondary schools?
Are the school inspections conducted efficiently and effectively, do they address the major
performance problems among students in secondary schools, and are essential shortcomings
highlighted in the school inspection reports?
Are the results of the inspections findings, conclusions and recommendations effectively
communicated to various stakeholders?
Are the achievements appropriately monitored and communicated, and are the recommendations
given to the headmasters influential and effective?
The answers to these questions allow for more than assessing how the School Inspectorate addresses
the issue of poor performing students. These questions also illustrate how the Inspectorate in a
wider sense conducts its work and how it fulfils its mission.
3
Education and Training Policy (1995)
4
According to official statistics from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, 2007
2 National Audit Office

1.3 Scope and limitation
This audit covers the School Inspectorate within the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training
(formerly Ministry of Education and Culture). Within this department, focus is on the inspection
programme and more specifically the inspection of secondary schools. This is one of the tasks of the
School Inspectorate.
Usually, the School Zonal Education inspectors carry out the inspections. The inspections of schools
are carried out by eight zones, which perform their duties as mandated by the Education Act no, 25
of 1978, revision no 10 of 1995.
The eight zones are:

Eastern
Western
Highlands
North eastern
Central
North western
Southern
Lake
The School Inspectorate conducts various kinds of inspection and the audit covers all of them, but
the main focus is on the whole school inspection which is dominant and regular. Follow-up and
special inspections are studied in this audit for getting more overview as a context for the whole
school inspections. For more information, see section 2.3.
The audit focuses mainly on inspection of mathematics and science subjects and whether the
inspection of secondary schools addresses the problem of poor performing students in those subjects.
All information needed for the audit has been provided by the School Inspectorate.
The examination covers mainly inspection activities during the period 2004 -2006. Some inspections
conducted earlier as well as later, have also been examined. This has made it possible to provide
more solid conclusions.
A random based selection of a total 110 inspection reports have been reviewed (out of the total
number of 1469 whole school inspections of secondary schools conducted during the investigation
period). The selection is not proportional, i.e. the size of the zones is not regarded, and consequently
the selection is not aimed to allow for comparisons between zones.5 Accordingly, one has to be
careful with generalisations.
The selection of 110 inspection reports is regarded as a sufficient sample to address the audit
questions mentioned above.
First,because the school inspections are basically conducted in a uniform way. The inspections are
based on structured and detailed guidelines, with pre determined items to be inspected at any course
for each one of the inspections. This standardized and systematic way of conducting inspections
clearly restricts the room for variation from one inspection to another.
5
Basic Education statistics in Tanzania 2005, 2006 and 2006, and Whole School Inspections reports for the period of 2004-2006.

Thus the information obtained by studies of a sample of 110 inspection protocols has been deemed
to constitute a sufficient coverage. The observations from these inspection protocols have to be
taken as a serious base for problem indication, analysis, and conclusions and recommendations in
this Performance audit report.
Second, the aim of the selection is not to generalise in a scientific manner, but to check patterns
and tendencies in the inspectors behaviours. Systematic errors, if found, are generally seen as strong
indications for need of corrective measures, even if the sample is not that large.
The examination of the school inspections is mainly based on written documents, not so much on
the oral communications between for instance inspectors and various stakeholders. In order to
widen the scope and to get more information on matters not always available in documents, the
National Audit Office has also conducted a large number of interviews. (Refer to appendix 1). The
National Audit Office has found that the examined documents, especially the school inspection
reports provide a solid base for the audit; they contain in most cases all the essential information
needed.
The examination is limited to secondary school and focuses on the School Inspectorates efforts to
safeguard the quality of training for students with special problems in certain subjects.
The scope of the audit is in reality wider, however. First, some of the audit questions are not only
limited to issues of school inspections. The audit questions also cover issues like communication
and monitoring. Second, the aim of the audit is to asses the performance of school inspections in a
wider sense, keeping in mind the perspective of poor performing students.
The focus and the impact of school inspections depend, according to studies from different countries,
on how the School Inspectorate is used as a tool for improvement of school results.
According to conducted studies, it cannot be taken for granted that school inspection in itself
is a progressive tool for the improvement of the schools and the students performance. On the
contrary, there are studies showing that the impact on the students performance might be none or
even negative in spite of a huge amount of resources spent on the school inspections.6
Varying factors connected with the inspections that might promote the schools activities are however
identified in other studies. Focus on educational outcome, i.e. the result of the education, and the
processes required in order to achieve those results is one example. Promotion of interactions in
the whole school system, including decision makers on central and local level is another example.7
External follow up and evaluations of the inspections as well as the schools results are stressed as
well8 as important for the inspectors. Also, according to conducted studies, close discussions with
the teachers on how effective they are and what they need to do to improve their situations with
teaching and learning.9
6
Ekholm M (2008)School inspections and school development in Sweden a waste of time and money.
7
Standaert R (2000) Inspectorates of education in Europe A critical analysis.
8
Matthews P/Sammons P (2004) Improvement through inspection an evaluation of the impact of Ofsteds work.
9
Sandahl R/Bringle S (2006) Skolverkets utbildningsinspektion ger den ngra effekter? Effektutvrdering genomfrd p uppdrag av
Skolverket. (The School Inspection does it have any impact?)

According to policies and regulations, the issue of poor performing students is a major task for the
School Inspectorate in Tanzania (See section 2.2). By examining how the issue of poor performing
students is being addressed by the Inspectorate, the NAOT will also to a certain extent have the
opportunity to assess how the School Inspectorate operates more in general and comment on how
it fulfils its overall mission.10
1.4 Implementation
In undertaking the audit, a large number of documents have been examined, such as relevant Legal
documents/acts, Policy documents, Regulations, Education Sector Review documents, Education
and examination statistics, School inspectors guidelines and manuals, Inspection reports of various
kinds, planning and follow up documents and other kinds of reports and documents from the
School Inspectorate. Studies of relevant literature and research in the field, as well as different Web
pages of relevance for the examination, are also included in the examination.
A large number of interviews with various stakeholders involved in the administration of the
inspection programme have been conducted. The interviews cover representatives from the
Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, managers and staff at central and regional level
within the School Inspectorate. Other interviewed are teachers, headmasters/mistresses, members
of school boards, students and parents of students. Also regional and district administrators and
coordinators as well as some scientists and representatives from certain associations in the field have
been interviewed.
In order to examine and classify a selected choice of the inspection reports during 20042006, the
National Audit Office has used a checklist and certain criteria. (For more information see section
4.1). The National Audit Office has also examined and classified all recommendations from the
selected choice of reports provided during 20042006 (For more information see section 6.3).
During the audit, a workshop with members from the Ministry and experts in the field was
conducted. The aim of the workshop was to discuss preliminary findings and get valuable feed
back.
A draft report was sent to the School Inspectorate in the Ministry of Education and Vocational
Training for examination and clearance. Comments have been collected and discussed.
Before finalizing the audit, the National Audit Office conducted an exit conference with the
management of the Ministry.
1.5 Structure of the report

This report comprises eight chapters structured as
Introduction, description of school inspection system, planning and priorities, conducting school
inspections, communication of results on school inspections, monitoring and impact, conclusions
and recommendations.
10
According to comments from the School Inspectorate poor performing students is not a major task for the inspectorate. But
NAOT has concluded the stated policy and regulation in another way.

CHAPTER TWO
2. THE SCHOOL INSPECTION SYSTEM
This chapter deals with a couple of issues regarding the development of the School Inspection in
Tanzania. It covers the period after independence i.e. 1961 up to date, starting with the development
of School Inspection system, Government Policy on Secondary Education, School Inspection its
role and responsibility, organisation and the details of the school inspection.
2.1 Education reforms and establishment of the school inspection

From 1961 to date, analysis of Government efforts to improve education suggests that the focus of
educational policies has for long been on the distribution and equalization of education opportunities
through the expansion of the systems at all levels. The emphasis is now on the improvement of the
quality of education, expansion of education and training opportunities to meet the ever increasing
demand of these services.
After the independence of Tanzania in 1961, the Government passed the Education Act of 1962 to
regulate the provision of education in the country. Among other things the government abolished
racial discrimination in the provision of education and streamlined the curriculum, examinations
as well as the financing of education to be provided for uniformity.
Between 1967 and 1978, the Government took several steps and enacted several laws in order to
improve education. These laws and steps included inter alia, the Education Acts of 1969 and 1978;
the Decentralization programme of 1972; the National Examination Council Act no 21 of 1973;
and the Musoma Resolution of 1974.
The Education Act no 25 of 1978 included the establishment of the School Inspectorate.
2.2 Education policy and the school inspection

The Tanzania Development Vision 2025 envisages the total elimination of poverty by 2025. In this
vision, the education sector is considered pivotal in bringing about social and economic transformation
and states that: Education should be treated as strategic agent of mind-set transformation and
for the creation of a well educated nation, sufficiently equipped with the knowledge needed to
completely solve the development challenges which face the nation.
The education policy creates the foundation for all activities under the Ministry of Education and
Vocational Training. The policy was adopted in year 1995 and has not been changed or updated
since then. The policy focuses on issues of establishment of schools and expansion of education.
The general aims of education and training is, according to the policy, among others to promote
personal development, self-confidence, and productive skills, and to enable every citizen to
understand their rights and responsibilities.11
11

For the secondary school, the aim is among others to prepare all students for higher education.
According to the policy the government shall ensure that adequate resources are made available and
provided to enhance access and equity in education.
It is further stated that, emphasis will be on the teaching of mathematics, science and technical
subjects, since these subjects are of vital importance for the development of the country.12
According to the Education Act number 25 of 1978, the inspection of schools should ensure that
All schools comply with the Governments Education Policy and the Education Act. Appropriate
recommendations should also be given to the headmaster or the headmistress.
It might be worth mentioning that the Governments Education Sector Programme stated the
following as important objectives:
To improve the quality of education both formal and non formal through strengthening
in-service training of teachers and tutors, supply adequate teaching and learning materials;
rehabilitation of school/college and training institutions physical facilities; consolidate pre-
service teacher training programmes; promote research in education and training institutions;
and strengthen monitoring and evaluation.
To promote access and equity to education by encouraging equitable distribution of education

institutions and resources; expand and improve girls education; ensure access to education for
the special social and cultural groups; identify talented, children with disabilities and make
sure they are given appropriate education and training and providing education facilities to
disadvantaged areas.13
The National Audit Office has interpreted these policies and regulations in the following way: Not
only teachers but also school inspectors should give special attention to important subjects like
mathematics and sciences. Consequently, in order for the secondary schools to comply with these
policies, its vital for the school inspectors to make strong efforts to contribute to good performance
in these subjects.14
2.3 The School inspection - purposes and obligations

The purpose of the school inspection is to monitor the delivery of education and the adherence to
the stipulated curriculum and the standards set, in order to safeguard good quality in education.
The purpose is also to oversee the efficient and effective delivery of education and to supervise
the schools. In addition, it is also aimed to provide feedback to education agencies, managers and
administrators.15
The general function of school inspectors is to ensure adherence to set policy, laws, regulations and
standards of education in the school system of Tanzania. In order to achieve this, school inspectors
are required to carry out the following specific functions.
To inspect all schools and write reports with a purpose of advising the Chief Education Officer
on matters which require decision making for improvement.
12
13
According to the Web Page for the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (http://www.moe.go.tz/index.html)
14
15
Education Act No 25 of 1978 and Education and Training Policy (1995)

To inspect, educate and advise owners, managers, school boards/committees and teachers on
good implementation of schools development plans.
To initiate and conduct educational research and disseminate the information for the purpose
of improving teaching standards in schools.
To act as a link between the school, other institutions and the Ministry.
To take part in book writing, book review and production of handouts and articles for various
academic subjects.
To pursue personal professional and academic development.
To conduct in-service training for teachers.
Carry out supervisory visits to improve the quality of teaching in schools.
One may say that the school inspectors have three major roles to play, i.e. the inspection role, the
advisory role and the development role. On the inspection role the inspector performs the following
activities i.e. monitoring, assessing and evaluating quality of school instruction, school organisation
and management and school environment. Regarding the advisory role the inspector is obliged to
disseminate information on acceptable practices and innovation, curriculum implementation and
review, identify training needs and organise close to school training (school based, ward or cluster
level) and advice on establishing new schools. As development role is concerned, the inspector shall
initiate, encourage and support projects of developmental nature in schools.
The School Inspectorate produces various documents and reports, besides strategic, annual and
action plans. The more important ones are the following:
School inspection reports

Whole school inspection (summary of findings and recommendations for each school
inspection).
Follow up inspection (reports on to what extent recommendations from a specifically selected
and limited number of individual inspections has been implemented, a various number per
year).
Special school inspections (targeted inspections, dealing with specific issues, and the number
may vary a lot).
Periodic reports on activities (monthly, quarterly, mid year and annual).
Handbooks and manuals

Handbook for School Inspectors (1999)
Training Manual for School Inspectors (1999)
School Inspectors Training Manual (a revised version of the handbook, 2006)
Research and evaluations (illustration)

Report on the student performance in mathematics and science subjects for National form 2
examination, 2007

National Form 2 Secondary Education Examination Results, Statistical Analysis (2000-to
date).
Fahamu Elimu publication no 1-5.
2.4 Funding
The total amount of money spent on the school inspections by school Inspectorate is shown in
table 1 below. Both the budgeted amount and the actual expenditure increased by more than 40%
between the two last financial years, 2004/052006/07. This increase of the total funding can
possibly be explained by the increasing number of secondary schools during this period.
However, during the years 2004/052006/07 the percentage of inspected schools for each year does
not vary proportionally to the actual expenditure per school. The yearly percentage of inspected
schools fluctuated during these three years from 23 to 38 and 26 percent (See the sixth column in
the table1). An overall calculation indicates at the same time that the actual expenditure per school
was not growing, but the number of schools increased by 48%, from 1734 to 2567 schools. These
figures reflect possibly changes in priorities within the School Inspectorate during this period.
For the National Audit Office, these financial figures and number of inspections conducted require
a study that is outside the scope of this performance audit. According to the School Inspectorate,
the above can be explained by the situation that during this time period a lot of money was spent
on special inspections that had been repeated several times. However, we think that the School
Inspectorate should more closely analyse the reasons for the decreasing percentages of whole
school inspections between 2005/06 and 2006/07, in spite of having more funds per school for
inspections.
Table 1.
Budget and actual expenditure of the school inspectorate department for the year 2004-2007
Budgeted Actual Funding Schools being

Number of
Financial amount expenditure per school inspected
secondary
year (Tsh million) (Tsh (in Tsh
schools
million) million)
No %
2004/5 3,808.56 3,793.89 1734 2.18 406 23
2005/6 3,632.78 3,661.75 2063 1.77 785 38
2006/7 5,318.64 5,232.56 2567 2.038 678 26
Source: School Inspectorate
2.5. Organisation of the school inspection and key players.

The general function of school inspection is to ensure adherence to set policy, laws, regulations and
standards of education in the school system of Tanzania.

In order to ensure that high quality of education is being delivered and good performance is sustained
there is quite a good number of key players as indicated in the system graph below:
Figure 1.
System graph of the Organisation of School Inspectorate and key players.
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND

VOCATIONAL TRAINING
PERMANENT SECRETARY
CHIEF EDUCATION OFFICER
CHIEF INSPECTOR OF
SCHOOLS
ZONAL CHIEF INSPECTOR

OF SCHOOLS
SECONDARY TEACHERS
SCHOOLS COLLEGE
INSPECTORS INSPECTORS
PRIMARY SCHOOL INSPECTORS

2.5.1 Organization and Management of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training.
The Management of Education and Vocational Training is mainly through the Ministry of Education
and Vocational Training.16 The Ministry consists of eight departments:
Office of the Chief Education Officer,
Basic Education,
Secondary Education,
Teacher Education,
Inspectors of Schools,
Policy and Planning,
Administration and Personnel,
Vocational Training.
Higher Education
Within the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training the permanent secretary is responsible
for preparing education policies and for the running of the various executive departments. The Chief
Education Officer is responsible for implementing decisions taken by the Minister of Education
and Vocational Training and the Permanent Secretary and for coordinating the activities within
the line departments.
The School Inspectorate is headed by the Chief Inspector of schools, who reports to the Chief
Education Officer. The Chief Inspector of schools is supported by four sections namely management,
basic education, secondary education as well as teacher education each being headed by head of
section. The Chief Inspectorate Office is divided from Zonal levels to district levels whereby the
District Chief Inspector reports to zonal chief inspector and Zonal Chief Inspector reports to the
Chief Inspector of schools at the headquarters17. This is depicted in the above system graph.
At Zonal level, there are eight zones with their respective regions as follows: central zone covers
Dodoma and Singida; eastern zone covers coast, Dar as Salaam, and Morogoro; highland zone
includes Iringa, Mbeya and Rukwa; lake zone covers Kagera, Mara and Mwanza; north eastern
zone covers Tanga and Kilimanjaro; north western zone holds Manyara and Arusha, southern zone
covers Lindi, Mtwara and Ruvuma; and western zone covers Kigoma, Shinyanga, and Tabora.
The Zonal level office also comprises three specialised sections, whose inspectors are responsible
for coordinating and inspecting Basic Education (for primary schools), Secondary Education
(for secondary schools) and Teacher Education (for teachers colleges). At district level the School
Inspectorate in each administrative district has an office headed by a District Chief Inspector of
schools, who directly reports to Zonal Chief Inspector.
16
The Ministry currently has Minister, Deputy Minister, Permanent Secretary, Chief Education Officer and Directors: Director, Basic
Education, Director, Secondary Education, Director, Teacher Education, Director, Policy and Planning, Director, Administration
and Personnel, Chief Inspector of Schools. and Vocational Training
17
Handbook for School Inspectors, the Ministry of Education and Culture (1999) and School Inspectors Training Manual, The
Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (2006).

2.6 School Inspection target and performance
The School inspection examines all aspects of the school as a place of learning based on the school
development plan. The school inspection of secondary schools is to be conducted for three to five
days depending on the size of the school. In zones, school inspections should be done at least once
a year. Each school inspector will be expected to inspect at least thirty (30) schools in every financial
year.
School inspectors for secondary schools are required to inspect two subjects of their speciality
every year. However, according to the School Inspectorate, due to inadequate personnel, lack of
transport, lack of office, lack of office equipment and housing, a school is inspected at least once in
every two years.
The School Inspectorate has today over one thousand inspectors (1073). The total number of staff,
including supporting staff, is 1173. Most (932) are inspectors for basic education. A minority
(141) are inspectors for secondary schools and teacher training colleges.
The number of inspectors for secondary schools increased during the last ten years to 163 inspectors
in year 2006. By then the number of inspectors was reduced to 141. At the same period ie. 2005/06
to 2006/07 the number of secondary schools has, however, increased by about 300 per cent (from
800 to 3,400 schools to date), so the ratio of inspectors has decreased.
Table 2.
School Inspectors, inspections per team of inspectors of schools and secondary schools being inspected for
the last three years
Schools
Number of being inspected
Inspections Number
Fiscal year inspectors
per team of sec. schools
Number %
2004/05 150 8 1734 406 23
2005/06 163 14 2063 785 38
2006/07 141 14 2567 678 26
Statistics from the School Inspectorate, for the last three years, indicate that the number of schools
being inspected varies over time, as well as the number of inspections carried out by each team,
which consists of 3-5 inspectors.18 All these inspections cover subjects like mathematics and science
.
2.7 The school inspection process

The process of inspection requires the inspector to conduct inspections at various earmarked
schools. Before carrying out inspection heads of schools are to be informed in advance about the
inspection whenever possible so that they make available all necessary information for a successful
inspection.
18
Statistics from the School Inspectorate

During the first stage
The pre-inspection meeting - the school inspectors meet the school administration for introduction
and outlining of the purpose of their inspection visit. The inspectors are briefed by the school
administration on the schools general status and performance. The school inspectors are required
to meet teachers and other staff. Even students are subjected to inspection regarding attendance,
performance and academic development.
During the second stage

The inspection the inspectors collect data about the school management and the administration,
quality of teaching and learning and also the physical infrastructure of the school. During the
inspection, the headmasters of the schools usually play the role in facilitating the inspection on
matters involving the administration. Teachers also have a role of ensuring that professional due
care is adhered to in the course of their work. At the following stage the post-inspection the
inspector team discusses the findings and conclusions with the school staff and the school board.
The third and last stage

The school inspector is to write and to deliver a school inspection report to the relevant
stakeholders.
Members of the school boards should be acquainted with the results, as well as school owners i.e.
the permanent secretary of the ministry, education agencies, managers and administrators at zonal,
regional and district levels.
The former handbook for the school inspectors (which forms the frame of reference and the content
of the work) has basically been the same for the last ten years. Only minor changes have been
made. That means that the inspections have a rather standardized format, regardless of problems
and needs and regardless of whether certain issues, even strongly important ones, related to the
government policies are more or less complied with by the schools.19
2.8 Follow up and special school inspections

The School Inspectorate conducts more than whole school inspections. It also conducts a small
number of the follow up inspection and a varying number of special inspections. Follow up
inspections are few and focus on what has happened as a result of earlier whole school inspection.
They are not new inspections in that sense that they go beyond what has earlier been observed in
the whole inspections. For more information, see section 4.4. However, it is of interest for our
analysis of whole school inspections, to briefly describe the topic orientation of special inspections
and find out if and possibly how they overlap with whole school inspections. The special school
inspections may possibly contain information that is relevant for the results in Mathematics and
Science subjects.
The special school inspections are conducted at certain occasions: for instance, when schools are
built, allegations of irregularities or if conflicts are at hand, when mismanagement is indicated etc.
This means that the amount of school inspections may vary a lot over the years (a bit over 200 per
year during the period 2004-2005 and seven times as many the following two years).
19
For more information, see section 4.1

The special inspections allow for some flexibility. Unlike whole school inspections, they examine
specific issues.
During the years 2004 and 2005 a majority of the special school inspections focused on physical,
financial and administrative matters. Not one inspection addressed issues like pedagogics and
students performance. This is shown in the table below.
Table 3.
Subject matters being addressed by the special inspections of secondary schools during the years
2004 and 2005 (The total number of inspections during this period was 428. Addressing issues has
been analysed for all of them in this performance audit)20
School inspections addressing the

Subject matter
issue
Number Percentage
Physical matters (School buildings, equipment etc) 123 29
Finances/economic matters 120 28
Administration/registration 161 38
Other matters 24 2
The motives for conducting the special school inspections during this period were indications of
irregularities or shortcomings. In most cases the inspections were based on suspected irregular
behaviours, mainly of headmasters in financial and administrative matters. This is shown below.
20
N.B This additional analysis of special school inspection reports are not part of our sample of whole school inspections.

Table 4.
Irregular behaviour among headmasters, teachers and students being examined through special
inspections of secondary schools during the years 2004 and 2005.
Inspections
Issues addressed on irregular behaviour
Number Percentage
Allegations against head masters 120 28

- Misappropriation of funds e.g. school
fees, capitation grant etc. 85 20
Illegal registration and admission of students
- 205 48
Allegation against teachers and staff 12 3

- Drunkenness 12 3
- Sexual harassment of students
24 6
Allegations against students

60 14
(Damage, drugs etc )
As shown above, indications of irregularities are most common among headmasters. Other
indications that may initiate special inspections (besides inspections of new schools) are presented
in the table below.
Table 5.
Issues than irregularities that initiated special school inspection during the years 2004 and
2005.
School Inspections
Issues addressed on conflicts, shortages and
mismanagement
N %
Land conflicts, ownership conflicts etc 57 13

Shortage of facilities 6 1
Poor management and administration 76 18
As shown above shortcomings in terms of conflicts, poor management and lack of resources are less
common as motive for special inspections than indications of irregularities.

The following two years (2006 and 2007), the number of the special school inspections got
significantly higher. They also had another orientation. These inspections concentrated on new
secondary school construction activities. The National Audit Office has gone through a number of
school inspections (inspections available at the main office) in order to see which issues that were
addressed. The results are presented below.
Table 6.
Issues addressed by the special inspections of secondary schools during 2006-2007, based on a
selection of 91 out of the total 2900 special inspections
Inspections addressing this issues

Issues addressed
N %
School buildings, furniture 91 100
Infrastructure/public utilities 66 73
Financial matters 8 9
Pedagogies and students
0 0
performance
As shown in the table above, the special school inspections did not address the issue of students
performance in secondary school in the selected sample. As shown earlier, this was also the case
during the years 2004 and 2005. According to the School Inspectorate, no such special school
inspections has been carried out in the last four years, but there had been such inspections conducted
earlier.21
It ought to be mentioned in this context, that the School Inspectorate publishes annually a general
report on the student performance in mathematic and science subjects based on the results from the
national form 2 examination (starting from year 2000), which are conducted by the Inspectorate.
However, these kinds of reports are not the same as the reports from conducted school inspections.
They are not based on visits to schools and do not provide recommendations to individual schools
on how to deal with the raised problems.
The above analysis shows that follow up and special school inspections do not address the issues
of poor results in Mathematics and Science subjects. The form 2 examinations do concern the
mentioned subjects but present overall statistical information that are of a different nature than the
data collected and reported from visits to schools during whole school inspections.
21
Based on statistics from the School Inspectorate, and based on these findings, the National Audit Office has decided to focus its
examination on regular inspection (which also is the dominant form).

CHAPTER THREE
3. PLANNING AND PRIORITIES
In order for the inspectors to give priority to the issue of poor performing students in secondary
schools, it is necessary to have clearly stated priorities. This chapter describes the planning system
and to what extent the issue of poor performing students in secondary school is being genuinely
addressed by the School Inspectorate in its planning.
3.1 Audit questions and assessment criteria

Audit question
Does the planning by the School Inspectorate genuinely address the problem of poor performing
students in secondary school?
Important sub-questions are:

1. Are there any analysis conducted concerning these issues, stating that these problems ought to
be given special priority by the School Inspection Programme?
2. Are there any documents saying that the school inspections have to prioritize these issues?
3. Are priorities of this kind clearly set in the annual planning?
These questions have been answered by examination of planning documents, inspection reports and
interviews with representative members from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training
and the School Inspectorate in particular.
Assessment Criteria
The National Audit Office has based on legal document/acts and policy documents to formulate
the following assessment criteria:
Planning by the school inspection should address the issue of students performance
Schools with poor performance should be given priority in school inspection programmes
Priority for school inspections should be set in the annual planning
School inspections should reflect areas of priorities
3.2 Strategic and operational planning

Strategic planning setting long term priorities
The ministrys long term priorities and targets for the education sector as a whole is set in the
Ministrys strategic plan. The top management at the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training
decides on the plan, which for instance covers directives to the School Inspectorate. In the process
of developing the plan, the School Inspectorate participates with information and suggestions.
Operational planning selecting and organising

Besides participating in the ministrys strategic planning process, the School Inspectorate is obliged
to conduct operational planning activities.

The annual plan under the School Inspectorate comprises of input from management, teacher
education, basic education and secondary education sections.
Planning of individual school inspections enables the school inspector to optimise his/her efforts
and to consider the requirements for successful and purposeful inspection. It also enables the
inspector to consider constraints to be encountered during inspection and therefore getting ready
to overcome them. The planning for school inspection aims at focusing on the objectives of
inspection and resources that are required. It also entails programme and time of conducting the
school inspection.
According to the handbook for inspectors, the planning should set priorities with reference to for
instance schools with poor performance in final examinations, schools not having been inspected
for a long time, accessibility, inspection requests, existing problems, convenient seasons as far as
geographical location, national public holidays, examinations and other events. It also contains
schedules for inspection, showing dates and months of school inspection, appointment of team
leaders for inspection, budget for travelling, subsistence allowances and other incidentals.
The planning should also help to explore statistical information that can be useful to the inspection,
such as enrolment, staffing, drop-out rate, examination results and organisational chart. Such
information enables school inspectors to programme their visit and manage their time effectively.
In addition, the plan compels the inspectors to check records of past inspections before embarking
on an inspection in order to check on the implementation of previous recommendations. It also calls
for the inspectors to hold short meetings prior to the visit to brief participating school inspectors on
the programme and objectives and to allocate duties.
3.3 Addressing poor performing students
Strategic planning
The aim of the Education Act and the Governments Education and training policy is to enhance the
citizens level of education in Tanzania. According to the policy, well educated citizens are premises
for social and economic development. Put in that context, combating poor school performance
can be seen as a vital part of the policy. See section 2.2. However, there are no specific long term
objectives or targets set regarding this issue. There are no clear directives to the School Inspectorate
on how to address poor performing secondary schools or poor performing students in vital subjects
like mathematics and science. 22
Operational planning
Neither the former handbook for school inspectors issued in April, 1999 nor the new version
issued in May, 2006 on planning procedures, set clear priorities on the issue of poor performing
students.
They do however provide guidelines on how to select and prioritize among schools. One general
criterion out of several concerns schools with poor performance in final examination results.
However, the criterion has no major impact on the actual content of the inspections. Its not aimed
to address the training conditions among the poor performing students and their specific need of
support.
22
During the audit, however, one senior representative from the Ministry of Science Technology and Higher Education has
emphasized that addressing poor performing students is actually an important task for the School Inspectorate.

An ambition that might get in conflict with the ambition to prioritize among schools, is the
requirement set by the Education act, that all schools must be inspected (regardless of performance
and with no time period set).
When it comes to actual operational planning (annual planning or activity planning), the National
Audit Office has not been able to come across any document that set clear priorities for the inspection
programme as a whole to genuinely address the problem of poor performing students in any subject
regarding secondary school.
Review of the action plan reflected a number of agreed objectives set in the order of priorities this
included:
To ensure that 1032 secondary schools were inspected by June, 2007;

To prepare a publication of FAHAMU ELIMU-9. A research paper on the teaching and learning
of Geography in secondary schools by June, 2007.
To conduct Form Two Secondary Education Examination;
To conduct IN-SET on understanding and implementation of new syllabi (2005) to 96
Secondary School Inspectors;
To make follow up visits to zonal offices and districts; and
To conduct HIV/AIDS Workshop for 96 secondary school inspectors.23
This illustrates that the issue of poor performing students has not been a matter of priority.
This observation is valid for all planning and at both central, zonal and district levels. It is also valid
for all kinds of school inspections (whole, follow-up and special inspections).
The same can be said for other activities than school inspections. The National Audit Office has not
seen that the problem of poor performing students in vital subjects in secondary school has been
given high priority in other activities by the School Inspectorate.
3.4 Conclusion
The issue of poor performing students in secondary school has not been given high priority in
planning documents over the last years. This is shown by the planning documents from the Ministry
of Education and Vocational Training as well as from the School Inspectorate. That is to say, the
planning of school inspection in place does not address this issue. In fact, the National Audit
Office hasnt found any document saying that this is an issue to be given priority by the School
Inspectorate. There are no guidelines available for the inspectors on how to handle this issue more
in detail.
Available information shows that the School Inspectorate has in its planning not clearly given high priority to the problem of poor
performing students in secondary school.
23
School Inspectorate Department Action Plan 2006- 2007, Secondary Education section.

CHAPTER FOUR
4. CONDUCTING SCHOOL INSPECTIONS
As mentioned above (section 2.3) the general function of school inspection is to ensure adherence to
set policy, regulations and standards of education in Tanzanias school system. The school inspectors
have three major roles to play; the inspection role, the advisory role and the development role. In
this chapter the focus is on the inspection role and especially to what extent it is used to address the
major performance problems among students in secondary schools.
4.1 Audit question and assessment criteria
The Governments Education Policy states that one aim of the secondary school is to prepare
students for higher education. The policy also states the importance of teaching in mathematics,
science and technical subjects, as these are subjects of vital importance for the development of the
country. The National Audit Office has done the interpretation that it is vital with strong efforts to
safeguard good performance for as many students as possible.
Audit question
Does the School Inspectorate conduct its inspections efficiently and effectively, i.e. do the school
inspections address the problem of poor performing students in secondary school and are essential
shortcomings highlighted in the inspection reports?
Examination of the inspection protocols

In order to assess whether the school inspection had addressed the problem with poor performing
students a choice of 110 inspection reports has been reviewed (see section 1.3). In order to
complete this examination, we developed a list of relevance aspects that the School Inspectorate
should include in order to address the problem of poor performing students. The following
aspects have been used for the review:
Whether guidance and actions to improve combating of dropout are in place, appropriate
and working well
Whether guidance and actions to improve feed back and agreements on teachers
pedagogical performance are in place, appropriate and working well
Whether planning and quality in providing additional training for weak performing
students are in place, appropriate and working well
Whether guidance and actions to improve students performance and development are
in place, appropriate and working well (feedback to students)24
24
The choice of reports was reviewed in order to assess to what extent the above issues were highlighted. The following categories
were used: Comprehensively examined: Meant that these issues are being dealt with in one or several paragraphs. The reader of
the report should be able to see that this issue has been closely examined. Moreover, recommendations must also be given on how
to deal with the issue. Assessed to some extent with recommendations: Meant that the issue is explicitly mentioned in one or two
sentences with recommendations. Mentioned: Meant that the issue explicitly is mentioned in one or two sentences, but without
recommendations. Not highlighted: Meant that nothing is mentioned in the reports concerning this issue.

For each one of the aspects above certain criteria were applied for a more detailed assessment. The
criteria are based on literature studies and advices from experienced experts in the field. In order to
effectively address the problems, the inspection reports were expected to include examinations and
assessments of the following characters:
Concerning combating drop-out, the inspection report should highlight whether

The headmaster has analysed the problem with drop-outs in the school
The headmaster has set appropriate strategies and programme to combat drop-out
These programme are being implemented and effectively communicated among teachers,
students and parents
The headmaster has indications saying that these programme are being implemented
successfully
Targeted efforts are executed to identify high risk students
Concerning actions to improve teachers performance, the inspections report should highlight
whether
There are systems set for regular evaluations of teachers performance and his/her ability to
keep in line with modern pedagogical standards
There are regular discussions with teachers in mathematics and science subjects on how to
improve teachers performance, regarding less well performing students
Concerning additional training, the inspection report should highlight whether

There are systems in place to identify the need of additional training for poor performing
students
Poor performing students are given appropriate additional training
Concerning actions to improve students performance, the inspection report should highlight
whether
Teachers are effectively monitoring the students performance and have dialogues with the
students and their parents on their work and performance
Teachers are actively supporting the less well performing students and applying modern
pedagogical standards in trying to improve their efforts and performance
4.2 Poor performing students and the handbook

The handbook for school inspectors emphasises some important items with the inspection
reports. The handbook covers a wide area of items and the inspectors are expected to go through
them all. Among these issues are to inform stakeholders, to serve as a mirror for institutional
improvement and to improve school effectiveness by identifying strengths and key issues for
action.
Moreover, according to the same handbook the school inspections reports should be used to
inform all stakeholders on certain issues. Among these issues are clear evidences of the school
performance in a given period.

The main impression from this review is that poor performing students are not to any extent
mentioned in norms expressed to the school inspectors in their handbook. Only sixteen out of 148
items in the handbook are referring to this issue. This is illustrated in table 7.
Table7.
Issues specifically related to poor performing students in the handbook for the school
inspection.
Items Number of issues Percentage of issues
Specifically targeting issues related to

poor performing students 0 0%
Items indirectly linked to issues related

to poor performing students 16 11%
Items not linked to issues related to poor

performing students 132 89%
Total number of items that the inspectors

need to go through during inspections 148 100%
As shown above issues of relevance to poor performing students are not genuinely addressed in the
handbook. This makes it difficult for the school inspector to develop his or her competence to give
practical advices to the headmasters, teachers, parents and other stakeholders. This makes it also
difficult for the inspector to initiate more profound actions among schools or regions. Such actions
could include everything from programme to combat drop out, old fashioned training methods
and negative attitudes to various steps to support parents and students with problems.
Moreover, the lack of items on this issue means that the School Inspectorate will have difficulties
providing the Government with advices on targeted and cost-effective measures to improve the
situation. It may also influence the quality of the monitoring system and the statistics in the field.
4.3 Poor performing students and the inspections

When it comes to the actual conducted inspections, a choice of 110 inspection reports were reviewed
with the above questions. The purpose was to review whether the goals concerning poor performing
students, set in the assessment criteria, were achieved.
The examination covers only reports from whole school inspections. During the inspection as well
as afterwards, its natural and in line with the handbook, that inspectors have meetings with various
stakeholders. Such meetings provide opportunities for knowledge sharing, and they may also allow
the inspectors to inform about significant findings from the school inspections.
According to the handbook, the inspectors are supposed to document all significant matters in the
inspection report. Therefore, the content of the reports should provide the National Audit Office
information on poor results in mathematics and science subjects.

Table 8.
The extent in which vital aspects of poor performing students are targeted in 110 school
inspection reports 2004-06
Comprehen To some
Not highlighted
sively extent Mentioned
at all
examined examined
N % N % N % N %
Combating
drop outs
0 0 2 2 3 3 105 95
Pedagogical
performance
0 0 21 19 2 2 87 79
Additional
training
0 0 6 6 1 1 103 93
Students
performance 0 0 17 15 12 11 81 74
As shown in the table the inspections do not specifically focus on vital aspects of importance for
combating poor performance among students in secondary schools. For instance, not any of the
school inspections has comprehensively examined problems concerning drop-outs, pedagogical
performance and students performance, and very few do mention them.25
Almost none (2%) include advices on combating drop-outs, and only a very limited number of
inspections (6%) say something about the need of additional training. Almost all inspections give
comments on students performance, but the comments are in most cases not linked to specific
subjects.
Even in those limited cases when advices are provided (15%), the recommendations are not that
specific, i.e. they dont provide any practical guidance on how to improve performance among the
students concerned.
As shown in the table above, the inspections do not as a routine examine whether the schools are
actually having effective programme to reduce the problem of poor performing students in vital
subjects like mathematics and science . In fact, its very rare that such matters are even mentioned
in the reports, and the National Audit Office has not seen any recommendation of that kind.
Consequently, the inspections do not provide information to what extent the schools are actively
involved in programme dealing with these problems.
25
According to the School Inspectorate many of these issues, like combating of drop outs and training of weak teachers or poor
performing students is usually not done by the school inspectors, but by parents, school authorities and teachers. However, the
School Inspectorate agrees with NAOT that the school inspectors can identify the need for these kinds of activities.

Even more so, there is no information on whether existing activities at the schools are being
effective or not. This means that the inspection has limited capacity to share knowledge on
successful or less successful practices and to assist the Government in developing policies.
To some extent the lack of attention for poor performing students might be seen as a result of a
standardized format of the inspection reports (See section 2.3). In spite of this, the review also
showed some significant variations between different reports.
4.4 Conclusion
According to the Handbook for school inspectors, school inspection covers a broad area and
is expected to follow a rather standardised format. This implies limited options for flexibility
and more thematic or problem-oriented approaches. The inspection is consequently carried out
in roughly the same manner regardless of current problems. There are priorities, but they are
mainly aimed at deciding on which schools to inspect.
There are indicators showing that the school inspection does not efficiently address the problem
of poor performing students in secondary schools. According to the inspection reports, the
schools actions to combat the problem are not highlighted at all. In addition there is almost no
recommendation provided by inspectors on how to deal with the problem of poor performing
students.
According to comments from the School Inspectorate, this is not the full picture of the conducted
inspections. The Inspectorates opinion is that relevant subject teachers are advised what to do
for poor performing students and that the above raised issues are exactly what the inspections are
about.
This opinion from the School Inspectorate is not reflected in the inspection reports. The picture
from the reports is that the School inspection is limited in its ability to increase awareness of the
problem of poor performing students. The School Inspectorate is an acting authority representing
the Government when conducting inspections in the schools. This makes it important with a clear
message in the documentation from the inspections.
In a wider sense, it is also of importance with transparency and accountability by many means. A
transparent documentation from the conducted inspections makes it possible to assess whether
the schools are actively engaged in dealing with the issue of poor performing students. Without
a relevant documentation reflecting the real situation from the school visits it will also be hard to
assess whether existing efforts really are effective. Those limitations are as well likely to have impacts
on the School inspections ability to knowledge sharing.
This in turn affects the possibilities for the Government and other stakeholders to get relevant and
suitable information and to take required actions.
Available information and our analysis show that the Handbook and the school inspection reports
do not pay special attention to the issue of poor performing students in secondary schools.

CHAPTER FIVE
5. COMMUNICATION ON RESULTS
Through the conducted inspections the school inspectors get access to information with knowledge
and experiences concerning single schools as well as the school system as a whole. The way the
School Inspectorate communicates this information with staff representing the schools as well as
with different kinds of stakeholders is then of great importance for the value of the result of the
inspections.
This chapter deals with the School Inspectorates policy, strategy and actions for communication of
its results.
5.1 Question and assessment criteria

The School Inspectorates plans and actions for communication can be seen as part of the advisory and
developmental role that is included in the School Inspectorates mission. The School Inspectorates
communications may have impact on policy and administration, on operating activities and also on
the growing knowledge in the area. All these aspects might have influence directly or indirectly
on the subject matter in this audit, poor performing students in secondary schools.
Audit Question
Are the results of the inspections its findings, conclusions and recommendations effectively
communicated to appropriate stakeholders?
The question has been answered by examination, publications and interviews with managers at the
School Inspectorate. Interviews have also been conducted with a selected number of headmasters
and representatives for parents, students and media, as well as researchers and experts in the field.
Assessment Criteria
The National Audit Office has based on legal document/acts and policy documents to formulate
Results of the school inspections should be communicated to all stakeholders, such as permanent
secretary-PS, Regional Administrative Secretariat-RAS, REO, DAS, District Education
Coordinator, Headmasters, School Boards and Parents
School inspection reports should be available to the public through Web pages, booklets etc
5.2 Policy and regulation

The School Inspectorate has few restrictions for going public with its findings and results. In fact,
the policy favours publicity as a tool for change and development. According to the instruction,
the School Inspectorate is expected to provide the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training
with initiatives for policy improvements. The Inspectorate is also responsible for initiating research
and to conduct other tasks it may find important to enhance the quality of education in secondary
schools.

According to the Education Act, every school inspector shall document the results of the inspection
in a report. This report shall be sent to the Chief Education Officer appointed by the Minister, the
Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. A copy of the report
should also be delivered to the manager of the school and to any other local authority for the school,
like the School Board, in which the parents of the students are represented. These obligations of
distribution of the inspection report are stated both in the Education Act and in the Handbook for
the school inspection. According to the school inspections Handbook a copy should be sent to the
Regional Administrative Secretary as well.
It is also stated in the Handbook that the results of the conducted inspection should orally be
communicated with different stakeholders like teaching staff, headmasters and the School Board.
5.3 Communication of findings of school inspections.

In line with the current regulation the school inspection reports are distributed to and communicated
with the Government representatives as well as local authorities and stakeholders. But these activities
do not safeguard for an efficient and effective communication of the results of the inspections.
According to the law and the manual (earlier the handbook), the School Inspectorate has got a wide
mandate for communication. The question then, is how the School Inspectorate uses its mandate
to communicate its results.
The School Inspectorate is obligated to communicate its result both orally and by written
documents. The oral communication allow for flexibility, but being an authority, the inspectors
cannot provide oral information that except for details goes beyond officially accepted documents.
Consequently, the National Audit Office takes for granted that all vital information is available in
the written inspection reports.
According to comments from the School Inspectorate a checklist and the recommendations are
discussed at meetings between the inspectors and the head of the school after the conducted
inspections. Also, minutes from such meetings are signed by both the inspector and the head of the
school. Nevertheless, such minutes were not availed during the course of audit.
District level
One issue of value for the influence of school inspections is, according to conducted studies,
promotion of the interactions in the whole school system at different levels.
According to comments from the School Inspectorate a copy of the inspection report is sent to
appropriate stakeholders, e.g. school owners, school managers, headmasters/headmistresses, the
school board and regional as well as district authorities. Sending copies of the inspection report does
not, however, provide enough use of vital information from the inspections. Such information need
to be used for more proper communication in the school system in order to achieve the required
support for interactions. For some actors in the school system, this might be of even more vital
importance.
As indicators of the schools performance, progress and problems, the inspectors reports should
ideally be of vital importance for the District Administrative Secretary, who has a role as the

Government district representative. Such information should make it possible for him or her to
detect shortcomings and to initiate serious discussions on causes to the schools varying performance
in the district.
Media
The Inspectorate has the right to go public with its findings and this allows for greater transparency
and public debates. However, this mandate has not been explored by the School Inspectorate26.
Evaluations
Evaluations are instruments for learning and improvements and to get insight into changing
conditions. This makes it possible to reconsider priorities and actions. However, the School Inspectorate
has not carried out any evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of its communication.
5.4 Conclusion
In order to safeguard an efficient and effective communication with the representatives of schools
and the stakeholders, it is of importance to evaluate whether aims are achieved and whether there
is a good use of the School Inspectorates information. But no evaluation of that kind has been
conducted so far.
There are also indicators that the information from the Inspectorate is not used in a suitable way. One
example is that there is no routine of sending the school inspections reports to the administrative
district level. Another example is that media and public opinion has not been used so far as the
reports have not been published.
Our analysis indicates that the results of the school inspection reports are not effectively
communicated to all relevant stakeholders.
26
The Education Act section 42 (3)

CHAPTER SIX
6. MONITORING AND IMPACTS
Monitoring is important for learning and improvements, and if properly conducted it provides
vital information and feedback on performance and achievements. The School Inspectorate needs
to know if and to what extent its efforts and recommendations have contributed to its mission
to promote good performance among students and schools. This chapter addresses how the
Inspectorate monitors its activities and achievements and how it fulfills its role to provide useful
recommendations.
6.1 Audit question and assessment criteria
Audit Question
Are the recommendations influential and effective, and are the achievements by the school
inspections appropriately monitored and communicated?
When answering this main question important sub questions are:

1. Are the recommendations provided by the school inspections appropriately addressing the
major and influential problems in the secondary schools?
2. Is the impact of the provided recommendations effectively monitored and evaluated?
3. Is it likely that the recommendations will contribute to the headmasters and teachers ability to
perform better? Are the provided recommendations possible to implement by the headmasters
and teachers?
4. Are the recommendations effectively addressing the problems with poor performance for
mathematics and science subjects?
5. Are there some system set up for monitoring the impacts of given recommendations?
6. Are the impacts measured, analysed and communicated?
7. Are the results presented to the Government?
8. Are there signs of lesson learned as a result of monitoring?
In order to answer these questions different kind of information was collected. Documents from
the School Inspectorate were reviewed. Interviews were conducted with different categories like
managers and staff at the School Inspectorate, representatives at the Ministry of Education and
Vocational Training, a selected number of headmasters and teachers as well as scientists and experts
in the field.
Assessment criteria
The National Audit Office has based on legal documents and policy documents to formulate
School Inspectorate should monitor the implementation of the recommendations made/
issued

School Inspectorate should evaluate the impact of the recommendations made and lessons
learned
School Inspectorate should issue practical and implementable recommendations
6.2 Policy and regulation

The Education Act states that, every inspector shall make appropriate recommendations to the
head of the school concerning methods or ways of rectifying the observed problems during
the inspection. It also states that the school inspectors shall follow up his or her reports and its
recommendations.27
The Tanzanias general education and training policy states that the decentralized liberalized
education system in Tanzania requires closer monitoring of schools. The policy emphasizes the
importance of horizontal feedback mechanisms between the inspectors and Education Agencies,
Managers and Administrators at Zonal, Regional and District levels. 28
The handbook of 1999, clearly stated that the inspectors are obligated to make appropriate
recommendations and to monitor the implementation of them. The present guideline is less explicit
on how to handle this matter.29
6.3 Monitoring and recommendations
The School inspections monitoring system

The School inspections monitoring system is expected to provide feed back on whether inspections
and recommendations are suitable to contribute to progress and improvements.
The Inspectorate conducts monitoring in different ways. Some information are available in its annual
and follow-up reports. The follow-up reports are focused on individual inspection and the annual
reports are basically synthesis, not evaluations of achievements. In addition, some information on
conducted activities are presented in the process of preparing the Ministrys strategic plan.
Also, according to comments from the Inspectorate, all heads of schools usually report or give
feedback within three months from the date when they received the inspection reports.
However, the above mentioned follow up activities do not involve any genuine evaluation, i.e.
overall assessments and deeper analysis and evaluations on provided achievements by the students
and the schools activities.
The National Audit Office has found neither compilations of the School Inspectorates
recommendation and whether they have been implemented nor has the Inspectorate provided the
National Audit Office with more comprehensive evaluations of the following:
Stakeholders assessments of recommendations provided
Impacts of actions taken
27
Education Act of 1978 subsection 42(4)
28
Education and Training Policy, 1995
29
Handbook for school inspectors (1999) and Training Manual for School Inspectors (2006)

Recommendations in the school inspections reports
In order to find out whether the school inspectors provide the headmasters with appropriate and
useful recommendations, the National Audit Office has examined a large number of random
samples of inspection reports (see section 1.3).
The recommendations provided in these inspections have been classified into different categories.
The first categorisation concerns who the recommendation is addressing (Top management at
the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, or Headmasters/mistresses at appropriate
schools).
The second categorisation concerns the character of the recommendations given and the kind of
issues they address (school buildings, number of teachers, amount of books, furniture, school
administration, students enrolment etc.) such recommendations call for additional resources.
As shown in the table below a vast majority of the recommendations provided are in practice
aimed for the Ministry, even if this is not clearly stated so. Only the ministry has the capacity to
implement the recommendations.
Table 9.
The School Inspectorates advices 2004-06 and recipients based on 110 school inspection
reports(protocols)
Recommendations aimed for No of reports with Percentage of

the Ministry advices on this issue inspections
School building new building &
71 65%
renovation
School furniture 47 43%
Number of teachers 77 70%
Number of books 53 48%
Recommendations aimed for No of reports with Percentage of

the Headmaster advices on this issue inspections
School administration and
26 24%
management
Curriculum Implementation/lesson
38 35%
plan and scheme
Students enrolment 13 12%
Drop outs 3 3%
Indiscipline 14 13%
Poor performance 13 12%

As stated in the Education Act, the School Inspectorate is expected to be supportive and promote
good performance among students and schools. It also required providing school teachers and
headmasters with useful and practical recommendations. However, from the table above most of
the given recommendations are not applicable to the Headmasters/mistresses and teachers.
As shown in the table, most of the recommendations provided are of that character that the recipient
of the report, headmaster or any other local stakeholder, i.e. District Administrative Secretaries and
District Education Coordinators cannot implement the recommendations. They can only be acted
upon by or through the Government. This means that those who are responsible for the day to day
activities at the schools are mainly not directly concerned or involved with the recommendations.
The recommendations are in many cases unrealistic and costly. They require a lot of additional
resources. The School Inspectorate does not seem to take existing financial constraints into account,
therefore these recommendations should focus on how the Ministry would make use of available
resources for better performance. Besides that, the recommendations provided tend to be repeated
over time in a rather routine manner. The same recommendations are repeated time after time, and
even to the same school. This could be illustrated by the fact that more than two thirds (65%) of
the inspections contain recommendations such as that the school need to be repaired, rebuilt etc
(often without closer arguments and specification).
Likewise, a vast majority (70%) of the inspections contain recommendations to the schools to
get more teachers. Half of the inspections recommend the schools to get more books and better
furniture. There are no recommendations in this sample on how to economize and almost none on
how to use existing resources more efficiently. This means that the School Inspectorate in these cases
operates as an instrument for requesting additional resources for the schools, rather than serving
the interest of making things better, given the resources available. It must be stated in this context
however, that the so called special inspections may to some extent address economic issues, for
instance if there are allegations of irregular behaviour.
The problem of poor performing students was hardly addressed by inspection reports. Very few
recommendations were provided to the schools in matters linked to this issue.
Only a limited number of the recommendations given (12%) were targeting the issue of poor
performing students.
Very few recommendations given (3%) were targeting the issue of drop out students.
No one of the recommendations was explicitly targeting the issues of pedagogical
performance, additional training or improving of poor performing students.
Furthermore, the recommendations given were often general in their character, i.e. they didnt really
provide the school with practical guidance.
6.4 Conclusion
By compiling the collected data the total impression is that the main part of the recommendations
in the school inspections reports are not appropriately addressed. Few recommendations concern
the important issues of poor performing students.
The School Inspectorate delivers recommendations that primarily concern the Government and not
Headmasters/mistresses and Teachers as required by the Education Act. The School Inspectorate
does not sufficiently evaluate its achievements.

CHAPTER SEVEN
7. CONCLUSIONS
7.1 Good performing students in vital subjects are essential for social and economic
development
The importance of an efficient and effective school system is generally well acknowledged. The
importance of a successful education is also emphasized by the fact that the system concerns all
children. A wide and proper education system is in general known as a progress key for both
the individuals and the society as a whole. These aims are reflected also in Tanzanias national
development Vision for 2025 and in the Governments education policy since 1995.
The aims, among others, in the Governments education policy for secondary school are to
achieve equity in education and also to prepare all students for higher education. An emphasis on
mathematics and science subjects as well as technical subjects is also stated for secondary school.
Inspite of these ambitions there are serious failures in mathematics and science subjects in secondary
school. The extent of these problems illustrate that this is not just a problem for single students or
for certain schools. It is a general problem for Tanzania.
7.2 The School Inspection is a vital instrument for implementing the Governments Education
Policy
Many issues have influence on the schools performance, like the students social background and
the parents, the teachers and their commitment and competence as well as material resources. These
issues are just to a varying extent under the Governments control. But one important tool under
the Governments control is the School Inspectorate at the Ministry of Education and Vocational
Training, established in the Education Act of 1978.
According to the Education Act the School Inspectorate should ensure that all schools comply with
the requirements in the Act and the Governments Education Policy. Furthermore, according to
the Act the School Inspectorate is also expected to be supportive and promote good performance
among students and schools.
Promoting good learning conditions is a key objective for any school, and all schools are expected
to serve the students as efficiently and effectively as possible. To fulfill this demanding task, the
Government in Tanzania has given the schools a wide mandate to safeguard that the students are
given sufficient conditions for training. This means for instance that the schools need to make sure
that students attend lessons, behave properly and fulfill their obligations. The schools must also
in cooperation with parents and students do their best to avoid poor performance and dropouts
among students. This does not undermine the role of the parents, its a way of supporting them.
The school inspections role is to safeguard that the Governments Education Policy is being
efficiently and effectively implemented. Whatever the schools are responsible for, the inspection
is mandated to examine. And to be effective, the school inspection needs to address problems that
may be influenced by adjustments of practices.

The interpretation from the National Audit Office on the above policies and regulations in
general and especially for secondary school is that the Inspectorate should give special attention
to important subjects like mathematics and science. It is also of vital importance that the School
Inspectorate makes strong efforts to promote good performance for as many students as possible in
these subjects.
The establishment of the Inspectorate can be seen as a part of the Governments continuing school
reforms during many years aiming at the development of the education system. The influence on
the education by the school inspection is then one important issue.
7.3 Poor performing students need to be addressed in planning and inspections

The issue of poor performing students is not given priority in the planning of the school
inspections
The issue of poor performing students in mathematics and science subjects is very rarely dealt
with by the School Inspectorate when it comes to the operative activities with planning and
conducting of the inspections. There are no clear priorities on poor performing students in the
School Inspectorates own annual and operational planning.
The issue of poor performing students is not addressed in guidelines to the inspections
The School Inspectorate as one important tool for the development of education is not reflected in
the Governments guidelines for the inspections. According to these guidelines the inspectors are
supposed to go through 148 items at each inspection. But only sixteen of these items are referring
to the issue of poor performing students (For further information see table 7)
The Governments guidelines thus do not give any support for development of the education at
the secondary school or for the School Inspectorates activities. On the contrary, the guidelines
contribute to a more or less standardized behaviour with the inspections. This hampers the inspectors
from developing his or her competence to give practical advices to headmasters, teachers, parents
and other stakeholders on this issue. The guidelines also hamper the inspectors ability to initiate
more profound actions among schools or regions, like programme to combat dropout or training
methods or attitudes to students or parents who need special support. Furthermore, the guidelines
hamper the possibility for the inspectors to provide the Government with adequate information,
like advices on targeted and cost-effective measures, on how to improve the situation.
The issue of poor performing students is not addressed in the actual inspections
The issue of poor performing students is not efficiently addressed in the conducted inspections
according to the review of a selection of 110 inspection reports. This review was based on
assessments of four criteria for the issue of poor performing students: combating of dropouts;
teachers pedagogical performance; additional training for weak performing students; actions to
improve students performance 30 (Further information, see section 4.1.).
30
The four categories of assessment criteria were: Comprehensively examined; Assessed to some extent with recommendations;
Mentioned; Not highlighted.

This review of the reports ended up with a clear profile of more or less ignorance of the issue of poor
performing students:
In no case was the problems with dropouts, pedagogical performance and students performance
comprehensively examined by the inspectors and very few do mention these problems at all.
Almost no inspection (2%) includes the issue of combating of dropouts.
In only a very limited number of reports (6%) the need of additional training is mentioned.
Even in those few cases (15%) when advices are provided, these are not specific on how to
improve the situation.
Some consequences of not addressing poor performance

The lack of the issue of poor performing students in the School Inspectorates planning and
conducting of activities seriously hampers the efficiency and effectiveness of conducted inspections.
Some examples:
The Inspectorate doesnt provide any information to what extent the schools are actively
involved in programme dealing with problems of poor performing students.
The School Inspectorate doesnt provide sufficient information on whether the schools use their
existing resources for efficient and effective activities to deal with the issue of poor performing
students.
The School Inspectorate has limited capacity to share knowledge on successful or less successful
practices.
The School Inspectorate has limited capacity as said above to assist the Governments work
with developing policies on addressing students poor performance.
7.4 Recommendations must add value and the results need to be communicated and
evaluated
The Inspectorate has a quite wide mandate for communication on its results of the inspections.
But the National Audit Office has found that this mandate is not always used in a suitable way to
combat the issue of poor performing students.
Recommendations are often inadequate and costly

Many of the recommendations are not influential by the recipient often the headmasters/
mistresses or some other local stakeholders.
A vast majority of the recommendations can only be implemented by the Government and are
thus aimed for the Ministry, even if this is not clearly stated.
The recommendations are in many cases unrealistic and costly as they include a lot of additional
resources, like new or rebuilt buildings as well as more teachers, books and furniture, often
without further arguments.
The provided recommendations are often of a rather general character, without practical
guidance for the receiver.

Few recommendations address poor performance
Few of the inspection reports (12%) included recommendations targeting the issue of poor
performing students
Even fewer of the inspection reports (3%) included recommendations targeting the issue of
dropouts.
No one of the recommendations was targeting the issue of pedagogical performance, additional
training or improving of poor performing students.
No active communication strategy

The National Audit Office has also found that there is room for improvement when it comes to the
communication of the results of the inspections.
The Chief Education Officer at the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training is according to
the Education Act, the main receiver of each inspection report. But there is no routine of sending
the report to the District Administrative Secretary who is the District executive and by virtual of
his/her position it is important to be well informed on the secondary school operations within
the district. Furthermore there is no routine of delivering some compiled and analyzed data to the
Government representatives at different levels.
Another option for the School Inspectorate to improve its communication of the results is to use
media and the public opinion and publish the school inspection reports. But neither this option
has been used so far.
Achievements need to be better evaluated

Monitoring and evaluation are important as part of a learning system about implementation and
impact of provided recommendations. This might provide a good base for a gradual and more
realistic base for priorities and changing conditions. But there are no routines of this kind at the
Inspectorate.
The annual report and follow up reports do not meet these needs. And there is no compilation
of recommendations and their implementation and impact on the schools and the schools
performance. Neither has the Inspectorate used any comprehensive evaluation of its activities.

CHAPTER EIGHT
8. RECOMMENDATIONS
The conclusions of this audit reveal many problems for the School Inspectorate to deal in with
secondary schools. Otherwise these problems will hamper the inspections support for a good
performance. In order to get a more efficient and effective support for poor performing students
there is a need for changed actions at the concerned Ministry as well as at the Inspectorate level.
Transparency and a relevant documentation which reflects the Inspectorates conducted activities is
also of importance for developing the teaching and learning of poor performing students.31
Our recommendations to respective key actors include:

To the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training
The Ministry should provide more clear priorities and guidance for the inspectorates annual and
operational planning for the school inspections on how to combat poor performance in mathematics
and science subjects in secondary schools in Tanzania.
The problem with poor performing students needs to be clearly addressed as a main focus in the
guidance for the Inspectorates annual and operational planning.
The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training should ensure that school inspectors
training manual is revised and turned into a more problem oriented guide manual instead of
the present formalized and detailed guidelines.
The Ministry has an important prioritizing mission. In order to fulfill this mission, the Ministry
should request for additional kind of feedback directly from the School Inspectorate rather than
reports from single school inspections. Furthermore, the Ministry should request for
Compiled, problem oriented and analyzed information and conducted evaluations about poor
performing students.
The Ministry should ensure that the School Inspectorate is adequately funded and is equipped
with the necessary working tools to make it more effective and efficient.
To the School Inspectorate

The School Inspectorate should be more of a problem oriented and learning system with increasing
elements of follow up and evaluation of conducted activities. As a part of the learning system and
with focus on poor performance it is important for the Inspectorate to develop its activities in
different ways as follows:
The School Inspectorate should design more efficient methods of communication with
concerned stakeholders about the results of the conducted school inspections both in single
cases and in general.
The School Inspectorate should ensure that recommendations to teachers, headmasters/
mistresses and other local stakeholders provide more of practical guidances, adjusted to observed
and discussed situations in the inspected schools.
31
According to comments from the School Inspectorate all recommendations are made during and after the school inspections.
But the picture provided by the Inspectorates documents, which NAOTs report mainly is based on, provides another picture.

The School Inspectorate should ensure that the actions taken by secondary schools in combating
massive failure in mathematics and science subjects are highlighted in inspection reports, since
there are no recommendations provided to the respective secondary schools by school inspectors
on how to deal with the problem of poor performance in those subjects.
The School Inspectorate should arrange for regular discussions, seminars/workshops with
teachers in Mathematics and Science subjects at district, regional, zonal, and national levels
on how to improve teaching and learning performance regarding poor performing students in
those subjects in secondary schools. This will enable teachers and inspectors to exchange for
better teaching techniques and experiences in these vital subjects.
The School Inspectorate should put in place a system for the need of appropriate additional
training for poor performing students.
The School Inspectorate should set up a system of monitoring of the impacts of school inspection
recommendations.
The School Inspectorate has to formulate school-inspector or teacher-inspector standard ratio
which will be useful as standard measure in increasing demand of school inspection for quality
education in the country.
The School Inspectorate should ensure that the increase of number of secondary schools
matches with the number of school inspectors as per standard ratio to enhance efficiency and
effectiveness in school inspections of secondary schools.

REFERENCES
1. IPP media, The Guardian February 1, 2008, Dar es Salaam.
2. Ministry of Education and Vocational Training , Education and Training Policy [1995] Adult
Education Press, Dar es Salaam.
3. Ministry of Education and Vocational Training,Basic Education Statistics in Tanzania [2007]

Education Press, Dar es Salaam,
4. Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Handbook for School Inspectors, Education
Press, Dar es salaam
5. Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Basic Education Statistics in Tanzania,

[2005] ,Education Press, Dar es Salaam.
6. Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Education Act [1978] Government Printers,
Dar es Salaam
7. Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Education Acts (1962, 1969, 1972, 1973,
1974), Government Printers, Dar es Salaam.
8. Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, School Inspectorate Department Action

Plan [2006] Secondary Education section, Inspectorate Department, Dar es Salaam.
9. Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, School Inspectors Training Manual [2006],
Mzumbe Book Project, Mzumbe- Morogoro.
10. Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Research Report on Form Two
Examination performance on mathematics and science subjects. ( 2007), Dar-es-Salaam.
11. National Examination Council of Tanzania, Examination Results Statistics [2007],

Dar es Salaam.
12. Tanzania Standard Newspaper, Daily News March 14, 2007, July 10,2007, February 1,
2008,February 13, 2008
13. Web Page for the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (http://www.moe.go.tz/
index.html).

APPENDEX 1.
LIST OF INTERVIWEES
S/N NAME ORGANIZATION POSITION
SCHOOL INSPECTOR DEPUTY ZONAL CHIEF

1 REGINA AREVO
HIGHLANDS ZONE INSPECTOR
2 OLOTU C.A DC OFFICE ROMBO DAS
MRATIBU ELIMU
3 MICHAEL J SHIRIMA MES
SECONDARI
4 THEODORI MASSAWE RS KILIMANJARO REO
5 EUTROFIA J. TARIMO MSHAURI WA ELIMU REO
6 AMRI SAMSONI MSHAURI WA ELIMU SLO
7 JULIUS KATAMBA NAO MOSHI AUDITOR 1

8 MALISA R.E RAS KILIMANJARO AAS-SS
SCHOOL INSPECTORATE
9 OMARI KAPAMBWE SCHOOL INSPECTOR
N.E ZONE
SCHOOL INSPECTORATE
10 LUDOVICK MAUKI SCHOOL INSPECTOR
N.E ZONE
MKUMBA SECONDARY
11 BASIL LOUIS SAGUTI SECOND MASTER
SCHOOL
MKUMBA SECONDARY
12 STANSLAUS N.NTABA MATHEMATIC TEACHER
SCHOOL
13 MOSES T. MUJIBHILA DAS MUHEZA DISTRICT DAS MUHEZA
DISTRICT EDUCATION
14 CAROLINE MATOLA TANGA DISTRICT
COORDINATOR
15 DOROSTA R. KATO DCS OFFICE DAS
16 EMMANUEL ALLAN RAS TANGA TA EDUCATION
17 PAUL AMANIEL CHIKIRA REGIONAL SECRETARIET RAS
18 SILVANUS M. MTAIRO RAS-MANYARA RAS MANYARA
REGIONAL EDUCATION
19 R.E MAPUNDA REO-ARUSHA
DEPT
20 P.L LEYAN RAO-ARUSHA
21 ELIMBOTU W.MKHANDI INSPECTORATE SCHOOL INSPECTOR
22 CONSTATINE MLELWA MBEYA SEC SCHOOL 1st DEPUTY MASTER
23 MOSES A. MWIDETE DAS RUNGWE DAS
24 EDWARD G. MKISI DAS-TUKUYU DAS

25 MICHAEL A.C PASCAL TUKUYU SEC SCHOOL ACADEMIC OFFICER
26 NDIMBO.A.(MS) RCs OFFICE MBEYA RAS
27 KAPONDA J.J R.S MBEYA REO

28 J.R MATABUZI BABATI SECONDARY H.M
COORDINATOR
29 A KIBOTU BABATI DISTRICT
SEC SCHOOLS
30 H.NDUJU BABATI DAY SEC SCHOOL ACADEMIC TEACHER
31 KASUKU M. MUNEMA SARWATT SEC SCHOOL A.G HEADMISTRESS
32 BASRA I. HUSSEIN MBEYA SEC SCHOOL MATH TEACHER
33 ELISABETH S. MLULIWA MBEYA SEC SCHOOL MATH TEACHER
34 MBOKILE MWAISEMBI MBEYA SEC SCHOOL MATH TEACHER

35 LODRICK YESAYA MBEYA SEC SCHOOL MATH TEACHER
INSPECTORATE EASTERN
36 TIMOTHY BATEGEREZA SCHOOL INSPECTOR
ZONE
CHIEF INSPECTOR OF
37 ROSALIA P. MSOFFE MOEVT
SCHOOLS
INSPECTORATE
38 JANETH MTELEKA ASS DIRECTOR
DEPARTMENT
INSPECTORATE
39 HIDAYA MOHAMED ASS DIRECTOR
DEPARTMENT
PROFFESOR
40 ISSA M OMARI UDSM
ED.PSYCHOLOGY
41 M.M BELLA RAS ARUSHA Ag. RAS ARUSHA
MRATIBU ELIMU WA
42 MICHAEL J. SHIRIMA OFISI YA MKUU WA WILAYA
WILAYA
43 SAMWEL Y.BENDERA OLELE SECONDARY SCHOOL HEAD OF SCHOOL
44 BERTHA HURBERT OLELE SEC SCHOOL SEC MASTRESS
DISTRICT EDUCATION
45 E.A MBOYA ARUMERU DISRTICT
COORDINATOR

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THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA

NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE

ii National Audit Office

A Performance Audit Report On School Inspection Programme iii

System graph of School Inspectorate and key players........................... 10

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Ludovick S.L. Utouh

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Education an opportunity for all

Facts and figures that give an insight

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DAS - District Administrative Secretary

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What are the audit issues

What we have found

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We recommend the following as the way forward

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The recommendations to teachers, Headmasters/Mistresses and other local stakeholders

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A Performance Audit Report On School Inspection Programme 1

1.2 Purpose and audit questions

The specific audit questions are the following:

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The eight zones are:

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1.5 Structure of the report

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2. THE SCHOOL INSPECTION SYSTEM

2.1 Education reforms and establishment of the school inspection

2.2 Education policy and the school inspection

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To promote access and equity to education by encouraging equitable distribution of education

2.3 The School inspection - purposes and obligations

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To pursue personal professional and academic development.

To conduct in-service training for teachers.

Carry out supervisory visits to improve the quality of teaching in schools.

School inspection reports

Handbooks and manuals

Research and evaluations (illustration)

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Budgeted Actual Funding Schools being

2004/5 3,808.56 3,793.89 1734 2.18 406 23

2005/6 3,632.78 3,661.75 2063 1.77 785 38

2006/7 5,318.64 5,232.56 2567 2.038 678 26

Source: School Inspectorate

2.5. Organisation of the school inspection and key players.

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND

CHIEF EDUCATION OFFICER

ZONAL CHIEF INSPECTOR

PRIMARY SCHOOL INSPECTORS

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2.7 The school inspection process

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During the second stage

The third and last stage

2.8 Follow up and special school inspections

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