Prof Sifuni Mchome.PHOTO|FILE 

By Katare Mbashiru The Citizen

Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Institute of
Education (TIE) has confirmed that there is no curriculum for English
Literature in secondary schools, confirming fears surrounding the
country’s education mess.

TIE’s confirmation comes even as the government
continues shelving the report of the Commission of Inquiry that
investigated the massive failures in the 2012 Form Four national
examinations.

The Citizen understands that the report was handed
over to Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda in June, but this is yet to be
released to the public. Sources privy to The Citizen, confided that the
Commission had established that there was no curriculum for English
Literature, which is taught in forms Three and Four in secondary
schools.

Yesterday, the TIE acting director general, Dr
Leonard Akwilapo, agreed that it was true there was no syllabus yet but
was optimistic that they were working around the clock to develop the
new curriculum immediately.

Dr Akwilapo was speaking on the sidelines of a
policy dialogue on the impact of English Language in improving education
quality in Tanzania held in Dar es Salaam.

“The history of English Literature is clear that
the government had scrapped it and combined it with English Language.
Since then, we are yet to have a new curriculum that separates
literature from the core subject,’’ he said.

The revelation from a senior government official
comes after concurrent exclusive stories in The Citizen this week on the
report of the commission of inquiry chaired by the current PS for
Education ministry, Prof Sifuni Mchome.

The commission was formed after 60 per cent of Form Four students scored division ‘0’ in their national examinations.

Yesterday, Prof Mchome was expected to attend the
education dialogue organised by TIE in collaboration with The British
Council. However, he later sent a representative from the ministry’s
department of teachers education. It was not immediately established as
to why he went missing.