Only 42% of applicants for certificates in teaching admitted

DURING 2011/12 academic year, only 42.41 per cent of students who applied for certificates in teaching were admitted, the National Assembly was told on Friday.

Deputy Minister for Education and Vocational Training Mr Philipo Mulugo pointed out that out of 41,787 students who applied for admission, only 17,722 were admitted.

According to the deputy minister, out of the selected students, 7,138 were admitted at government teaching colleges and 10,594 at private ones.

Mr Mulugo also pointed out that 8,876 (85.79 per cent) out of 10,345 students who applied for diploma in teaching were admitted in private and public colleges.

“For those who fail to secure admission chances in public colleges, our ministry advises them to apply to private teaching colleges,” he explained.

Mr Mulugo was responding to a question by Jenista Mhagama (Peramiho-CCM), who wanted the number of students, who failed to be admitted and efforts done to address the problem. The legislator claimed that most of the youth who completed secondary schools and who were eligible for admission for teaching at certificate and diploma levels missed the chance for sometimes two consecutive years. Besides the problem, Mr Mulugo said that the students were admitted on merits and criteria for each course. “For a certificate course, priority is given to students who passed in Mathematics, Science and English and got between Division One and Four. “For diploma, priority is given to students who have attained Division Three (One principal and One subsidiary) in Form Six. But admission also depends on available chances and the budget,” he stated. In her supplementary question, Ms Mhagama wondered why the government did not admit all applicants considering acute shortage of teachers. She also complained that most of the admitted students were based in urban areas while applicants from rural areas were left in the cold. Ms Mhagama therefore advised the government to help these youth by opening more vocational and technical colleges. Responding to her, the Minister for Education and Vocational Training Dr Shukuru Kawambwa said that the government was at the time setting slots for each region to have their youth admitted at public colleges. “Plans to build vocational training colleges in every region will be effective from this year and the government will also make maximum use of Field District Colleges (FDCs),” the minister stated. There are about 103 teaching colleges in the country, out of which, 34 are public ones.