When parents influence their children to fail exams: A case of solving a problem by creating another

SIMBARASHE MSASANURI

(bongoblast column)
WHENEVER a child dies, our African tradition has it that there is always a cause. To be more precise traditionalists always believe that there will be a witch behind it. This then compels the parents of the dead child to consult a traditional healer, witch hunting so that they will know the actual person behind the misfortune.

This concept, however, seems to have become part and parcel of our educational system in this country as every year, we cry foul over poor results. A lot of noise is made whenever results - be they Grade Seven, Form Four or Advanced Level – are released.

Accusations and counter accusations are made as teachers, the governments and parents point fingers at each other, blaming each other for the dismal performance. Each and every party tries to convince us that they played their part to the fullest and that what happened was something out of their control.

I couldn't believe it when I came across a blast from Kondoa District where some parents are accused of colluding with their children sitting for grade seven examinations to mess up their test papers to avoid the cost of sending them to secondary school.

This is sheer madness as examiners are said to have been taken aback to see test papers full of strange drawings and graffiti that were in form of childish sketches of trees, houses, cartoons and incomprehensible sentences.

This reminds me of a story of a certain man who was married to a beautiful woman but was well known in that community for womanizing. He could get any woman he wanted as he had money, was influential and he commanded respect.

But, there was only one young woman in this village, he loved so much, who was giving him headaches as she always turned down his advances. Not even his money could lure this young lady. So the man thought of a way to have access to what he wanted. One of the days he lured the lady to a secluded place and raped her.

The man besides threatening the lady from telling anyone about it, showered her with money and gifts. But, all this did not work as she headed straight to a police station where she used the gifts and money as part of the exhibit.

The man was arrested but did not stay much behind bars as he ended up being granted bail. Lady luck caught up with him just as he left the court when he met one of his friends who advised him to visit a certain traditional healer, who could help him out of his problem.

The problem was that the healer lived very far from the area this man lived, but determination and the zeal to be a free man once again forced him to take the risk as the hearing session was just a couple of days away.

When he got at the traditional healer’s homestead, there was a crowd of people waiting for their turn to consult him. The man tried all the possibilities and avenues to jump the queue and consult the healer in time for his trial date but all was in vain. He couldn’t leave without being attended to since it was important for his case, so he had no option but to wait for a couple of days.

When his final turn came, the healer commonly known as Babu asked him if he was brave enough to undergo the ritual. Being desperate he told the healer that he was prepared for anything as long as that made him win his case, and was also willing to pay handsomely for the services.

So after mixing some herbs and giving him to drink, the man got a shock of his life when the traditional healer told him to remove his trousers. He removed them hesitantly but wondered why he was ordered to do such a thing. After finishing removing everything, according to the healer’s instruction, he couldn’t believe his eyes as his manhood had vanished.

So he asked the traditional healer what that meant and was told that he will go and strip before the magistrate and tell him that he wasn’t capable of raping someone since he didn’t have the means to do so. The traditional healer, however, warned the man to come back quickly for his manhood to be restored as failure to do so could be problematic.

He left the traditional healer’s homestead a happy man but all this was cut short as the process had taken him too long and a warrant of arrest had been issued. To cut the story short, the man had to stay in remand prison for nearly a year as the case was postponed several times. When he finally got tried, he pleaded not guilty and did exactly what the traditional healer had told him and he was discharged.

Celebrating his freedom, he rushed to the traditional healer’s house where he was greeted by an even larger crowd of people. He later discovered that some were sobbing while many of them were putting on sad faces. When he asked one of them, he was told that Babu, had died the previous day. He rushed from one relative of Babu to another trying to find out whether he had left something for him but no one seemed to know.

The irony of this story is that just like the man, these parents are trying to solve a problem by creating another. The man was free and out of jail yes, but he had another problem to deal with. These parents might think that they are doing the right thing by influencing their children to fail exams because they don’t have the money for secondary school, but they are creating yet another problem by failing to give a good future to their children.

The whole essence of giving children a good foundation in life is for them to be able to take care of themselves and take care of their parents in their old age. Educating children does not only benefit families but communities at large as they usually bring development to the area.

If these allegations labeled against these parents are true, then this is tantamount to witchcraft. I know they may think that they are solving a problem where they won't be compelled to pay a mere 70 000/- annual fees but this usually tend to backfire. Besides, they are deliberately denying children their right to education.

This issue, however, requires the responsible authorities to look deep into it and find the truth as these drawings on the test papers might later prove to be genuine as pupils will be ignorant to the extent of drawing or writing whatever comes to their mind.

Whatever the outcome of the investigations might be, it remains a sorry state of affairs where steps should be taken to make sure that children are not denied their right to education.

bongoblast@thisday.co.tz

Poor solid waste management to blame for Tanzania's filthiness problem

SIMBARASHE MSASANURI
Dar es Salaam

LACK of national standards and policies on solid waste management and inadequate monitoring and evaluation of solid waste activities by government have been blamed for the perennial problem of filthiness within Tanzania’s major cities and urban areas.

According to a Performance Audit on the Management of Solid Waste in Big Cities and Regions in Tanzania, a recent report by the Controller and Auditor General’s office, the amount of solid waste not collected by local government authorities is more than 50 percent of the total solid waste generated in the country.

“This is an indication of an increasing problem, since population continues to grow while solid waste management services are dwindling. The uncollected waste pose a potential health hazard to the people. In many occasions they handle the waste inappropriately,”reads part of the report.

It remains true that the problem of solid waste management has been a thorn in the flesh for Tanzania for a long time now and with the looks of things, no solution is in sight for the problem. And, if the report by the Controller and Auditor General's office is to go by, then the problem of filthiness will be part of this country for a long time.

This has seen an international rating company, NYC Partnership Consulting, recently declaring Dar es Salaam as the eighth dirtiest city in the world. This is not surprising as the situation in most urban areas in this country is pathetic as uncollected garbage is not only an eyesore but a health hazard.

All efforts by cities such as Dar es Salaam to maintain cleanliness by removing solid waste from the streets seems to be hitting a brick wall despite various steps taken by the responsible authorities to remove the garbage.

A snap survey conducted by this reporter revealed that the problem of garbage carpeting the streets and inconveniencing residents and passersby in Dar es Salaam is worsening while there are no adequate rubbish bins on the streets. One can walk from corner to corner of a street without coming across a rubbish bin, compelling residents to throw garbage on the streets.

In recent years, many attempts have been made to curb the problem but all efforts have been in vain. The city council having realized that petty traders contribute significantly to pollution in the city, employed city militia to arrest those found selling their wares at un designated areas. This, however, seems to be failing since vendors and the militia play hide and seek games resulting in traders maintaining a heavy presence on our streets.

Last year, the police and the city council teamed up to curb this problem by jointly forming an auxiliary police headed by former police commanders, to enforce city by-laws including fining, 50 000/-, those found throwing garbage onto the streets.

And, early this year, the city council invited companies engaging in garbage recycling to come forward and help the city end this problem by recycling solid waste. But, despite all these efforts no changes are in sight as piles of uncollected garbage continue to maintain a heavy presence on our streets.

Though most cities through out the country are trying by all means to properly manage solid waste, the audit findings by the Controller and Auditor General's office reveal reasons most local government authorities continue to fight losing battles.

The report points out that despite solid waste management activities in Tanzania having a number of regulators who are responsible for providing standards to be followed, policies to be used while working on this field and also governing regulations, local government authorities are groping in darkness as they are operating without standards.

“TBS has not yet developed them (standards) in spite the fact that the Environmental Management Act stipulates that these standards need to be developed. The lack of standards implies that, it is to a larger extent up to each local government authority to decide how to operate,” reads the report.

Another problem stifling the waste management is that there is currently no national solid waste management strategic plan and consequently, the operational system for solid waste management is working without having clear policies and regulations.

The central government has also been blasted for failing to adequately engaging in monitoring and evaluation of solid waste activities in the country.

“The Prime Minister's Office- Regional Administration and Local Government Authorities(PMO-RALG) is not aware at the moment how much solid waste are generated and collected daily in each council in Tanzania. Also, PMO-RALG does not know how these councils are measuring or estimating the amount of solid waste generated and collected since there is no uniform way of estimating and recording SWM data.”

The audit also unearthed that there is poor and varying performance among service providers, rating them as very weak, neither profitable nor efficient and that franchise contractors are left to work alone as much as they can, and it seems that Local Government Authorities (LGAs) are worried to take action against under performing contractors simply because these contractors are weak and there are no better alternative contractors to do the job.

The audited LGAs have not set targets for solid waste to be collected in each ward and the only target set is for the entire council, but at the same time, the service providers (councils and franchisee contractors) are providing solid waste management services in individual wards.

This, according to the audit, has resulted in the fact that service providers are operating without a benchmark which can be used to measure their performance and so becomes very difficult to assess whether the service provider is doing well based on the target set.

The audit also unearthed that inspection and monitoring activities are poorly planned, documented and evaluated as all councils audited were conducting sporadic inspections but there was none with inspection plans, set priorities and clear objectives. Some of the councils said that they conduct daily inspections but there was no information or data to support that.

The audit, however, concluded that generally, the selected LGAs have not efficiently and effectively carried out their solid waste management function through the services rendered by service providers, monitoring of solid waste activities, solid waste fees administration, contracts management between franchise contractors and councils. This was due to failure of the service providers to render their services as expected, inadequate monitoring of the performance of service providers in collection, cleaning and disposal of solid waste, inappropriate management of contracts between franchisee contractors and councils and failure to collect solid waste fees as stipulated in the LGAs by-laws.

The audit which was conducted in LGAs- Arusha Municipal, Mbeya City, Mwanza City, Ilala Municipal, Temeke Municipal and Kinondoni Municipal Councils - was meant to determine whether the solid waste management functions of the selected local government authorities in Tanzania was undertaken in the most efficient and effective manner, giving consideration to services rendered by service providers, monitoring of solid waste activities, solid waste fees administration, contracts management between franchisee contractors and municipality/city council and appropriateness of the central government's monitoring system.