By Hassan Saudin
The on-going rift between the Government of Tanzania and owners of private schools over the government’s decision to regulate and dictate tuition and other fees charged by private schools in the country calls for an urgent need on the part of the government and parliament to re-assess and re-define the role of government in private education.
Without denying the fact that regulation is crucial to enforcing government policy designed at meeting specific goals, there are now strong indications that the government’s decision to dictate fees and other charges by the private schools and institutions of higher learning will only do more harm than good.
On the outset, an apparent goal of such a policy is to make private education more accessible to the masses but a critical assessment of such a policy and the current approach only suggest that such a stance will only lead to making the sector unattractive and unjustifiable from investment perspective which will potentially lead to depriving Tanzanians of that alternative. The broader implication is the potential diminishing of Tanzania’s reputation as a preferred investment destination of choice in the region. One fact is obvious, no private investor is going to offer quality education without a decent return on investment.
Cost of service delivery significantly varies from school to school depending on factors such as what the school offers in terms of academics and extra curriculum activities, standard of facilities, strategy on staff recruitment and retention and so on, this is a universal reality. The decision by the government to come up with nation-wide fees completely contradicts this reality and only creates an environment that encourages private schools to focus on cost cutting at the expense of quality education.
With the emergence of a growing Tanzanian middle class, families are willing and able to pay a premium for quality education. The government needs to accept the fact that Tanzanians are capable of making rational decisions and comparisons on whether or not fee charged by the private schools are justified or otherwise. Depriving parents of such an option will only encourage parents who believe in investing in quality education to send their children to neighboring countries, a decision that could cost the country not only revenues going into the sector but also talent because upon graduation companies are quick at grabbing employees from top notch schools.