President John Magufuli waves on arrival to inaugurate new hostel blocks
at the University of Dar es Salaam’s main campus yesterday. With him is
UDSM vice chancellor Prof Rwekaza Mukandala (2nd right). PHOTO|STATE
HOUSE
Dar es Salaam. President John Magufuli has
revealed that there are over 9,000 civil servants who hold fake academic
certificates.
In Summary
- The President said yesterday he was now waiting for a complete report on the scam before taking action against the culprits.
- Dr Magufuli said this while inaugurating 20 hostel blocks at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). The Sh10 billion hostels took eight months to complete, and would accommodate a total of 3,840 students.
The President said yesterday he was now waiting for a complete report on the scam before taking action against the culprits.
Dr
Magufuli said this while inaugurating 20 hostel blocks at the
University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). The Sh10 billion hostels took eight
months to complete, and would accommodate a total of 3,840 students.
In
his speech to students and members of the public at UDSM, the President
decried the presence of ‘ghosts’ in public institutions.
He
said: “The problem of ‘ghost people’ in this country is big. First, it
was ghost workers, and we purged thousands of them, then thousands of
ghost students, who were taking higher education loans. Now, we have
civil servants with fake academic credentials,” said the President,
“There are ghosts in every sector you touch, but their days are
numbered.”
Dr Magufuli also used the forum to direct
the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) to stay away from
managing university admissions, and focus on being a custodian of
quality and standards.
According to Dr Magufuli, the
current TCU joint admission system has many flaws, including the fact
that it doesn’t allow students to go universities of their choice.
“The
system also (undeservedly) benefits institutions with lower standards
because they are assured of receiving students from TCU, and since
majority of them receive government sponsorship, they are assured of
cash inflow, that is unacceptable,” he said adding, “we should let the
students decide where they want to go for their studies; that way all
institutions will strive to up their standards to the ones of UDSM in
order to remain relevant.”
The President noted that
there was no point of having 100 universities with questionable
standards, while a few qualified universities could achieve the goal of
providing good education.
“You might have 100
universities with the capacity of taking 50 students each, we shouldn’t
be obsessed with the number of institutions; I believe we can have four
institutions big enough, equipped enough to accommodate 100,000 students
each.”
Speaking of quality and standards, the
President directed the UDSM leadership to transfer all its medical
students to Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (Muhas)
once it relocates to Mloganzila campus.
“Teaching
facilities here are not good enough for medical students. Establishing a
medical school here while we have a well-equipped Muhas is losing
direction and compromising quality,” noted Dr Magufuli who received all
his three Chemistry degrees from UDSM.
President
Magufuli’s standpoint on TCU echoes what the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Public Services and Community Development suggested in
Parliament in February. The committee wanted the TCU to be stripped of
the university admission role.
“TCU has now become an
agent and lifeline of private universities, which are charging
exorbitant fees. We highly recommend that the current system be scrapped
to allow students to go to universities of their choice.
The
commission should remain with the core duty of maintaining quality of
education offered by local institutions of higher learning,” committee
chairperson and Kigoma North MP (CCM) Peter Serukamba said as he tabled
his committee’s annual report.
Meanwhile, Dr Magufuli also condemned the Thursday attack on police in Kibiti District.
Unknown
assailants gunned down eight police officers in a highway ambush. He
asked the crowd at the university to observe a minute of silence in
honour of the fallen servicemen, and then ordered the relevant ministry
to conduct a thorough investigation to identify and arrest the culprits.
At
same occasion, the Minister for Education, Science, Technology and
Vocational Training, Prof Joyce Ndalichako, said the government had
delivered on its promise to construct the hostels.
“Now
it’s upon you to make good use of the facilities and study hard. We’ve
provided you with better living conditions; you are now able to cut all
the unnecessary costs that you were incurring in renting outside the
university.”
