Dar es Salaam – In a significant educational shift, 115 primary schools across Tanzania have registered pupils to sit the Class Four National Assessments with new optional papers in French, Chinese, and Arabic.
The National Examinations Council of Tanzania (NECTA) confirmed the historic change, which is part of the first nationwide tests to be aligned with the new 2014 Education and Training Policy of 2023 and its revamped curriculum.
Prof Said Mohamed, the NECTA Executive Secretary, announced on Tuesday that the two-day exams begin today, October 22, 2025. A total of 1,582,140 pupils from 20,517 schools are registered for the Standard Four National Assessment (SFNA).
“For the first time, there will be three optional subjects, which are French, Chinese, and Arabic,” Prof Mohamed told journalists in Dar es Salaam. He clarified that each pupil can choose only one of the three new languages.
Of the 115 schools offering the new subjects, 58 have selected Arabic, 48 have chosen French, and nine will sit the Chinese paper.
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The introduction of these optional languages increases the total number of subjects a pupil is tested on to nine. However, Prof Mohamed explained that to determine an overall pass, the council will consider a pupil’s best-performing subjects, even if they are optional.
“The optional languages have increased the number of subjects to nine,” he said. “To determine the pass level, we will look at the subjects a pupil has performed best in, even if it is an extra subject, and we will include it in the results.”
Alongside the new languages, the core subjects under the revised curriculum are Science, Mathematics, Geography, Environment, Arts and Sports, Kiswahili, English, and Tanzanian History and Civics.
Further breakdowns of the registered candidates show that 817,850 are girls (51.69 per cent) and 764,290 are boys (48.31 per cent). The vast majority, 93.27 per cent, will take the exams in Kiswahili, while 6.73 per cent will sit them in English.
NECTA also reported that 5,750 pupils with special needs are registered for the assessments. This group includes 1,164 with visual impairment, 111 who are blind, 1,161 with hearing impairment, 1,641 with intellectual disabilities, and 1,673 with physical disabilities.
Following the Class Four assessments, the Class Two national tests are scheduled to take place over three days from November 18 to 20.
