Dar es Salaam – In a significant move to bolster its education system, the government of Tanzania, on January 29, 2026, launched the Scientific Strategy for Building Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic (RWA) Proficiency.
The initiative, unveiled by President Samia Suluhu Hassan, aims to build foundational skills for children in pre-primary and early primary education, responding to data that reveals a critical learning deficit in the country and the wider East African region.
The strategy directly targets pupils in pre-primary and the first two years of primary school (Standards I and II). It emphasises a scientific, evidence-based approach to teaching and learning, focusing on teacher training and the use of locally available learning materials.
“We can build strong infrastructure and advance knowledge and technology, but if we fail to strengthen the early foundation of teaching our children, we will be building on a weak foundation,” President Samia stated at the launch event in Dar es Salaam.
The initiative is a direct response to years of data indicating that many Tanzanian children are not acquiring basic skills. A 2015 report by Uwezo East Africa found that 46 per cent of Tanzanian children aged 9-13 were unable to pass a basic literacy test.
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While this was a better outcome than in neighbouring Kenya, where 70 per cent of children failed, it lagged significantly behind Uganda, where only 31 per cent were unable to pass.
More recent assessments in neighbouring countries highlight the ongoing regional challenge. In Kenya, a 2025 Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (FLANA) revealed that nearly half of Grade 6 learners could not comprehend a simple Grade 3-level English story and solve a basic mathematics problem.
In Uganda, the 2023 National Assessment of Progress in Education (NAPE) showed that only 57.5 per cent of Primary 3 learners were rated as proficient in numeracy.
Tanzania’s new strategy seeks to reverse this trend by focusing on the critical early years of education. The Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Adolf Mkenda, noted that the strategy includes provisions for continuous teacher professional development and leveraging simple, accessible teaching aids.
The plan is aligned with the country’s 2014 National Education and Training Policy (revised in 2023) and international commitments, including the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4 for quality education and Africa’s Agenda 2063.
The government’s focus on a “scientific” strategy suggests a commitment to using data and evidence to inform instruction and intervention, a move welcomed by education experts as a critical step toward improving learning outcomes across the nation.
