HAKIELIMU has urged the government to raise the education sector budget to at least 15 percent of the national budget in the 2025/26 financial year, stressing that increased investment is vital to improve access, ensure equity, and enhance the quality of education nationwide.

This recommendation is part of a series of the four key proposals aimed at ensuring better service delivery and inclusive, quality education for all Tanzanians.

Dr John Kalage, HakiElimu (NGO) executive director, made the recommendations in Dar es Salaam yesterday as he briefed journalists on the organisation’s pre-budget key points for this year’s education sector budget expected to be tabled in the National Assembly May 12 th-15 th this month.

He said in the 2024/25 fiscal year, the government allocated 6.17 trn/- to the education sector, accounting for only 12.5 percent of the 49.35 trn/- national budget.

“HakiElimu notes that this amount falls short of the 6.64 trn/- target set by the Third Education Sector Development Plan (ESDP III) and regional commitments such as the 2015 Incheon Declaration, which urges countries to allocate at least 4–6 percent of GDP or 15–20 percent of their national budgets to education,” he said.

He added: “With the 2025/26 budget expected to rise to 55.06 trn/-, HakiElimu is advocating for an increase in the education allocation to 8.25 trn/-. The organization emphasizes that this adjustment is crucial to meet international obligations and improve the quality and accessibility of education.”

He also urged the government to allocate funds and develop a short-term (five-year) strategy to address the country’s acute teacher shortage.

Citing the 2024 report by the President's Office - Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), Tanzania has a shortfall of 268,902 teachers across pre-primary, primary, and secondary levels. This includes 61,559 in pre-primary, 124,826 in primary, and 82,517 in secondary schools. Science subjects are especially affected, with engineering science showing an 81.43 per cent deficit, and other subjects like electronics, biology, chemistry, and physics also facing severe shortages.

“To mitigate this, HakiElimu recommends the recruitment of at least 40,000 new teachers annually, backed by a dedicated education budget line. This, they argue, will significantly reduce the shortfall within five years and improve learning outcomes.”

In line with the Ministry of Finance’s emphasis on promoting gender equality, he proposed a more gender-responsive and inclusive education budget. This includes increasing school capitation grants to reflect the special needs of girls, such as access to sanitary pads and private, clean facilities during menstruation.

He further recommended increasing capitation grants from 10,000/- to 25,000/- per primary school pupil and from 25,000/- to 50,000/- per secondary school student annually.

“We also propose revising the capitation distribution guidelines to allocate 2,500/- per girl specifically for menstrual hygiene products, while urging the government to exempt these products from taxation and introduce price controls to ensure affordability.”

More on that he further emphasizes on the urgent need to train and hire more special needs teachers. Despite efforts to improve education for students with disabilities, there remains a severe shortage. In 2023, there were only 1,137 special needs education (SNE) teachers for 87,017 students with disabilities — a student-to-teacher ratio of 77:1, far above the recommended 10:1.

The organization calls for a comprehensive five-year plan, complete with budget provisions, to train and recruit more SNE teachers, including experts in sign language. This would help bridge the gap and ensure inclusive education for all children, regardless of ability.