In order for a school to be funded by the government it needs to have students, so what does the government fund when a school has no students at all.
In Tanzania, Tanzania’s Mwalimu Nyerere University of agriculture and technology in Butiama District, Mara region has been receiving millions of shillings from the government for over a decade yet it has not enrolled any students since it was established.
Though the university needs a budget of more than Tsh1billion($428,000) per year, it barely receives a quota of that amount, and it has never trained any students.
According to information acquired from the university, by Parliaments Social Service and Community Development committee , the institution requires more than Tsh1billion per year to operate smoothly. However , it currently gets Tsh400 million($171,000) per year.
University Employees
What is more shocking about the university is that it has employees.
The university employs 80 people, including more than 60 academic staff members, over 40 of whom are currently studying different levels including PHD.
The university has no students despite the presence of a chancellor and lectures.
Members of the parliamentary committee were shocked, with some expressing anger over the state of the institution.
“The chancellor of the collage and your staff, you have been tortured for a very long time by been placed in Butiama for all those years with no students. This is a great torture,” said Ms. Husna.
Salome Makamba special seats lawmaker, said the institution has brought huge loses, revealing that a professor who was sent to the institution as a vice chancellor retired eight years without a single lecture being delivered in his time.
“People are given a budget for expenses and salaries every month and yet the college has never provided any services or results,” she said
Reason For no students
Why was the university funded yet it had no students?
Deputy minister of education , science and technology Omary Kipanga said that one of the reason the institution did not offer lectures was that the university lacked qualified staff.
“The first issue that slowed down the provision of service was lack of professional human resource,” he said adding that lack of certified lectures to teach at the degree level hampered the state of learning at the university.
The ministry’s permanent Secretary Francis Michael clarified that the institution was operating under a provisional license.
“The institution was granted a provisional license which would prevent it from admitting students until more than 50 of its professor’s had advanced to PHD level,” Mr. Francis explained.
However, he added that many of the professors have already completed their studies and the college may start admitting students in the next academic year.
Approval
According to the Tanzanian commission for universities , for any institution to be authorized, the commission must be satisfied that it has adequate physical, human and financial resources, a viable academic program and a sound structure governance.
TCU says that a provisional license is a just a starting stage for the issuance of certificate of accreditation.
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