Here is the education mess that needs fixing

There have been reports of Tanzanian pupils who have been admitted to Form One, only for their new teachers to discover they can neither read nor write. Employers complain of receiving incomprehensible job application letters penned by university graduates. Everyone craves good grades, but few are keen to burn the midnight oil to earn them.

On numerous occasions, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has demolished houses in Dodoma Municipality, leaving hundreds of families homeless and without compensation, causing them to suffer a huge loss. Just recently, 170 houses were pulled down in Msalato Ward.

Since it was listed as a protected world heritage site in 1982, Selous Game Reserve has suffered tremendously due to human activity.

In a bid to boost academic performance at Lukole Secondary School, students have asked the government to help address a shortage of social services which they are currently encountering.

>Political parties yesterday expressed  dismay over the just-concluded civic polls that were marred by irregularities.

CALL THE POLICE WHEN YOU’RE OLD, AND  YOU DON’T MOVE FAST ANYMORE.

George Phillips, an elderly man from Walled Lake, Michigan, was  going up to bed, when his wife told him that he’d left the light on in  the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroomwindow. George opened the back door to go turnoff the light, but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked “Is someone in your house?”

He said “No,” but some people are breaking into my garden...

>Political news in Tanzania – which represents part of the broader picture of Africa that Western cynics derogatorily dub a dark continent – is seldom pleasant.

Even after the education sector was reported to have excelled in the 2013-2014 Big Results Now drive, the annual report at the beginning of the year suggests that things are not as bright as the information presented at political rallies. Real improvement is to be found in only a few areas, it seems.