CHAPTER 15 - “Education for Self-Reliance”, 1967

Abstract

This chapter describes the difficulties Tanzania has faced in its earliest years of independence and the evolution of its political thinking and machinery to deal with them. In the space of a few years, the status of independence proved, as indeed it should, that it did not so much mark the end of one era as the beginning of a new one; that the transition from colonial status, however smooth and peaceful, could not remain an end in itself but was no more than the enabling act whereby the country was given the responsibility of settling its own problems in its own way. Yet for every problem firmly tackled during these first few eventful years, there seemed to arise new ones which defied easy solution. The independent state of Tanganyika had an easy birth; Zanzibar a short but painful one. Both, either separate or united, had a hard early childhood. Indeed by the end of 1966, there was evidence enough to show that unless there was a national resurgence, and a clear re-statement of social and political premises, the child would not thrive. The indicator of future developments in the new self-reliant educational system is the new Five Year Development Plan for the period 1969–74.