50 years of science, infrastructure still a dilemma

Founded in 1965, CoNAS (then known as FoS) was the first institution to offer science education at the university level in Tanzania.

The faculty was established under the former University College Dar es Salaam (UCD),a constituent college of the University of East Africa established in 1961 and which was later christened the University of Dar es Salaam in 1970.

This week, the varsity celebrates its belated 50th anniversary and CoNAS Principle and Associate in Microbiology, Prof Thomas Lymo talks to The Guardian about the ups and downs of faced by the faculty of the science in that half century.

“These celebrations are not only about the former faculty of science at the University of Dar es Salaam and its successor but science education in Tanzania,” said the professor wearing a proud smile.

“This is because the foundations of science education everywhere in the country are to a great extent connected with the faculty of science at this university,” he added.

Prof. Lymo went on to recall advent of the faculty of science back July of 1965; “back then it had only five teaching departments, botany, chemistry, mathematics, physics and zoology,” he said again a flash of accomplishment made his face glow.

“The faculty had only two undergraduate degree programmes, BSc General and BSc Education. It started with small enrolment of 23 students, taught by an impressive number of 25 academic staff and 10 technical staff,” he detailed this time cracking a timid laugh.

The professor highlighted that over the years, the faculty expanded increasing its student enrolment exponentially along with the number of academic and technical staff and went on to introduce a department of geology (1974) and molecular biology and biotechnology (2002).

Further, in April 2009 FoS merged with the former Faculty of Aquatic Science and Technology (FAST) when it became a campus college and assumed its current name CoNAS.

“At its inception, the college was comprised of 8 departments including the added departments of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Technology (DASFT) from FAST, in 2015 DASFT was transferred to the newly created CoNAS,” he elaborated.

“There are so many things to be proud, the number of staff has grown from 25 staff in 1965 to 182 this year, the number of students increased from 23 to 2,210 this year and degree programmers have increased from 2 in 1965 to 28 now,” he said with a somber sense of achievement.

According to him, so far 9,348 students have graduated with science degrees among those 8,088 were graduates while 1.296 postgraduate degrees and among the undergraduate about 5000 are now science teachers.

“It is important that we reflect on both the achievements and challenges over this period of time because it will help us establish the vision for the next 50 years,” he said.

On the other hand the celebration of the 50 years of CoNAS also serves to promote and motivate interest in science subjects, a vital necessity for the country as we embark on gas and oil exploration and as we seek to compete in this age of technology, the professor went on to say.

Chipping in on the sidelines of the anniversary was Deputy Principle, Dr. Egbert Majuni shared his concerns over the diminishing interest in sciences by most of students; “this has drained the country of its potential and we are now forced to rely on scientists from abroad,” he said regrettably.

“Students have developed an unrealistic fear in taking science subjects...they are overwhelmed by the misconception that science subjects are just too difficult,” he said.

He went on to point out that the trend is fuelled by the lack of teaching and learning materials which forces instructors to rely on theories rather than practicals making it difficult for the students to understand.

“The shortage of learning and teaching materials such as modern laboratories a impedes the student’s ability to participate and learn...science subjects need more practicals than theory so the lack thereof is a serious hurdle that has caused many of our students to shun the sciences,” he added.

On his part, Lecturer from CoNAS, Prof. Paphy Masenge remained optimistic that the university and the country in general is capable of producing competent scientists; “but this is if the government will improve the teaching infrastructure,” he said.

"We know that without science and technology there is no life so we need to put more effort in this area all the way from primary to secondary schools...this is vital so we nurture the love of these subjects at an early age and that way we can get scientists who meet international standards” Prof. Masenge emphasized.

He commented on the former President Jakaya Kiwkete’s order for every public secondary school to construct a science laboratory saying while the initiative was well intended, but lack of funding and equipment has doomed the new labs to mere ghost structures rather than the functioning labs that they were intended to be.

“Construction of many laboratories without the required equipments is not enough...for them to function as intended, the laboratories must have all the necessary prerequisite materials so experiments can be conducted in them,” he said.

“We are very impressed to see increasing the number of student taking science subjects but the problem is that, the learning environment is not so friendly to the students because it does not provide the basics that they need,” he lamented.

Summing up on the comments, Lecturer from CoNAS, Dr.Amelia Buriyo reassured students that science subjects are not difficult but cautioned them that, the subjects require more attention and regular exercises.

She urged the government and other stakeholders to augment their support to the education sector especially in for sciences disciplines which are faced with numerous challenges.

"Our ability to teach these lessons is very good and can provide students with the international standards but only if the teaching infrastructure are upgraded," Dr. Buriyo said and again urged the government to allocate a sufficient budget to the college and the education sector in general.