Commissioner for Education Prof Eustella Bhalalusesa told the press in Dar es Salaam on Thursday that there was need to invest in the sector as it was crucial, especially in view of national development targets.
She said lack of early childhood framework, coupled with an unimplemented education policy, limited execution of early childhood education.
“We have made a positive headway and will continue to invest in early childhood education for sustainable development,” she said at a conference of policy dialogue on multiple approaches to literacy development organized by the Aga Khan University in the city.
The government said already some 24,156 standard 1 and 11 teachers had been trained on implementing literacy and numeracy education support LANES programme.
“We have also reviewed Std I and II curriculum with emphasis on 3Rs,” she said, adding: “A review of pre-primary curriculum is also underway.”
However, the government said it had made it compulsory for children aged 3-5 to be admitted to pre-primary school by requiring each primary school to establish a pre-school unit.
She insisted that the government would train and educate staff to become professional teachers to handle the programme.
Prof Anjum Halai, head of research at Aga Khan University, recommended teachers to be well trained to meet the new curriculum requirements.
She said quality early childhood education was key to the future of children and that serious investment was therefore needed in the subsector.
Lauding the government decision to subsidize pre-unit education the education expert said Tanzania must invest also in professional teachers for them to get quality education.
Giving a perspective of literacy development in early years, Barbara Trudell from South Africa said early-years literacy was crucial to cognitive development, language development, learning curriculum content and lifelong uses of written text.
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