IN TANZANIA, THIS MONTH OF THE YEAR, SMARTER PARENTS SEND KIDS TO THE BEST SCHOOLS

My favourite fm Radio presenter, Ephraim Kibonde once said, 'Mjini tunaishi kibiashara zaidi'. That quote sums life of urbanites in my lovely country, Tanzania.

Economists say it simply, The price is determined by the demand'.

We are in the month of January, when all parents are squeezing their pockets ready to pay children school fees. In some private schools the price is astronomical, and it keep rising haphazadly. Alas, some are even charging in hard currency.

Guess what? A parent has to be smart if he/she cares for his/her childrens future. The lousy thinkers will always send their kids to ward govermental schools with nothing to offer. My sister calls these schools, 'Msondo ngoma', ( this is the old music group, not much favoured by newly dot com generation).

January is not the time to solicit wedding or kitchen party contributions, as every parent eye is on school books and uniforms. At this season of the year banks are characterised by long queues of eager parents holding heavy bundles of 10000/= notes( A.K.A mwekundu wa msimbazi)

Come February when our kids are in classrooms, wedding contributions, kitchen parties and send off resumes. This is the prime time for the smarter local enterprenuers to gain enormous amount of cash from the proletariats. Vikao after vikao are colorfully organised in bars such as Dar es Salaam famous joints going by the name of Riverside, Kijiji cha makumbusho, Rose Garden etc etc. Local enterprenuers are gaining by using their petty ventures such Master of ceremony, catering, wedding card designs, digital animation, hosting wedding halls and a number of other businesses.

It is the interesting that after the above mentioned primitive accumulation of capital ranging from february to December, the same so called 'wajasiamali' affords to spend a good part of their fortunes to the 'not realistic' pricely private schools.

In Dar Es Salaam the top of the range primary private schools charges fee to the tune of $5000 per annum. In camparison, Indian Universities charges $5200 per annum. The difference is that one gets three years Indian University degree and he graduates while the other only accomplish just one year of primary school education!!!

So, A million dollar question is, why Indian education is cheaper than Tanzanian? My primitive answer is that our fee structure is not real only inflated by ourselves.

Who has the duty to end this circle? Tanzanians.