The Effects of Incentive Initiatives on Teacher Retention in Tanzania: A Case of the Rukwa Region

Availability of teachers at Secondary schools is one of the major factors that enhance students and general school performance. Despite this fact, there is high teacher reluctance in taking teaching position in remote areas. Different policy initiatives have dramatically improved the state of education in Tanzania, particularly in terms of classroom infrastructure and student enrollment. The increased students’ enrollment has increased the national demand for secondary school teachers and training of teachers has not mirrored this growth. There is a very high teacher shortage in secondary schools particularly those located in remote areas. In 2004, in the National Strategy for Growth and Deduction of Poverty (NSGRP) cluster two, Tanzania clearly stipulated its goal to motivate and attract secondary school teachers to work in remote areas. Although the country has not yet taken any action to implement this goal, in 2007, Rukwa region responded to this high teacher shortage by initiating Rukwa Civil Servant Facilitation Fund (RCSFF) program to attract and retain Secondary School teachers at the region. This study examines the effects of this incentives program for these teachers in the Rukwa region on retention rate in comparison to a neighboring region, Kigoma. The societal model (3C’s) for teacher retention proposed by Sher (1983) grounds this study. Under this model Sher claims that teacher retention is the function of teacher Characteristics, working Conditions and Compensation. I used mixed research design. The interviews with 24 teachers and educational officers and a total of 40 reviewed Tanzanian Secondary School forms from both Rukwa and Kigoma provide the qualitative and quantitative data respectively. Both descriptive analysis and SPSS software were used to analyze these data. The research results show that the RCSFF was a strong inducement tool but teacher retention is still questionable. Suggestions and recommendations are offered