Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Said Meck Sadick said
In Summary
However, the ministry of Education and Vocational
Training said it was not in a position to help private school owners who
have employed illegal immigrants.
Dar es Salaam. About 10,000 teachers face
expulsion in the crackdown on illegal immigrants, private school owners
said yesterday.
The Tanzania Association of Managers and Owners of
Non-Government Schools and Colleges (Tamongsco) told The Citizen that
the crackdown would have serious repercussions on private English medium
schools.
Tamongsco secretary-general Benjamin Nkonya said
most schools could not afford the $2,000 (Sh3.2 million) fee for a
two-year work permit required for foreign teachers.
“A school with ten foreign teachers, for example,
cannot afford to pay $20,000 (Sh32 million). We have appealed that the
fee either be scrapped or reduced,” he said.
School owners brought the matter to the attention
of President Jakaya Kikwete in Mbeya last year, and were still waiting
for a response, Mr Nkonya added.
He said Tomongsco members told President Kikwete
that they had no option but to hire foreign teachers to work in private
English medium schools due to a shortage of local tutors.
The teacher to student ratio in Tanzania is 1:40,
with a demand of 23,546 teachers. There are 13,657 teachers, which is
only 58 per cent of requirements. This has prompted private schools to
employ 9,889 teachers from neighbouring Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and
Zambia. Mr Nkonya also accused police and immigration officers of
mistreating and humiliating foreign teachers, saying some had been
handcuffed in front of their pupils and bundled into police vehicles.
“This is not only humiliating, it also had an
adverse psychological effect on pupils, especially those who were
sitting the Standard Seven national examination,” he said.
However, the ministry of Education and Vocational
Training said it was not in a position to help private school owners who
have employed illegal immigrants.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Mr Bunyanzu Ntambi,
said foreign teachers should not expect preferential treatment and must
abide by immigration regulations.“Foreign teachers are not exempt from
immigration regulations. There is not much the ministry can do. It is up
to school owners to think how best they can handle the situation,” he
said.
But Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Said Meck
Sadick said yesterday that foreign nationals found with expired work
permits would not be immediately deported, and would be given an
opportunity to renew them. He told The Citizen that 527 illegal
immigrants had been arrested since the operation began in the city on
September 1.
In another development, criminals have been
cashing in since the operation began in Dar es Salaam early this month.
Gangs masquerading as immigration officers have been extorting bribes
from illegal immigrants by threatening them with arrest and prosecution.
Some have hounded foreigners out of their homes and proceeded to
loot the houses. The harassment is particularly prevalent in the city’s
Kinondoni and Mwananyamala areas.
“They have been knocking on doors and introducing
themselves as immigration officers. They demand to see work and
residence permits. Those who don’t have them are forced to part with
tidy sums of money,” said Mr Juma Abdallah, a resident of Mwananyamala
‘A’.
Yesterday, Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone
Commander Suleiman Kova told The Citizen that several people had been
arrested on suspicion of posing as immigration officers.
“No incidents have been reported in the last few
days after we rounded up a number of suspects. If members of the public
come across people posing as immigration officers, they should report
them immediately,” he said.
The crackdown on illegal immigrants followed the expiry of the ultimatum requiring them to leave voluntarily or be deported.
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
