A Brief Overview of the Tanzanian Education System

Primary School – Equivalent to elementary and middle school, Grades 1-7
Secondary School – Equivalent to high school, Grades 8-13

Ordinary Level (Or “O-Level”) – The first 4 years of secondary school, Forms 1-4
Advanced Level (Or “A-Level”) – The final 2 years of secondary school, Forms 5 and 6, which only a very small percentage (roughly 5%) of students make it to

Standard 1-7 / Class 1-7 – The first seven grades of primary school
Form 1-4 – The first four years of secondary school (Grades 8-11)
Forms 5 and 6 – The final two years of secondary school (Grades 12 and 13)

National Examinations – These exams, taken by every student in the country, determine a student’s educational future, and are the most important moment in a student’s educational career. They typically cover 4-years’ worth of material in 10 subjects.

The first major set of national exams is at the end of Primary School, and about 50% of students pass and continue to secondary school. The second major set of exams is after Form 4 (the fourth year of secondary school), at which point, only roughly 18% of students pass and continue to Form 5.

Division 1 - This is the best score a student can receive on their national exam, and means they have scored between 7 and 21 points (the lower the points the better). Only the smallest fraction of students receive a score of Division 1.
Division 2,3,4,0 - Division 1, 2 and high 3 scores allow a student to continue to A-Level education. Most Division 3, and all Division 4 and Division 0 (0 means a total failing score) scores mean that a student cannot advance to A-Level education and must seek vocational training at something like a teachers’, nurses’, or tour guide training college.

Selected – When a student scores highly on their national exams, the government “selects” them to a government school, meaning that they are assigned to the school at which they will continue their education.

Private School – If a student does not score well on the exams, and therefore are not “selected” by the government to join a government school (where school fees are lower), they have the option of paying high school fees to attend a private school. In Tanzania, it is therefore more prestigious to attend a government school than a private school.