Academic Freedom and the Social Responsibilities of Academics in Tanzania

The Dar-es-Salaam Declaration on Academic Freedom and Social Responsibility of Academics

The Dar-es-Salaam Declaration on Academic Freedom and Social Responsibility of Academics Preamble We are living in momentous times, ridden with crises but full of hope. The stringent conditions of the international Shylocks have begun to put a squeeze on education in a dramatic fashion. Tanzania, like the rest of the African continent, finds itself entangled in a web of socio-economic crises. As budgetary allocations for education become minuscule, education is threatening to become the preserve of a minority of the wealthy and influential in our society. The state has become increasingly authoritarian. Authoritarianism is being further reinforced as the crisis-ridden government fails to offer palpable solutions . Witness the increasingly greater, deeper, and more frequent encroachments on academic freedom and freedom to pursue truth and knowledge, particularly at the universities and other institutions of higher education. These are times of crises. But they are also times of hope. As People’s free and independent existence is in question, they are beginning to question the existence of unfree and right-less polities. We, as academics, intellectuals, and purveyors of knowledge have a human obligation and a social responsibility towards our People’s Struggle for Rights, Freedom, Social Transformation and Human Emancipation. Our participation in the struggle of our people is inseparably linked with the struggle forthe autonomy of institutions of higher education and the freedom to pursue knowledge without let, hindrance, and interference from persons in authority. In 1984, for the first time since independence, the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania was amended to include a Bill of Rights. The The Dar-es-Salaam Declaration on Academic Freedom and Social Responsibility 87 87 87 87 87 Constitution provides for the right to education and the right toopinion and expression which include academic freedom. Tanzania subscribes to the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has ratified the International Covenants (1966) and the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education, and is a Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. These instruments unambiguously declare for the right of education and freedom of opinion, expression, and dissemination of information. But rights are not simply given; they are won. And even when won, they cannot endure unless protected, nurtured, and continuously defended against encroachment and curtailment. NOW THEREFORE, WE the delegates of the Staff Associations of Institutions of Higher Education in Tanzania, meeting in Dar es Salaam, this 19th day of April, 1990 do Solemnly Adopt and Proclaim this Declaration. PART I BASIC PRINCIPLES Chapter One: Education for Human Emancipation 1. Every human being has the right to wholesome education. Education shall be directed to the full development of human personality. 2. Access to education shall be equal and equitable. 3. Education shall prepare a person to strive for and to participate fully in the emancipation of the human being and society from oppression, domination, and subjugation. 4. Education shall enable a person to overcome prejudices related to gender, race, nation, ethnicity, religion, class, culture, and such like. Education shall inculcate in every person respect for all human culture developed by humankind. 5. Education shall develop critical faculties, inculcate the spirit of scientific enquiry, and encourage the pursuit of knowledge and the search for the whole truth in the interest of social transformation and human liberation. 6. Education shall be secular. Religious instruction shall be separate from secular education and imparted to those wanting to partake of it voluntarily. 7. Education shall make every person conscious of ecology and the need to protect the environment. Chapter Two: Obligations of the State 8. The State should guarantee to every resident equal, equitable, and wholesome education without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, Academic Freedom and the Social Responsibilites of Academics in Tanzania 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 gender, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic condition, physical or mental disability, birth or other status. 9. The State should make available an adequate proportion of the national income to ensure in practice the full realization of the right to education. The State shall bind itself constitutionally to provide a nationally agreed minimum proportion of the national income for education. 10.The State should take affirmative action where necessary to redress historical and contemporary inequalities in access to education based on national, racial, social, or gender differences or arising from physical disabilities. Chapter Three: Rights and Obligations...