The influence of new public management on performance of secondary schools in Tanzania: The case of big result now (BRN) in secondary education service delivery in Dar es Salaam Region

Tanzania embarked on public sector reform in 1990 due to the influence of New Public Management (NPM) and in particular introduction of Big Result Now (BRN). Nevertheless, the empirical knowledge with regard to the influence on NPM and BRN is scant. This paper investigated the influence of NPM and BRN in particular on secondary education service delivery in Dar es Salam Region. Specifically, this paper examines if teachers’ performance with the advent of NPM and BRN has improved, the state of academic performance in secondary schools and the challenges accounting for unsatisfactory performance of secondary schools in Tanzania and propose productivity improvement measures to curb the problems. Dar es Salaam region was used as a case study and the methods of data collection were interview and documentary review. The sample size was 100 respondents selected through purposive sampling. The data analysis was done thematically and descriptive statistics. The study findings indicated that despite an increase in school enrollment, some secondary schools experience dismal academic performance in some of the years (2010, 2011, 2012 and 2024). Mass failure of students in the appalling results from the form four national examination in 2010 were (50.4%), 2011 (53.6%), and 2012 (65.5%). Students who scored between division four and zero amounted to 93% of all students who sat for the certificate of secondary education examination in 2022 (240,903 got division zero, 103,327 scored division four out of 397,136 total candidates). This paper came to a number of conclusions regarding education within NPM from a BRN perspective. Firstly, education through secondary school examination conforms to this principle of NPM in that evaluation is aimed at improving the quality of education. However, despite the BRN and NPM in broad perspective, the secondary education sector is still facing policy challenges such as inadequate learning and teaching resources, bilingual challenge and weak teaching strategies. Tanzania education and training policy should be geared to achieve quality education for national development.