In recent years, a greater attention has focused on the assessment of education
quality based on the ability of students to demonstrate the competencies they
have acquired in schools. To ensure the attainment of competencies, the Ministry
responsible for education in Tanzania reviewed the school curriculum. The
aim was to ensure high-quality education and to accelerate the socio-economic
development. The implementation of a competence based curriculum in Tanzanian
secondary schools started in 2005. However, the implementation process
has not been impressive as evidenced by the low performance of students in their
examinations. This article is an attempt to demonstrate some of the challenges
facing the implementation of competence based curriculum and to provide some
suggestions for improvement.