Introduction Undeniably, a great number of people attach education to schooling, yet the great number consider education as a way towards wealthy attainment, employment opportunities, and status earning. All these perspectives are inclined to formal education system; the question is does education mean formal system exclusively, what of informal system which acquaints essentials of life. Another puzzling issue is do education mean daily attending of school or rather high institutes of learning, besides that is education encompassed only on certificates and academic transcripts awarded in colleges. John Dewey an American pragmatist goes contrary to this notion by asserting that “education should not be taken in terms of classes attained, certificates achieved, but rather it should be able to cross from the books and shelves to adjust change and devising means of solving the problems. This paper intends to discuss the functionality of education at a detailed arena, thus it will explore the etymological definition of education, as well as the definitions discussed by various scholars including philosophical discourse to education. It will further explore its usefulness and significance in many dimension for-instance individual and societal levels. The issues at stake also include the function of education in various aspects, that is: economical, social, moral, political, religion and technology among others. Then critical remarks containing some prospects and way forward in attaining effective education which targets thinking, intellectual growth and moral rightness, most especially in Sub-Saharan African Countries where rates of illiteracy are on propagation, worse-more where almost all countries are categorized as Highly indebted poorest countries (HIPC). Etymologically, the word education is derived from the Latin ēducātiō (“A breeding, a bringing up, a rearing) from ēdūcō (“I educate, I train”) which is related to the homonym ēdūcō (“I lead forth, I take out; I raise up, I erect”) from ē- (“from, out of”) and dūcō (“I lead, I conduct”). 1. Definition of Education Education is the entire process of learning that broadens a person’s cognitive horizons and develops in him/her the skills to choose, evaluate and adding to the existing stock of knowledge, it as well include generation of new knowledge and it’s utilization for the good and enhancement. Life-long learning can be defined as a continuous, hence endless, process of acquiring knowledge, skills and attitudes, the process that begins from birth and ends only with death, with purpose and forms adapted to the needs of individuals at different stages in their lives. Types of Education The history and the current trends in the World vindicate two common forms of education that if formal and informal education. Essentially the prior form of education involves schooling at all levels, besides the systems of attaining it varies from one society to another. On the other hand, the latter system (informal) engulfs socialization where people are trained to live in accordance to the norms and values of their cultural background and societal system of living. Tracing back to African traditional societies this was commonly used in training children in different perspectives of life such as in affairs of the society and domestic issues. Informal system also entails reconstruction of Experiences, Education is life-long process. Life is education and education is life. Life is full of experiences. One cannot live with his past experiences which are unable to adjust in the society. So informal education helps the individual to reconstruct the experience and adjust with the environment. On this ground what could be the best form of education in Tanzania and Africa in general, is it credible to opt for formal education and tarnish informal in the dustbin of History, or rather to make integration between the duo camps, thus this needs re-thinking. 2. Functions of Education: Tanzanian Perspective The basis for this paper is to establish the ground for functions of education in particular Tanzania, under this section the functions are categorized into various dimensions social, political, economic, technological and morality, basically scheduled under (PESTERS) that is political, economic, social, ecological, religious and security and the integration of education in each aspect. 2.1 Political perspective versus the vitalness of Education Tracing back the history of humankind education is at the centre of political reformations which spearheaded for liberty, solidarity and democracy, the best example is that of political revolutions in Europe where the class of intellectuals became a stepping stone and ring leaders of revolutions specifically France, Britain and USA etc. the same theme was evidenced in Africa where founding fathers debated against colonialism including Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, Nkwame Nkurumah of Ghana and Banda of Malawi among others. This phenomenon came as a result of enlightenment and education attainment among Africans. What of the Traditional African Societies where some chiefs rebelled against colonialists having been trained under informal education basically on patriotism and heroism. More to the point what of the recent era where the government is ever condemned for malpractices and misuse of public funds, where the voices are amplified by the group of enlightened and educated people on behalf of the illiterates, with the waves of education some countries like Tanzania are processing constitutional amendments. On this note, education needs to be credited for promoting democracy, and as well should be considered useful towards promotion of peace and justice. Thus all forms of education are necessary in paving way to Tanzanian renaissance. 2.2 The functionality of Education towards Social Education As a matter of fact education acts as a catalyst for socialization within the society; it further makes an individual react rational as well a social being. According to Nyerere, education must serve the common good and foster the social goals of living together and working together. Titus further extends the usefulness of education in the social arena by asserting that “an education that fails to consider the fundamental question of human existence, the question about meaning of life as an individual and at societal stage with the aim of hastening social dynamic is a very half backed type of education.” According to this assertion the fundamental essentials of social wellbeing are coined within the paradigm of education. Undoubtedly, the post mortem paradigms in social change such as the question of gender imbalances and women emancipation call for development of education in understanding that “all men are born equal, and have a right to all basic rights.” More to the point, the issues at stake are as well eliminating poor traditional practices such as widow inheritance, female genital mutilation and murder plus killings of people born with deformities. The all idea behind this paradigm shift in people’s mentality mainly in Africa is accredited to development of education. Therefore creating harmonious environment, but surprisingly why in recent times in Tanzania the killings of albinos have been on accelerating rate mainly in Lake zone area specifically Mara region yet education and literacy is escalating, indeed this is absurd and deteriorating the education attainment achieved in this era. 2.3 The Functions of Education in Economic Appraisal It is beyond doubt that education is an economic investment at the wider scale; on this Plato a classical philosopher contends that “education is an indispensable for the economic health of the society and advocated investment of the community’s wealth in education.” Further Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall goes in the same line of thinking by indicating that “the most valuable of all capital is that invested in human being through education.” Even among the indicators of Human development index education is inclusive, thus this makes it significant for economic growth and development. In a nutshell education means empowerment on the dimension of development, this is manifested in various countries where education has become a core in their development, thus it is worthy to mention tiger powers which are emerging economically giants based on increased production based on education, for-instance Brazil, Russia, India, China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore to mention but a few. These countries in the past forty years their economy was at the same pace with Tanzania but it is now Tanzania to seek aids from them, this is really an absurd issue, where our colleagues think critically on how to deal with the problems, what of African intellectuals, then should the blame be tossed to education system its self or rather the policies entangled to the system. More-still, education enhances the formulation of economic theories which fosters growth and development; it also gives room for criticism and re-thinking so as to come up with the better solutions to the problems of the time. Again, with education policy making and planning is possible at the national level in the dimensions of economic development. Therefore, it is high time to get started to integrate our education from theories to practicality in solving global financial crises, where the Westerners and Easterners are busy clicking the heads to solve this scenario, yet African leaders are busy depending on widen their fiscal budgets, is that the credible and effective alternative? Either are the conditions for grants and loans attractive to our economy, or else are just imprinted with unfair strings attached to them. Therefore, our education system needs critiques and questioning all these issues. 2.4 Science and Technology Versus the Usefulness of Education Epistemologists view science both as a body of knowledge and skills as well as a system and set of procedures leading to discovery of bodies of knowledge. However, technology is defined as the application of scientific principles in order to develop products or means that solve specific social problems, or to provide specific services to society with ease and facility. Under this aspect, it is indebted to jot down how education has influenced this field, for-instance it has explored the discovering of the first human remaining that is zinjantropus. In physics and astronomy paradigm shifts range from Galileo’s discovery that the earth was round as opposed to classical thinking that was flat, to Copernicus’s discovery that it was the earth that revolved around the sun rather than the way round. With all these scientific discoveries by power of education where is an African mind? This quire is striking and brings awareness to African scholars to invent ideas in the realm of education. Why should Africans be termed as empty theory syndrome? Yet there is a wide range application of sciences reflected in food processing and preservation, fermentation and brewing, herbal making and prescription herbal-drug prescription, time telling and sign reading, all these were done by use of informal education. But due to waves of colonialism and neo-colonialism such sciences are considered outdated and local. But is that really, or is all about tarnishing African scientific discoveries? With technology the discussion indicates how education has influenced dynamism by the power of educational technology. 3. Way Forward to make Education Functional in Africa (Tanzania) To make education functional in Africa, it needs endless efforts to restructure and re-think two extremes of formal and informal systems of education, plus making credible integration between the two forms of education. 3.1 The Psycho-Pedagogical Dimension Under this realm much emphasis is put on conscientisation form of education which expresses consciousness raising, which verifies raising of awareness to new levels of perception of reality. It makes people conscious of the reality about themselves and their humanity, their ability as conscious in controlling their environment, transforming nature and over-powering oppressive elements in the process of development. Under this aspect Paulo Freire Brazilian educational philosopher connotes critical consciousness whereby man tries to judge the situation realistically by analyzing facts and problems in the light of fundamental human values. Realistically our education system and its scope lacks this incentive which looks at education in the angle of attaining self-awareness, without this our education cannot be functional, as Socrates Greek philosopher contends “knowing thyself is the best wisdom, and unexamined life is not worthy living.” This statement put a challenge to our education. 3.2 Education for Social- Political Connections The concept is deeply rooted in a political and social analysis for the highly indebted poorest countries mainly in Sub-Saharan region, this point is coined by Nyerere where he asserts that man can hope to be conscious of his own manhood and his power to use circumstances rather than be used by them. More-so, Nyerere propagated for education which is for liberation and which helps people to be critical, active, free and responsible members of the society. However, the recent mode of education in Tanzania is based on making a status quo and imposing the values and culture of dominant class, how then do we venerate Nyerere as our ancestor? Therefore education for liberation is highly recommended if at all our education is to be functional oriented rather than schooling and certificate oriented. 3.3 Education for Self Reliance This prospect tackles what Nyerere put forward in cementing effective mode of education based on two kinds of philosophies that is education with work (EWW) and education with production (EWP), in-order to attain functioning education to solve poverty in Tanzania, there is a great need to re-think and re-evaluate the usefulness of these concepts as propounded by Nyerere. The concept of education for work deals with cultural transmission so as to suite different socio-economic circumstances. While education with production is treated in the relation to education as a necessary accompaniment with practical effects of creative educational process, thus education for self reliance coins these two aspects in achieving social-economic and political reconstruction and renewal. Conclusion Realistically education system in Tanzania as well in Africa needs a reconstruction to match with the waves of globalization which needs thinkers not crammers only for exams, this era needs education which creates more of job creators than job seekers, it also needs optimistic people, and those who think beyond horizons and those who seek opportunities where others fear to tackle. The global community needs educated people of true nobility, even those who seek not to solve the present problems but as well those who think on how to solve future problems. Again, the true education of this era doesn’t need highly egoistic and self motives, but rather motives which match with making the society a better place to live in.