A new report has commended the fifth phase government for introducing free secondary education, describing it as a ‘huge step’ towards enhancing access to quality learning despite a few hiccups that need to be addressed.
But the 109-page report points out that despite the move, more than 40 per cent of Tanzanian primary school leavers are still left out of quality lower secondary school education.
Dubbed ‘I Had a Dream to Finish School’, the report released by the international Human Rights Watch (HRW) organisation says some obstacles rooted in outmoded government policies are preventing more than 1.5 million adolescents from attending secondary school and causing many students to drop out because of poor quality education.
“Tanzania’s abolition of secondary school fees and contributions has been a huge step towards improving access to secondary education, but the government should do more to address the crowded classrooms, discrimination, and abuse that undermine many adolescents’ education,” said HRW children’s rights researcher Elin Martinez, who authored the report.
Some of the obstacles outlined in the report include a shortage of secondary schools in rural areas, primary school examination policy which limits access to secondary education, and a discriminatory government policy to expel pregnant or married female students.
Others include the abolition of school fees which the report said has left significant gaps in school budgets, and sexual harassment and discrimination suffered by girl students at the hands of their teachers.
According to the report, despite the introduction of free lower secondary education, many students face significant financial barriers such as transport to school, uniforms, and additional school materials such as textbooks.
The report recommends that the government should develop concrete plans to tackle these remaining barriers over time by adopting measures - in line with national resources and international financial support - to ensure more children access free secondary education.
It also recommends that the government should increase school budgets for all education matters out of its own pocket, including the construction or renovation of school buildings, teacher housing facilities, and learning and teaching facilities and materials.
The government should also phase out the use of exams as a filter to select students for secondary education, introduce “partial or fully subsidized transport programmes” for students in urban areas, and “ensure bus drivers are compensated to pick up student passengers,” the HRW report furthermore asserts.
The report comes after Human Rights Watch last year interviewed more than 200 secondary school students, out-of-school adolescents, parents, education experts, local activists, development partners, and national and local government officials in eight districts in four regions of the country.
Responding to the findings, a representative for the director of education in the President’s Office, Regional and Local Administration, Juma Kaponda, told the Guardian the report should have included “figures as to what extent the issues raised in the study are affecting the learning and teaching environment in schools.”
About 22 per cent of the 2016-2017 national budget has been set aside for the education sector.
According to a World Bank report published in December last year, all primary and secondary schools have been receiving monthly capitation grants in a ‘timely manner’ since December 2015, under the government’s free education policy.
The amount of the grant for each school is linked to their enrolment rates, and currently there are 10.7 million beneficiaries, of which 50 per cent are female.
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