Effective strategies needed to keep children in school
17th February 2016
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Yes, we have enrolled many children into primary education. Yes, the pass rate has increased proved. However, the question is: are the enrolled children staying in schools? Have we prepared conducive learning environment for these children to enjoy learning and staying at school?
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It is shocking that with all the pompous we have in showing-off our success, I recently learned from two ‘Out of School Children’ reports that about 3.5 million (41 percent) children, out of 8.5 Million school aged children in Tanzania, are not in school.
This is about 2 million primary school age children and 1.5 million lower secondary school age children are out of school in Tanzania. Simply, it means at least one in every five primary school age children are out of school (23 percent).
At the lower secondary school age, more than two in every five children are out of school (that is 41 percent of them)! This article presents findings from the reports on ‘Profile of Out of School Children (OOSC) in Tanzania’ and ‘Qualitative Study on Out of School Children’ released by UNICEF recently.
The report on ‘Profile of Out of School Children (OOSC) in Tanzania’ utilised data from: 2012 Population and Housing Census, 2011/12 Household Budget Survey, Tanzania mainland, 2009/10 Zanzibar Household Budget Survey, 2009/13 Tanzania: administrative data on education (BEST).
In addition to the above selected datasets, two other sources, namely 2012-13 National Panel Survey (third round) and 2011-12 Tanzania HIV/AIDS and Malaria Indicator Survey, were also possible data sources but were not selected for profiling.
On Survival and transition rate based on EMIS data, the study revealed that a child in primary grade 1 has a survival rate of 61.9 per cent to the last grade of primary education, and a child in secondary grade 1 has a survival rate of 58.1 per cent to the last grade of lower secondary education. The transition rate from primary school to lower secondary school is 56.3 per cent.
It was also revealed that over-age is significant in Tanzania. In primary school 36.0 per cent of children are over-age for their grades while in lower secondary school, 46.9 per cent children are over-age for their grades. Over-age study also indicates high repetition rate in lower grades of primary education.
On Children who never attended school, it was revealed that there is a large number of children who have never attended school, and the percentage is alarming: at the primary school age, 20.0 per cent or 1.7 million children have never attended school, and at the lower secondary age, 10.4 per cent or close to 400,000 children have never attended school.
The percentage is so high and so persistent across different ages that, if improvement is not made, for the next coming decade, at least 10 per cent of the entire young adult population will never have even been touched by the education system.
Children who have never attended school are the key reason for which Tanzania has such a high percentage of out of school children.
On children who dropped out of school, it was revealed that dropout is less common in children of younger age, but becomes much more frequent in children who are older. From the age of 13, dropout rises exponentially. The majority of children who dropped out of school left after they have completed primary education. Those who dropped out before the completion of primary education did so in most cases during the early stages of primary education (Standard I-IV).
The study reveals that regions which are in ‘top five’ with highest OOSC rate at primary school level are: Tabora (44 percent), Katavi (43 percent), Geita (38 percent), Rukwa (36 percent) and Simiyu (34 percent).
On the other side, the study reveals that regions which are in ‘top five’ with highest OOSC rate at lower secondary school level are: Tabora (58 percent), Katavi (55 percent), Simiyu (52 percent), Shinyanga (51 percent), and Singida (50 percent)
If these children are not in school, so where are they? A qualitative study conducted for UNICEF by Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE) in six regions of Tabora, Lindi, Geita, Mara, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar (Pemba and Unguja) revealed that the OOSC engage in various activities such as: cattle herding, artisanal fishing, artisanal mining, domestic servants, artisanal farming, begging on streets and many of the kind.
There are a number of barriers on demand and supply side which result into out of school children. A study conducted by Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE) reveals some demand-side and supply-side barriers resulting into OOSC.
According to the study, the demand-side social cultural barriers to quality school are:
(a) Most drop out cases stem from basic characteristics of family structure manifested in serial marriages, female-female marriages, single parent-hood, and child headed families with many children.
(b) Social cultural practices like FGM and traditional circumcision for boys are deeply reconstructed; hence hard to track and deal with them even when the associated health hazards are told.
(c) Vulnerable children like orphans, single parented, those living in difficult conditions, children with disabilities, and children with chronic illnesses, are among the most likely to drop out from school because of lack of facilities, community attitude, stigmatisation and discrimination.
(d) Opportunity costs even in entirely ‘free education’ as in primary schools leads to low demand for school, especially when the other side provides chances for ‘quick’ and more direct income.
(e) The study revealed that migratory nature of some communities (artisanal miners, artisanal fishers, pastoralists, petty traders) derails the demand for education as children keep moving with parents in search of greener pastures.
(f) Extreme patriarchy and exaggerated masculinity in regions such as Mara fuel OOSC and children at risk of dropping out of school. The practice leads to gender imbalances where girls are deprived the right to education and subjected to early marriages for wealth to a higher bidder.
(g) Beliefs in superstition and witchcraft discourage students from attending school regularly while at the same time contribute to the increase of the OOSC.
Moreover, the study reveals the following demand-side economic barriers to quality school:
(a) Abject poverty makes parents and guardians fail to afford indirect school costs even in contexts of free education as in primary schools.
(b) Child labour in petty trade, artisanal mining, artisanal fishing, and herding cattle derails the education demand to most of the children.
(c) Indirect cost to school appearing in the form of ‘contributions’ in free education setting lessen the demand for school, especially among the majority low income earners.
On the Supply-side, the study reveals the following barriers to quality school:
(a) Inadequate and poor facilities in school environment like dilapidated structures (classrooms, offices, toilets), incomplete classrooms, lead to low school supply which invariably affect attendance and retention.
(b) Long walking distance to school discourages children from attending classes regularly.
(c) High teacher-student ratio stemming from increased enrolment leads to overcrowded classrooms which adversely make school life unbearable to some children who might find reason to miss school and drop out later.
(d) School based violence manifested in behaviours like name calling, bullying, and corporal punishments are counterproductive when it comes to the need to retain children in school.
(e) Bullying of marginalised children by older children especially boys, name calling associated with different forms of disabilities, and corporal punishments minimize the supply side demands to quality school.
On Policies, governance, and financing school, the study reveals the following barriers:
(a) Weak policies are counter-effective to mitigate the escalation of OOSC and children at risk of dropping out of school.
(b) Inadequate enforcement of by-laws and strategies adopted to retain children to school increase OOSC and children at risk of dropping out of school.
(c) Lack of support for children with disabilities in inclusive education places these children at risk of dropping out of school. Disability specific requirements like skin lotion, sun-glasses, walking sticks, and braille writers, for the albinos and the visually impaired should be provided for school to retain these children to school.
(d) Non-discriminatory treatment adversely affects children with disabilities, especially at secondary school level of education. The normal secondary school curriculum should be supplemented with a curriculum to support children with disabilities.
(e) Number of special need teachers need to be increased in both primary and secondary school levels of education to match the increasing number of children with special needs annually.
(f) A separate incentive scheme will help to increase morale of teachers who deal with children with special needs on the regular basis.
(g) Low remittance of projected capitation grants and building funds leads to low supply of quality school which as a result leads to poor infrastructures and facilities for school.
There is a need for consented efforts among education stakeholders to join hands in improving our socio-economic situation, as well as curb identified barriers which hinder children to be in school, and set effective strategies to ensure that our children enroll in school and stay there until they complete their education.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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