The government has been urged to improve transition from primary school to lower secondary school to enable more youngsters to enter the latter and reduce the drop-out rate in the country.
According to findings released yesterday in Dar es Salaam by the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the
Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, a
total of 3.5 million children aged between 7 and 17 are out of school in
the country.
The study titled Out of School Children and Disability in Education
Management Information System (EMIS) showed that the country’s
transition rate from primary to secondary education is low.
Presenting the findings UNICEF consultant Jie Zhang (pictured) said
the rate should be improved, taking into consideration the higher
attendance rate of around 80 per cent in primary education and much
lower attendance rate of around 30 per cent in secondary education.
“There is a strong possibility that many children leave school
after the completion of primary education, even at a very tender age of
14 or 15, without venturing for further studies, especially secondary
education,” she said.
Zhang said that according to the findings, a majority of the 3.5
million children aged between 7 and 17 who are out of School in the
country are from rural areas.
She said about 2 million of those who are not receiving education
are primary school age children and 1.5 million are lower secondary
school age youngsters.
The study, however, highlighted a number of factors which
contribute to the situation, naming them as corporal punishment, schools
being far away, safety in and out of school, shortage of textbook
supply, lack of provision for disabled children, poverty and poor
school infrastructure.
Zhang said rural children were much more likely to be out of school
than urban ones. The situation is particularly serious at primary
school age, with rural children being three times as likely as their
urban peers to be out of school.
“Rural children of lower secondary school age are also more likely
to lag behind in primary education. Even though at this age, the gap in
out of school children (OOSC) rate between urban and rural areas
narrows, the real reason is not the increase in rural attendance in
lower secondary education, but its significant presence in primary
education,” she said.
Zhang said that because of the large population residing in rural
areas, the number of out of school children was also much larger in
rural areas than in urban areas.
“In total, there are 1.8 million primary school age children
living in rural areas who are out of school, whereas in urban areas
there are only 180,000,” she added.
The study was conducted in six regions of Tanzania, Tabora, Lindi,
Geita, Mara, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar (Pemba and Unguja).
Activities and respective administrative areas (wards,
Shehia/villages) with high prevalence of OOSC were
identified in consultation with the educational officers who
also issued clearance for introduction and data collection.
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