TANZANIA: Concern Over School
Drop-Out Rate
DAR ES SALAAM, 8 June 2007 (IRIN) -
Authorities in Tanzania have expressed concern over the large numbers of pupils,
mostly girls, who drop out of school because of pregnancy, teenage marriage,
child labour or truancy.
President Jakaya Kikwete said the number of
primary school drop-outs rose to 44,742 in 2006 from 32,469 the previous year. A
total of 7,734 students abandoned secondary school in 2006, up from 6,912 in
2005, the president said in his monthly address to the nation.
"We must
find the solution to this problem as soon as possible," said Kikwete, calling
for the arrest of people who made school-girls pregnant and urging parents and
community leaders to ensure teenage girls completed school.
Thirty
percent of Tanzanian children enrolled in school fail to complete seven years of
primary education, while in secondary schools, the drop-out rate is 20 percent,
Ludovic Mwananzila, deputy minister for education and vocational training, told
IRIN.
He said that drop-outs due to pregnancy were higher in some areas
than in others, citing the southern region of Mtwara where at least 400
school-girls became pregnant in 2006. In Rukwa in the southwest, 200
school-girls discontinued their education because of pregnancy.
"Some
parents do not take the education of their children seriously. They do not
inquire about progress and performance of their children in school," said
Mwananzila.
Some parents do not
take the education of their children seriously. They do not inquire about
progress and perfomance of their children in school |
Kikwete said some of those
becoming pregnant were as young as 11. "It is absurd," Kikwete said at a rally
in the western district of Mpanda last week.
Mwananzila said in some
cases, especially among the pastoral communities, parents demanded that boys
look after livestock instead of going to school. Awareness levels were, however,
rising among those communities and more of their children were going to school,
Mwananzila said.
"We are getting good reports from Manyara and Arusha
regions, where the Maasai children are now allowed to go to school," he said.
Women activists have accused the government of delaying a review of the
law on marriage, especially provisions that allow a girl to marry at 14 or 15.
"The government should make it illegal for a girl to be married at
younger than 18 because she is still a minor as far as the country’s
constitution is concerned," said Ananilea Nkya, director of the Tanzania Media
Women Association. "The Law of Marriage Act [1971] allows a girl as young as 14
to be married."