Tanzania close to universal primary education

Related pages: Millennium Development Goal 2: Education | Tanzania country profile 

With the support of DFID and other donors, Tanzania has succeeded in getting 95% of children aged 7 – 13 into primary school up from 53 per cent in 2001, when school fees were abolished.

Far more children attend school, but the quality of that education still needs improving. Tanzanian schools face problems of overcrowded classrooms, the lack of qualified teachers - especially females and in rural areas - and the scarcity of text books. Kerezange has 140 pupils per class with only 15 classrooms and 33 teachers at the school. 

But further improvements are expected over the next few years; DFID is providing a further £85 million of support for poverty reduction, directly to the Government of Tanzania, which will help improve the education system even more.

• Press Release: Tanzanian success in education and health brings further UK support (6 October, 2005)
• BBC World: Tanzania looks beyond free schooling (July, 2005)
• Government of Tanzania education website

Preparing for a better future

Image courtesy of USAID

Welcome to Kerezange Primary School on outskirts of Dar es Salaam.

It was built three years ago because the other local school in the town was packed to bursting point after the abolition of primary school fees.

There are 2,097 pupils at Kerezange, with an almost equal split of boys and girls. Kerezange's teachers and parents are overjoyed that so many pupils will learn the skills to prepare them for a better future.

Faridy Saiwaad, the Headmaster says: "Enrolment rises every year as more parents can afford to send their children to school".

The atmosphere at Kerezange is buoyant. The pupils are polite, friendly and well-behaved. They learn the usual lessons like maths, English, geography, history, science, sports as well as environmental studies. At break time, many boys play football on a dusty pitch while groups of girls sit gossiping in the school’s garden.

The fact is that many children like these would have been at home or working five years ago.

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Top marks for Kerezange pupils

This year a boy and girl from Kerezange scored the best marks in the district in the final year exams. But without the abolition of primary school fees, it is unlikely that pupils like Mrisho, aged 8, and his younger brother Benadi, 7 would be able to attend school at all.

Mrisho takes a break from playing football to explain:

"My parents say that it is a blessing that they do not have to pay for us to go to school. I think so too, because if they did, my brother and I may not have been able to come to school. We'd have been at home, not here learning or playing with our friends."

Neema and Cotida, they talk animatedly about why they like going to Kerezange and about their career aspirations, as they shade themselves under a tree in the playground.

Neema, aged 7, wants to be a nurse: "I like school very much, biology is my favourite lesson. I think it's important that I attend school so that when I grow up I can become a nurse. I'd really like to take care of people."

The school's committee - made up of 10 parents and teachers- is currently busy fundraising to build new classrooms, a lodge house for teachers, install electricity and running water as well as buy computer equipment for the school.

Parent Bernard Sepetu said: "In a changing world, it's imperative that we start teaching computer sciences so we have to consider adding a special building."

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Key facts

• More than nine out of ten children go to primary school in Tanzania (2005)
• In 2002, 1,659,847 children (twice as many than in 2001) entered the first year of primary school in Tanzania as a consequence of the abolition of fees for primary education. Since 2001, the number of teachers is up by a quarter and the number of schools is up by a fifth
• Tanzania's secondary education plan was launched in 2004 - only 30% of primary school leavers attend secondary school
• More than a hundred million children worldwide do not attend school, mostly in the world's poorest countries. This lack of basic education means that young people have fewer choices and opportunities and it is also making it harder for countries in the developing world to tackle poverty and disease.

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