CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUNG INFORMATION

1.1.1    Overview situation

At the UN Social Summit in Copenhagen in 1995, governments established universal primary education as one of the key human development targets for 2015. According to Article 28 of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child in 1989 November, the right of basic education is the basic right of the children and call for all nations to make primary education compulsory and available free to all.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) also call for all children to have equal access to and complete a good quality primary education by 2015. Without eliminating gender disparity in education by that date, the goal for universal education will not be met to 2015. This is because, in almost all in the developing countries girls as contrast to boys, are vastly neglected on the rights of education.

The problem of gender bias on education is common especially in developing countries; the gender bias against the education for female begins at home. According to the UN, girls make up 46 percent of primary enrolment, which then takes a huge drop to 16 percent in secondary school enrolment.

The United Republic of Tanzania ratifies the convention on the right of the children in 1991. The Zanzibar government demonstrated it on 3^rd September 1991in the House of Representatives, Wete Pemba. It has also shows its commitment to those declarations. The goal of improving basic education has subsequently incorporated into the Vision 2020 of the Government of Zanzibar and 2025 of the United Republic of Tanzania; and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan (PRSP) and the Zanzibar Poverty Reduction Plan (ZPRP).

The government legislation is slowly improving to ensure equal and quality education opportunities for women. In Zanzibar, the spinsters, widow and female divorcee protection Act no. 4 section 3(1) of 1985 of the law of Zanzibar shows that, ‘a spinster who is found to be pregnant at her own will shall be guilty of an offence under section 3 (1) shall be liable on conviction to be sent to an educational center for a period of two years’. According to this Act, the spinster was not allowed to continue with schooling. Though the Zanzibar government has now propose a new bill for his issue, that could allow spinsters to continue with school during the period of rehabilitation, but still the problem is exist since the society is still ignorant for this new bill.

1.1.2    The Improvement of the quality of basic education for girls Zanzibar (IQBEZ) project intervention:

In 2001, Changamoto Life Preservation Fund (LPF) in collaboration with CARE International in Tanzania embarked on a project aiming at facilitating the communities to improve basic education with an emphasis on the girl child. The initiation of project started with the baseline survey aimed at identifying problems facing girls in acquiring basic/primary education. The results of this survey revealed, among others, the factors that affected the quality of primary education including low girl’s enrollment, poor retention and low completion.

In this regard, CARE Tanzania and Changamoto LTF decided to intervene in the matter. The project has been implemented in six schools of West, Central and South Districts of Unguja Island. These schools are Langoni, Regezamwendo and Mwenge Primary schools in West District, Kitogani and Pete Primary schools in South District and Michamvi Primary school in South District. Specifically the IQBEZ project attempted to: -

• Improve capacity of standard I – IV primary school teachers from 6 selected schools on leaner centered and gender sensitive method.
• Enhance management capacities of six schools committees on roles and responsibilities to promote quality access to and performance of basic education in their areas.
• Improve conducive teaching/ learning environment though supply and use of facilities like textbooks, classrooms, latrines and libraries. And
• Promote community/stakeholders awareness for support and active involvement in planning, managing, monitoring and evaluating their education programmes at village and district level.

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Tanzania has adopted several International declarations aiming at improving the welfare of children. These include the MDGs that call all children to have equal access to and complete a good quality primary education by the year 2015.

Education has long been also a priority in the socio-economic policies and development strategies in Zanzibar, strengthening on education system was a central goal of the Revolutionary Government. The government is aiming at making education more equitable by addressing imbalances and disparities in its provision. The Ministry of Education was introduced with the responsibilities of planning, developing policies and policy guidelines, and setting of standards for quality assurance, in collaboration with parents, communities, civil society organizations, private sectors and other development partners.

In supporting the government efforts the Changamoto LPF as a local NGO in assistance from the CARE Tanzania have introduce the IQBEZ/BEF project to improve the basic education for the girls especially in Std I to IV, but as plan of improving the girls education the boys’ will also improved. The project has now ends the first phase and starting new phase of implementation with additional of another four schools, communities, and other stakeholders have experienced many challenges, failure, strengths, success and weaknesses during the implementation period. In view of this; the study intended to study the performance obtained and community’s ownership of the project after its termination.

1.3       OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.3.1    Main objective

The objective of this study was to study the performance of the ‘Improvement of the Quality of Basic Education for Girls Zanzibar (IQBEZ/BEF) project.

1.3.2        Specific objectives

Specifically the study attempted to:-

i)                    Examine the implementation performance of the ‘Improvement of the Quality of Basic Education project’ in the 5 selected primary schools;

ii)         Study the effects of the IQBEZ/BEF project to the girls in the 5 selected primary schools after implementing the project;

iii)         Examine the extent to which community participate in planning   processes of project so as to ensure the community’s ownership.

1.4      SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study was conducted five (5) schools in which the project was implemented. These schools are located at the west District of Zanzibar. These schools are Langoni, Regezamwendo and Mwenge. The study intended to look the outcome of Improvement of the Quality of Basic Education (IQBEZ/BEF) project.

1.5      SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The issue about girls’ education has the multiple importances to the society. It’s significance starts from the grassroots level to the national level. Many girls in the world are suffering from biases on acquiring basic education. Lack of quality basic education is one among the indicators of underdevelopment and existence of incidence of poverty. So, since this is the global problem, needs specific efforts to be tackled. This includes rigorous research and implementation of all importance programmes and plans which in one way or another will improve the situation.

The end result of this study includes practicable recommendations, which in turn is helpful to the policy and decision makers, planners and other stakeholders to understand the factors contributes to increased girls’ biases on and lack of quality to education and combat the problem through policy formulation, decision-making and planning strategies, so as to improve girls’ situation and development at large. They also provide information to the International Organizations line (UNICEF and CARE), which is helpful to them to make strategies and plans specifically to this region, since the factors leading to the existence of these biases many differ from one region to another as a global.

Since the project is continue with phase two, this also helps the project implementers (the Changamoto LPF) to understand the areas still having problems and how or where they should put more efforts so as to strengthen the achievements obtained. The community and other stakeholders may also use the findings to take appropriate measures and actions to fight with those factors leading to the problem and improve the quality of basic education.

1.6      CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.6.1        Theoretical framework

IQBEZ is the comparison of activities being implemented in order to alleviate the gender bias and improve the quality of basic education, this bias spread over up to the high level of decision-making. The main/overall goal of IQBEZ/BEF project is to improve the quality of girls’ basic education through access, retention and performance.

The outcome of IQBEZ is largely depending on the availability of resources for project implementation; plan for effective techniques to reach quality girls education; and the effective stakeholders’ contributions and participation. All these are expected to make the impact on improving conducive learning/teaching environments; improving teaching capacity by considering gender sensitive teaching methodologies; and enhancing schools’ committees’ capacities. These factors can work effectively if there is concerted efforts of management and planning of IQBEZ activities. If these factors are well planned and managed will yield positive outcome and vise versa.

Figure 1.1: Conceptual framework for the improvement of the quality of girls’ Basic education

1.6.1        RESEARCH QUESTIONS

           i.                To what extent do the implementation of the IQBEZ/BEF project resulted in to performance of the project in improving the basic education in 5 selected primary schools?

Variables

·        Number of textbook provided.

·        Number of established libraries.

·        Number of teachers trained.

·        Number of constructed latrines.

·        Number of schools’ committees training.

·        Number of community sensitization meetings.

          ii.                Does the performance of the IQBEZ/BEF project results into positive effects to the girls’ education in the 5 selected primary schools?

Variables.

·        Number of students enrolled.

·        Number of girls enrolled.

·        Number of girls completes standard seven.

·        Number of women parents involved in schools committees’.

·        Repetition rates.

         iii.               To what extent do the community have participated in the planning process so as to ensures the project sustainability and community’s ownership?

Variables.

·        Number of stakeholders involved.

·        Gender composition of stakeholders.

·        Types of stakeholders’ contribution.

·        Techniques to ensure community’s ownership and sustainability of the project.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1       Introduction

Fighting for girls’ education is the activity being done in almost all over the world, particularly in developing countries by using different ways and approaches. Different actors including scholars, planners, education practitioners and many others perceive it differently. This chapter reviews the literatures of different authors concerning the subject.

2.2  The rights to education

The rights to education are recognized by International law. At a minimum state are obliged to provide free basic education, of which primary education is considered a component. The right to education is enrishned in article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides that, “every one has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory”. The article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), guarantees the rights to education for every one. In particular, article 13(2)(a) provides that “primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all”. (        UNESCO 1999).

2.3  Overview concept

2.3.1        The world’s basic education situation

Basic education in developing world faces both qualitative and quantitative problems. The declaration adopted during the World Conference of Education for All, advocated that the developing countries and the donor organizations must each initiate action toward resolving such problems (Utsumi S. 1990).

The ultimate goal of the MDGs states that by 2015, all boys and girls alike should have access to and complete, a good quality primary education. This implies that, girls and boys must be equally well provided for; but there is a separate Millennium Development Goal that makes the explicit: to eliminate by 2005 all gender disparity in primary and secondary education, and to achieve by 2015 full gender equality in education including enrolment, completion and learning achievement (UNICEF, 2004).

But these goals look dauntingly distant. Access to primary schooling is most usefully measured by net enrolment ratios. These increased during the 1990s in all regions and made for a world average of 81 percent enrolment by 2002. But the regional variation is enormous. While enrolment rates in Latin America and the Caribbean are close to those in industrialized countries, at 94 and 97 percent respectively. South Asia lags much further behind at 74 percent, while Sub-Saharan Africa languishes at a mere 59 percent (UNICEF 2004).

Every year an increasing number of children have been accommodated within primary education, but available places are not sufficient to keep pace with the annual growth in the school-age population. As a result, the global number of children out of school stubbornly remains undiminished at 121 million and the majority is still girls. Sub-Saharan Africa, accounts for a proportionately large number of the world’s non-enrolled primary school-aged children – 41 million in 1990 and 45 million in 2003. Significantly, the mass of children out of school includes those who have dropped out early, as well as those who have never set foot in a classroom. The MDGs specify that the world needs to ensure that children complete their primary schooling- it is not enough that they merely register and attend only for a year or two (UNICEF 2004).

2.3.2        Availability

This relates to the states’ provision of facilities allowing the day-to-day function of the school itself. Thus adequate buildings, learning materials, sanitation facilities and sage drinking water are some of the factors that would impact on the availability of quality education to all (Watkins K.1999).

2.3.3        Accessibility

Education shall be physically and economically accessible to all without discrimination. The school should be within safe reach or alternatively, means must be made available to ensure that children get to school. In the context of learners’ farm schools, this would include transport provision for learners, who travel long distance on foot, from their homes to school. School fees should not in effect exclude enrollment. There is recognition that education – particularly at the primary level should be free for all.  (Watkins K. 1999)

2.4  History of basic education in Africa

Basic education has always been a central concern of the African peoples who recognize that it constitutes the basis of all socio-economic development. The difficulties that today confront many regions of the world are in part, caused by a breakdown in the systems established to provide basic education. Educational history in Sub-Saharan Africa can be divided into three eras:

·        The pre-colonial period;

·        The colonial period; and

·        The period since independence.

2.4.1    The pre-colonial period

Traditionally, education in Africa was considered a concern of the entire society. It was viewed in a global perspective, not as a set of specializations, and understood as a collective responsibility. The characteristics of traditional education are: - Education is given everywhere, at any time and by all members of society; Education is closely linked to the environment; Education is directly related to the needs of society; An individual’s integration into production occurs early in life; Parents play an important part in the education of their children; and the Knowledge is transmitted orally. In traditional context, education gave the child a sense of security, belonging, identify, and accomplishment. It was not only a process of preparation, but also a process of participation in the life and work of his or her group or community.

2.4.2    The colonial period

The first schools implanted in Africa were those of the missionaries and represented a veritable subsystem of foreign education. At the colonial period, the traditional education lost its sense of functionality of serving the African community. According to statistics published by the world bank, the gross rate of enrollment in primary education in Africa in 1960, near the end of the colonial era, was 36 percent as compared of 67 percent for Asia and 73 percent for Latin America. This average, however, concealed large disparities between territories, urban and rural area, sexes and religious and ethnic groups. The rate of illiteracy was over 90 percent for Sub-Saharan Africa. The colonial government provided education, which aimed at training government officers where as national education was scarcely conducted.

2.4.3    The period of independence

At independence, Africa inherited from its colonial past an education system poorly adapted to its needs and realities. The first order of business for many independent countries was to change this situation. Beginning in May 1961,with the Addis Ababa Conference organized by UNESCO, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa set about in a spirit of high enthusiasm the reform of their education system as part of a plan to achieve socio-economic development and cultural liberation.(all these phases are by;Bah-Diallo A 1997).

2.5  Girls’ illiteracy

According to the Dakar Conference review on progress achieved since the world conference of Education for all held in Thailand in 1990, in Sub-Saharan Africa over half of all women and one-third of men enter the new millennium in a state of illiteracy and the number are going up. Meanwhile, over 40 million children of primary school age, almost half of the total age group is out of school. Million mote dropouts are recoded before having gaining basic literacy skills. Across much of the region, the basic education infrastructure is in a dilapidated state, providing a poor quality learning environment that produces poor results and the developing world’s lowest rate of transition to secondary and higher education.

At the UN Social Summit in Copenhagen in 1995, governments established universal primary education as one of the key human development targets for 2015. But if the current trends continue, Africa will miss this target by a wide margin. Civil wars in countries such as Angola and Sudan and bad education policies have contributed to the decline in the quality primary education, but under-financing is perhaps the single most pervasive problem. Economic stagnation and rapid population growth has reduced real spending per pupil by over 20 percent since 1980, with devastating implication for the quality of education. A study covering 10 African countries found that one-third of children  were sitting in classrooms without blackboards.

Misplaced domestic priorities are partly responsible for such problem. Governments such as Zambia, Chad and Mali spend less then one percent of GDP on basic education. Military budgets continue to claim a larger share of public revenue than primary school budgets. Structural adjustment programmes have also borne heavily on education budgets. Around 14 African countries have cut per capita spending on education under programmes proposed by the international Monetary Fund and World bank, in some cases, such as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Niger by more than 3 percent per annum.

When public investment collapses, the quality of education inevitably deteriorates, and households pickup the bill in the form of school charges. Private spending by households now covers more than two-third of total education spending in countries such as Mali and Tanzania. This process of privatization by default has placed education beyond the means of the poorest households, with girls the first to suffer as financial pressure bite.

2.6  Girls dropout

The genders gap in primary school enrolment certainly narrowed during the 1990s. The ratios of girls gross enrolment rate to boys in developing countries increased from 0.86 to 0.92. Nearly two third of developing countries improved on girls enrolment over the decade with biggest improvement seen in Benin, Chad, the Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Morrocco, the proportion of girls enrolment in rural areas short up from 44.6 percent in 1997-1998 to 82.2 percent in 2002/03.

Yet girls’ primary school competition rate still lags way behind boys, at 76 percent compared with 85 percent. This yawning gender gap means that millions more girls than boys are dropping out each year. As a result, the majority of the children not in school are girls. Again the most worrying statistics come from Sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of girls out of school rose from 20 million in 1990 to 24 million in 2002. 83 percent of all girls out of school in the world live in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and East Asia and the Pacific. The latest UNICEF global figure, which include both girls’ attendance and enrolment, show that 70 countries have rates of less than 85 percent.

Most countries reduced the gender enrolment gap in secondary education during the 1990s. The countries with the smallest proportion of girls enrolling in secondary school are, with the exception of Bhutan, all in Sub-Saharan Africa; in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Ethiopia, Guinea, Niger, Somalia and the United Republic of Tanzania, the gross enrolment rate is under 10 percent, these regions also have few female teachers (UNICEF 2004).

The gender bias against the education of female begins in the home. According to the UN, girls make up 46 percent of primary school enrolment, which then takes a huge drop to 16 percent in secondary enrolment. Traditional practices including heavy household workloads, domestic priorities, and gender roles greatly hinder girls’ progression in education (Novicki A. M 1998).

2.7  Poverty’s double edge for girls

A recent reports on poverty found that 135 million children in the developing world between age of 7 and 18 had no education at all, with girls 60 percent more likely than boys to be so ‘educationally deprived’. Educational depreviation and poverty go hand in hand. Gender disparity in education is significantly greater for children living in poverty. Thus girls are in double jeopardy affected by both gender and poverty.(UNICEF 2004)

2.8       Multiplier effect of educating girls

Girls’ education is the most effective means of combating many of the profound challenges to human development. Providing girls the opportunity to complete their education yields benefits for all (UNICEF 2004)

2.8.1    Ensuring children the best start to life

Ensuring the best start to life means investing health care, nutrition, water, sanitation and education for young children and their mothers. This investment will help children to be healthy and alert instead of forever playing catch-up physically and mentally. Leaning starts at birth. Early education is integral for survival, growth and development, with all basic services interdependent. Preventing iodine deficiency and anaemia, for example improves health and nutrition and it protects early brain development.

2.8.2    Fighting HIV/AIDS

In the absence of a vaccine protecting children and young people against HIV/AIDS, education is the best defense against the disease. The more education and skilled, the more likely they are to protect themselves from infection; and those in school spend less time in risky situations. This is particularly important for girls, who are more easily infected with HIV during sex than boys.

The best school based defense against HIV/AIDS is incorporated into a life skills program. For program to be most effective they must: -

Provide gender – specific information of HIV and its prevention; teach critical analysis, communication and decision-making skills; challenge gender stereotypes; develop practical links to youth-friendly, gender sensitive health services.

2.8.3    Creating a protective environment

After families, education is the next perimeter of a protective environment for children. School children can learn skills and information that help protect them form exploitation such as child labor. Literate girls can avoid hazardous labor, sexual exploitation and trafficking. They are also less vulnerable to extreme forms of intrafamily violence.

2.8.4    Helping children in emergencies

Education is not a luxury in emergencies that only is ensured after others elements are in place. It is priority, safe environments must be established so that girls and boys can learn, play and receive psychosocial support. The goal is to create a child-friendly space, a concept that was developed during the 1999 response to the Kosovo crises, the earthquake in Turkey and the violence in what was once East Timor. These child – friendly, gender – sensitive spaces can become hubs for providing water, play, schooling, mother – support, health care and psychosocial support.

2.8.5    The benefits to communities

Efforts to get more girls into school improve the development of the community. Education – prompted measures that address disparity by boosting household income helps the whole family. School feeding program, which are of particular benefit to girls because they suffer more from poor nutrition, feed all children. Safe water and sanitation, key to getting and keeping girls in school, improve the well-being of the entire community. When schools become girl-friendly, they ultimately bring services to all children, their families and communities.

2.9       Hindrances to basic education

2.9.1    Decline in the quality of education

In many countries, due to financial crisis and structural adjustment policy, the educational budget is being throttled and governmental employees involved in education are being laid off. As a result, because school construction cannot keep up with the increasing number of children, the learning environment of children is deteriorating such that 100 students study in a single classroom, there are shortage of desks, chairs, and so forth. In addition, teachers’ wages are suppressed at low level while opportunities for teachers training are decreasing, thus obstructing the intellectual advancement of teachers and lowering their social status (Utsumi S. 1990).

2.9.2    Increase in regional disparities

Economic disparities between urban and rural areas are deeply linked to disparities in educational environment. An economic crisis in rural areas weakens the foundation of the community, which in turn, weakens the foundation of basic education. Further more,the strong preservation of traditional social norms and values in rural areas exerts a negative impact on entry into lower secondary schools and the promotion of school enrollment by girls and women (Utsumi S. 1990)

2.10     Summary of the review

Many literatures have deeply tries to analyze the situation on the rights of education for children and especially girls who seemed to suffer than girls. Most of them have focused to show and identify the serious problems of the third world countries especially Africa, where the most related problems are found. Most of African countries spend high percentage of their budgets for financing militaries expenditures, instead of giving services to the community like education and others. In this region the basic education faces both qualitative and quantitative problems.

The benefits, strengths and weaknesses, constraints and challenges have been discussed. Most of the authors have mentioned the positive impacts of educating girls and they show how it can help to improve the whole welfare of the society like fighting HIV/AIDS, creating a protective environment for girls etc.

Despite of what different authors have mentioned, different international declarations have been provided to solve or reduce the problem. The common things that almost all have insisted is that, the basic education should be freely provided to all groups and classes of the society.

Constraints and challenges that face the basic education for girls have been identified. Some of the identified constraints are capacity of the communities, availability and accessibility of basic education, poverty, increase in regional disparities and others. Some of these are common universally and some are locally. In Tanzania, the government and the private sectors have been taking proper ways to reduce the problem. This research has been motivated to study the efforts taken by the IQBEZ/BEF project and hence to compare with these findings (literatures) so as to come up with relevant recommendations.

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1              The study area

Zanzibar constitutes part of the United Republic of Tanzania (URT) that consist of two main islands of Unguja and Pemba with other small islands around each main island. It lies between 4 ½ ⁰ – 6 ½ ⁰ S and 39⁰ – 40⁰ E and between 30 to 50 km of the East coast of Tanzania mainland in the Indian Ocean. It has an area of about 2460 km^2. Administratively, Zanzibar is divided into 5 regions (3 in Unguja and 2 in Pemba) with 10 districts (6 in Unguja and 4 in Pemba). Each region is divided into 2 districts. West district is the district of Urban – West Region of Unguja Island.

3.1.1        Climate

The Zanzibar climate as well as the west district is tropical in nature with sun overhead of equator on March and October. The temperature ranging between 20⁰C and 40⁰C with average annual temperature of 27⁰C. There are two wet seasons, the ‘Masika’ rains from mid March to Early June, during which precipitation is between 900 to 1000mm; and ‘Vuli’ rains from October to December during which the rainfall is between 400 and 500mm.

3.1.2        Population

According to 2002 census, Zanzibar had a population of 984,625 with the growth rate of 3.1. The West district population is 208, 571 with growth rate of 4.5%, While the South District population is .

3.1.3    Socio-economic activities

3.1.3.1 Economic activities

Majority of people in the West and South Districts are engaged in farming and fishing. There other non-farm activities like small business and small scale carpentry, masonry, bicycle repair and other are public service employees – like teachers, health workers etc. Tourism industry has recently been another main sector which helps employment for many youths.

3.1.3.2                          Social activities

Social services available in the districts include health, education and water.

i)                    Health

In the districts there was Primary Health Care (PHC) units. These centres provide both preventive and curative services.

ii)                  Education

The districts have the government and Private nursery schools, primary schools, and secondary schools that provide formal basic education.

iii)         Administration

Administratively the West District has 38 Shehias, while the South district has 32 Shehias. In the Districts there is two main administrative organs – the office of District Commissioner and the District Council. The District Commissioner presents central government while the council represent the local government.

3.2              SOURCES OF DATA

3.2.1        Primary Source

This includes the first information, which was obtained through discussion with respondents and questionnaire which will be sent to the interviewees as shown in the table 1.

3.2.2        Secondary Sources

This information was collected from different sources such as published and unpublished documents, Internet etc.

3.3              RESEARCH DESIGN