“I Had a Dream to Finish School”

Recommendations

Info

Eileen (pseudonym), 21, dropped out of Form II when her school conducted a pregnancy test and school officials and parents found out she was pregnant. In Tanzania, school officials routinely subject girls to forced pregnancy testing as a disciplinary measure to expel pregnant students from schools. 4 “I HAD A DREAM TO FINISH SCHOOL”
Education has been a national priority for successive Tanzanian governments since independence. Tanzania has one of the world’s largest young populations, and its young people are at the heart of its aspiration to become a middle-income country by 2025. The country’s economic and social progress and human development depends, in part, on empowering and educating this unique resource with the skills needed to take forward this nationwide goal. Quality education can lift families and communities out of poverty and increase a country’s economic growth. Completing secondary education has been shown to strongly benefit individuals’ health, employment, and earnings throughout their lives. Secondary education, including technical and vocational training, can empower young people with soft skills needed for sustainable development, including citizenship and human rights, and ensure access to essential information to protect their health and well-being. For girls, safe and equal enrollment in secondary education can act as a powerful equalizer, ensuring all girls and boys access the same subjects, activities, and career choices. Yet, millions of Tanzanian children and adolescents do not gain a secondary education or vocational training. It is estimated that a total of 5.1 million children aged 7 to 17 are out of school, including nearly 1.5 million of lower secondary school age. Education ends for many children after primary school: only three out of five Tanzanian adolescents, or 52 percent of the eligible school population, are enrolled in lower-secondary education and fewer complete secondary education. Formal vocational training is unavailable to many of the children who want it. Instead of enrolling in school, many children resort to child labor, often in exploitative, abusive, or hazardous conditions, in violation of Tanzanian law, to supplement their family’s income. Girls also face many challenges on account of their gender. Almost two out of five girls marry before 18 years; and thousands of adolescent girls drop out of school because of pregnancy. Until recently, many families did not enroll their children in secondary school because they could not afford school fees and related expenses, often costing more than Tanzanian Shillings (TZS) 100,000 (US$50) per year. But in December 2015, Tanzania’s new government took a crucial step: it abolished all school fees and “contributions” —additional fees charged by schools to pay for the schools’ running costs—previously required to enter lowersecondary schools in the country. According to the government, secondary school enrollment has significantly increased as a result. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2017 5
Page 1: H U M A N R I G H T S W A T C H “
Page 4 and 5: Copyright © 2017 Human Rights Watc
Page 6 and 7: Lack of Adequate Sanitation Facilit
Page 9 and 10: Summary and Key recommendationS HUM
Page 11: All photos © 2016 Elin Martínez/H
Page 15 and 16: all children in Tanzania. This repo
Page 17 and 18: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2017
Page 19 and 20: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2017
Page 21 and 22: teachers. Many also face sexual exp
Page 23 and 24: The government’s recent commitmen
Page 25 and 26: A snapshot of “Our Cries,” a we
Page 27 and 28: End Discriminatory Barriers and Sex
Page 29 and 30: young adults from ages 10 to 19, in
Page 31 and 32: I. Background: Secondary Education
Page 33 and 34: government allocated an additional
Page 35 and 36: As of March 2016, there were 3,601
Page 37 and 38: The World Bank, one of Tanzania’s
Page 39 and 40: IV, the last year of lower-secondar
Page 41 and 42: 20 percent of the population was 67
Page 43 and 44: to 18 years. 68 In August 2016, Tan
Page 45 and 46: consolidation of the foundations fo
Page 47 and 48: ensure that the standards of educat
Page 49 and 50: Under the CRPD, Tanzania is also ob
Page 51 and 52: Protection from Child Marriage and
Page 53 and 54: III. Barriers to Accessing Secondar
Page 55 and 56: Similarly, when students who could
Page 57 and 58: Free means [refers to] school fees
Page 59 and 60: are not given another opportunity t
Page 61 and 62: As discussed above, the Tanzanian g
Page 63 and 64:
Watch walked more than one hour to
Page 65 and 66:
IV. Corporal Punishment and Humilia
Page 67 and 68:
Human Rights Watch asked senior sch
Page 69 and 70:
Fatma, 16, said: “Teachers hit st
Page 71 and 72:
alternative way of managing classro
Page 73 and 74:
Female students in many schools mus
Page 75 and 76:
If they [girls] come from far away,
Page 77 and 78:
Difficult Return to School After Pr
Page 79 and 80:
Sexual Exploitation and Harassment
Page 81 and 82:
schools, exacerbated by impunity an
Page 83 and 84:
teenage pregnancy. 250 The governme
Page 85 and 86:
Lack of Adequate Sanitation Facilit
Page 87 and 88:
Female students reported multiple c
Page 89 and 90:
According to Theresa, 19: They didn
Page 91 and 92:
VI. Barriers Faced by Students with
Page 93 and 94:
education at the Ministry of Educat
Page 95 and 96:
Oscar, 18, mentioned previously, ha
Page 97 and 98:
VII. Lack of Quality Education in S
Page 99 and 100:
to fill the gap in secondary school
Page 101 and 102:
teacher to help. The school has no
Page 103 and 104:
Some students reported being punish
Page 105 and 106:
VIII. Lack of Adequate Educational
Page 107 and 108:
Many vocational training schools ar
Page 109 and 110:
• Immediately change existing pol
Page 111 and 112:
• Immediately end pregnancy testi
Page 113 and 114:
• Ensure students with disabiliti
Page 115 and 116:
Urge the Government of Tanzania to
Page 117 and 118:
Msigallah and Gisela Berger of CCRB
show all

“I Had a Dream to Finish School”

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?