“I Had a Dream to Finish School”

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Broken braille machines, formerly used by students who are blind, sit on a shelf at a secondary school’s resource center for students with disabilities in Shinyanga, a city in northern Tanzania. Many secondary schools lack the equipment, materials, or pedagogical support needed to make education accessible to all students on an equal basis. 12 “I HAD A DREAM TO FINISH SCHOOL”
teachers. Many also face sexual exploitation and abuse by bus drivers and adults who often ask them for sex in exchange for gifts, rides, or money, on their way to school. In some schools, officials do not report cases of sexual abuse to police, and many schools lack a confidential mechanism to report abuse. Many, and perhaps most, schools force girls to undergo pregnancy testing in school and expel girls when they find out they are pregnant. Girls who are married are also expelled according to the government’s expulsion guidelines. Once out, girls struggle to get back into education because of discrimination and stigma against adolescent mothers, financial challenges, and the absence of a re-admission policy for young mothers of compulsory schooling age. Girls also lack access to adequate sanitation facilities, a particular problem for menstrual hygiene, and often miss school during their monthly periods. Secondary Education Remains Inaccessible to Many Students with Disabilities: Children with disabilities face many barriers and discrimination in primary education, and very few adolescents with disabilities attend secondary schools across the country. Most secondary schools in Tanzania are not accessible to adolescents with physical or other disabilities, and are inadequately resourced to accommodate students with all types of disabilities. Many lack adequate learning materials, inclusive equipment, and qualified teachers. The Quality of Secondary Education is Poor: Many schools lack enough teachers to cover all subjects, with worrying gaps in mathematics and science subjects. Students sometimes go without teachers specialized in these subjects for months, and must often find alternative ways to learn these subjects or pay for private tuition, or fail exams as a result. Classes are too large with 70 students on average. In addition, many secondary schools lack adequate classrooms, learning material, laboratories, and libraries. Millions of students are obliged to take two compulsory tests in secondary education, even if they have not had qualified teachers or materials to study for those tests. Many students fail these exams, and often drop out of secondary education prematurely. Once out of school, many adolescents lack realistic options to complete basic education or to pursue technical and vocational training. Out-of-School Adolescents Have Limited Options To Complete Lower-Secondary Education: The government provides very few realistic alternatives for several million students who do not pass the PSLE or drop out halfway through lower-secondary education, without completing basic education. A return to secondary education is possible if students enroll in private centers to study, but many students lack the financial means and information to HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2017 13
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 and 12: All photos © 2016 Elin Martínez/H
Page 13 and 14: Education has been a national prior
Page 15 and 16: all children in Tanzania. This repo
Page 17 and 18: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2017
Page 19: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2017
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
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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
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“I Had a Dream to Finish School”

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