“I Had a Dream to Finish School”

Methodology
This report is based on research conducted in January, May, and November 2016 in six
districts in the Mwanza, Shinyanga, and Tabora regions of mainland Tanzania, as well as
two districts of the city of Dar es Salaam. 1 Based on consultations with local and national
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Human Rights Watch selected these regions due
to vast disparities in school enrollment, rates of transition to secondary school, distance to
school, the high incidence of child labor, child marriage, and teenage pregnancies, and
disparities in access to education between rural and urban populations. This research
builds on two separate investigations on child labor and child marriage conducted by
Human Rights Watch in these regions in 2012 and 2014, which highlighted the impact of
these harmful practices on access to secondary education.
Human Rights Watch conducted individual interviews with 40 children and 45 young
adults. Their ages ranged from 11 to 23 years. Sixty-five of them were girls and young
women; 20 of them were boys and young men. Seven interviewees had physical, sensory,
and developmental/intellectual disabilities. Combined, they attended 14 primary and 30
secondary schools across different regions.
We also conducted eight focus group discussions with 88 secondary school students in
four public secondary schools, and 53 out-of-school adolescents and young adults.
Adolescents with disabilities participated in focus group discussions. The majority of focus
group participants were under 18. In addition, we interviewed 12 parents or guardians.
In this report, the term “child” refers to anyone under the age of 18, consistent with usage
in international and Tanzanian law. The term “adolescent” is used to describe children and
1 The United Republic of Tanzania is a unitary republic comprising mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. It covers 30
administrative regions. Regions are composed of different administrative levels including districts, councils and wards, and
villages. This report focuses on the laws, regulations, policies, and practices specific to mainland Tanzania. The name
Tanzania used in the report refers to mainland Tanzania.
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