Poverty and Human Development Report 2009 - UNDP in Tanzania

POVERTY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2009
labour in Tanzania, especially for rural children, is work on the farm and in domestic chores, both of
which are considered by many adults as part of normal socialisation, as well as contributing to the
household economy. Adults surveyed by ILFS reported that among children who are unpaid family
helpers in agricultural enterprise, 41.1% are working to assist the household enterprise and 36.5%
for good upbringing and imparting skills. The comparable percentages among children who are
unpaid family helpers in non-agricultural endeavours are 35.6% and 41.1% respectively.
Nonetheless, farming and domestic work can be hazardous: 38.3% of working girls and 36.4%
of working boys ‘frequently’ or ‘sometimes’ carry heavy loads. Girls (37.8%) are a little more likely
than boys (33.5%) to be exposed to dusts, fumes and gases in their work environment. Boys and
girls are more or less equally likely (19.0% and 18.7%) to work in an environment with extreme
temperature, while injuries in their working environment are slightly more common among boys
(17.8%) than girls (16.1%). Overall, more than 60% of all working children are exposed to at least
one of these specified hazardous situations.
People with Disabilities
New information about people with disabilities is available from the Tanzania Disability Survey
(TDS) conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2008 – the first nationally representative
survey to assess the true extent of disability. The overall prevalence of disability was found to
be 7.8%, and roughly the same among males as among females. There are strong geographic
differences, ranging from 2.7% in Manyara to 13.2% in Mara (MoHSW, 2009).
Children with Disabilities Attending Primary School
The specific indicator under the MKUKUTA monitoring system is ‘proportion of children with
disability attending primary school’. The TDS 2008 found that 40% of children aged 7 to 13
years with disabilities were attending school, and less than 2% of these children were attending
special schools. Attendance rates were higher among boys than among girls. Moreover, 16% of
children with disabilities reported being refused entry into educational systems.
A primary attendance rate of 40% among children with disabilities is less than half the overall
attendance rate for primary school of 83.8% reported by the HBS 2007, and clearly indicates the
continued difficulties that children with disabilities face to access schooling.
In 2006, the MoEVT also started to report the number of children with disabilities enrolled in primary
school. Data show that total enrolments of children with disabilities increased from 18,982 pupils in
that year to 34,661 in 2008, but dropped to 27,422 in 2009. However, the TDS 2008 data show that
the MoEVT routine data is clearly not capturing all children with disabilities in school.
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