Poverty and Human Development Report 2009 - UNDP in Tanzania

provision of housing, funding for which might be drawn from the capital development budget.
The application of formula-based allocations to redress geographic disparities under the local
government reform programme is discussed in detail in Cluster III.
Secondary Education
Transition Rate from Standard VII to Form 1
The transition rate from Standard VII to Form 1 maintains a downward trend from 67.5%
in 2006 to 51.6% in 2008, which is consistent with the declines in PSLE pass rates
(MoEVT, 2009, p. 22). Currently, the transition rate exceeds the MKUKUTA target of 50%, but
based on the current trend, there is a real risk of failing to meet the target in 2010. Year-on-year
swings in data may be symptomatic of weakness in sector planning and general stress in the
education system. Financial allocations to secondary education also show significant year-onyear
changes without any technical justification (Table 9).
Net Secondary Enrolment
Overall, net secondary enrolment has continued to increase from 20.6% in 2007 to 27.8% in
2009. HBS 2007 data also show that poor families have especially benefited from the expansion
in access to secondary education, though they are still under-represented (Table 10 and 11). Cost
is likely to be barrier (Maarifa ni Ufunguo, 2008). Few government scholarships for children from
poorer households are available, so children of households in higher wealth quintiles continue
to have greater access to secondary education. Indeed, research into the impact of costs for
secondary education has shown that the poorest families are effectively subsidising secondary
education; contributions from all households for the construction of secondary schools are
compulsory, but the poorest families cannot afford the fees to send their children to them. 32
Gender equity declines markedly from the outset of secondary level. From gender parity in
primary school, the proportion of girls in government schools falls to under 45% in Form 1 and
to 35% by the end of Form 6. The proportion of girls in private secondary schools is consistently
higher than government schools; 52% in Form 1 and 45% in Form 6. Positively, trends in gender
equity are improving in both government and private schools.
How to fund the expansion in secondary education – which is faster than the Secondary Education
Development Programme (SEDP) had envisaged – remains a major challenge. A World Bank
analysis examined the implications of MKUKUTA’s NER targets of 50% for Forms 1 to 4, and
25% in Forms 5 and 6 by 2010 (World Bank, 2008c).
“In 2010, there will be about 4.1 million young people aged 14-17, and about 1.8 million young
people aged 18-19. The implication of the Government’s MKUKUTA targets is that about 2.5
million people should be enrolled in secondary education in 2010. Even if the rate of enrolment
growth in the non-government sector accelerates from recent experience to 10% annually,
Government-supported secondary schools would need to enrol about 2,240,000 pupils in
2010. This is 2.7 times greater than the enrolment in Government-supported secondary
schools in 2007, and more than 8 times greater than the enrolment in Governmentsupported
secondary schools in 2004. There are no examples of countries that have increased
secondary enrolments eightfold over a period of six years. In this sense, what the Government
is aiming at achieving in secondary education is unprecedented.”
32 See, for example, Maarifa ni Ufunguo (2008).
CLUSTER II- GOAL 1
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