SPECIAL REPORT: Shock as more boys quit schools, pregnancy-related dropout surge
Singida/Dodoma. “I am a Form One student at Mughanga Secondary School. During holidays I work as a temporary Bajaj driver to support my mother,” says Baraka Athumani, 16, as he rides the tricycle plying between Singida Bus Stand and Msufini Market.
There are few Bajaj drivers at the bus stand. But the situation is different at Msufini market, where there are scores of Bajaj riders, most of them young boys aged between 15 and 18.
This situation made me curious and started to inquire about the status of the young boys. Reactions from neighbours were shocking. “Most of these young boys are students, who have quit or about to quit school, we know them very well,” says Jacob Joseph, who runs a French fry hut at Msufini Market.
He speaks of many young boys who have quit school to become Bajaj or motorcycle drivers.
Back to Mr Athumani. He rejects suggestion that he will finally quit studies for that job, “I am doing just to get some cash, How can I quit school while I don’t have a job?,” he asks.
Beside him is Samuel Mkola, 19, who has quit school early 2018 when he was in Form Four. He refuses to name the school but admits he did that to get some cash to sustain his life. “By then studies were tough, it was like wasting time. Today I can at least make a living and support my family.
Mr Mkola represents many students in the region, who have chosen to quit school to become tricycle and motorcycle drivers for various reasons.
Data on dropouts
Data from the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government)-Basic Education Statistics (BEST 2017 and 2018)- show dropout rate at secondary schools has increased by 2.8 percent to 65,700 students in 2017 from 63,903 in 2016.
The statistics show that dropouts in secondary schools are higher in lower grades as compared to upper grades, with Form II students having the highest rate.
During 2017, about 27,826 Form II students skipped schools (42.3 percent), followed by Form One and Form III with 20,560 (31.3 per cent) and 11,696 (17.8 per cent) respectively.
Truancy is cited as the major reason for dropouts at 87.8 percent, followed by pregnancy (8.3 percent) and indiscipline (3.0 percent) while the least is death at 0.9 percent.
In the same year, primary school recorded 66,142 student dropouts, a 43.8 percent decrease compared with 117,927 students the previous year.
As the case was with secondary schools, dropouts in primary schools were higher at lower than upper classes, with Standard Two leading by 21.7 percent, Standard One (18.9 percent) and Standard Three at the third place.
Why are they dropping schools?
Karimu Yahaya, 21, who completed Form Four at Kwapakacha Secondary School, Kondoa District in 2018, says he almost quit school when he was in Form Three. Why?
“I was then going to school just because my grandfather, whom I lived with, was forcing me to, otherwise I would have quit,” he says.
What tempted him to want to give up studies, he says, they were his friends who had discontinued studies and were making money as motorbike drives.
“It is very difficult to continue studying while seeing your friends make money and start independent life in rented rooms.
“But that was not the only reason. What discouraged me was seeing my cousin perform well in class and finished university education, but jobless since 2016, that was really disappointing,” Karim is now a motorbike driver.
Mr Shafii Juma, who was a student at Bicha Secondary School in Kondoa District, says he quit school in 2017 while in Form Two to venture in small businesses. “Most of my relatives (uncles) used to travel to villagers for weekly auctions, I learned from them and wanted to do business,” he says.
BEST statistics point out other reasons for dropouts as pregnancy, indiscipline, death and truancy.
According to the data, truancy is fuelled by domestic works, farm works, fishing, industrial works, lack of basic needs, livestock keeping, illness, early marriage, mining works, unfriendly learning environment, parents’ divorce or separation, petty trade and need to take care of parents or relatives.
Dropout is higher among boys than girls
With the new statistics, the fact that girl students’ dropout has always exceeded is now a myth. The new data indicated that in secondary schools 52 per cent of students who quit school are boys. This means in every fifty students who dropout of secondary school, there are two more boys than girls.
The case is even worse in primary schools where 55 per cent of students who forsake their studies are boys.
Stakeholders are of the view that too much focus by the government and other partners on girl students has prompted a new problem.
The main factors, however, remained early pregnancies and early marriages.
Tanzania Education Network (TENMET) program manager Nicodemus Eatlawe says boys quit school because of youthful confidence which makes them think they can afford to run their lives.
“Education is also not a priority to them due to high rate of unemployment.
“... It is easier for a student who knows his brother or sister who has studied up to university level moving around for years without a job to quit school because they are not motivated.
Godfrey Telli, a researcher with Twaweza, a regional advocacy organization working to improve child education told The Citizen child labour and peer groups are more influencing boys than girls,.
“Boys quit schools to become bodaboda riders or fishermen so that they can make a living,” says Telli.
Telli says boys quit school not because they want to do so but because of the pressure from their families. “Sometimes they do this to support their families like paying school fees for siblings,” he says.
Education researcher Muhanyi Nkoronko said the situation differed from between villages and cities. Findings of his many researches have cited long distances from home to school and back as one of the major reason for dropouts.
“...the far is the school from students’ home the most likely they can drop out of school, and the fact that students stay in school for many hours (more than eight hours) without food.
Dropout by pregnancy is escalating
According to the figures, pregnancy-related dropouts have increased in both secondary and primary schools in 2017 compared to years before.
Primary school students who quit school had a fourfold and twice increased to 1,040 in 2017 compared to 251 in 2015 and 594 in 2016 respectively.
Correspondingly, in secondary schools there was a 55.1 per cent increase to 5,336 pupils from 3,439 pupils who dropped out of school in 2015 and 4,442 students in 2016.
These happened despite multiple efforts made by the government and stakeholders in preventing pregnancies in school by giving severe punishment to doers include a 30-year jail term to men, who make school girls pregnant.
Dr Telli said the reason for growing pregnancy cases is too much stakeholders’ focus on prevention measures rather than what happens after pregnancy.
“We are hitting the wrong target… we should also focus on the outcome, stopping a girl return to school after pregnancy is like closing options for her, what can she do…” he said, adding that in his view this will minimize the rate of girls dropping out of school due to pregnancies.
Mr Eatlawe said girls get pregnant mainly because they have reproductive education but overconfidence in practising it and using unprotected sex. “They can use protective sex once or twice but as they use to know each other they stop and that is where the problem starts,” he says.
Community and teachers’ concerns
Dodoma Municipal Education Officer Martin Nkwabi associates student dropouts to school infrastructure and learning environment, family situation and student behaviour.
“School infrastructure must be supportive, while cooperation between parents and teacher is also a crucial aspect in monitoring students’ behaviour”
Francis Sechambo, head teacher at Mbuyuni Primary School in Korogwe Tanga, said the main reason for dropouts in their area is the relocation of parents in search of greener pastures because most of them are pastoralists.
Mr Hasan Kijengi, who resides at Msufini in Singida, said the community must cooperate with schools in exposing and monitoring children’s behaviour.
What are stakeholders doing
To reduce the dropout rate, Dr Telli says stakeholders must look at how they intervene and the focus should not be on a certain group or gender only
“..Interventions like creating activities inside schools which will attract students depending on location, example food is school work more perfectly in Dodoma, Singida than Mwanza, Ukerewe.
He advises that the door for girls who get pregnancies should remain open. At policy level, Dr Telli advises respective ministries to involve stakeholders at all levels in policy making.
However, Mr Nkoronko commends the government for improving the school environment so that they can be supportive to students, mentioning classes, desks, water among others. TENMETs’ Eatlawe is of the view that education must not be the only option but students and children need to be developed to the areas they perform well.
“The education system must be reviewed in such a way that students can be developed in their respective talents instead of making them waste their time,” says Eatlawe.
Government voice
The deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Ave Maria Semakafu says high dropout is proportional to the rate of enrolment and thus since the thorough implementation of free education policy number of dropout has been increasing. “A high number of students get enrolled each year, if you build classes this year, you need more next year but the government strives for both--increasing enrolment and end school dropouts.
