Redrawing the Map of Complementary Basic Education to Guarantee the Child’s Right to Quality Education in Tanzania

Abstract

While more than 38,283 boys and 27,706 girls in Tanzania, who were out of school, gained access to basic education between 2014 and 2018, implementation of Complementary Basic Education (COBET) has been facing several challenges concerning the quality of education provided and the achievement of its goals. COBET aimed at providing highly equitable access to quality primary education as the basic right of all out-of-school girls and boys in Tanzania. Given the pace of its quality delivery and socio-economic impacts that have affected learners’ access to COBET, this paper examines the state of the COBET programme today, more than 22 years since its implementation. More specifically, the paper explored the issue of quality that has affected implementation of the programme. Data were collected through the qualitative method in Dar es Salaam, Dodoma and Rukwa regions, using in-depth interviews with 8 purposively selected school heads, 10 facilitators and 21 learners, 4 Ward Education Officers and 2 parents. Other data were obtained from focus group discussions with 55 learners, observations in 5 randomly selected schools and from reviewing 22 documents. Findings indicated that the unsatisfactory quality of teaching and learning is a daily reality for many girls and boys, who fail to learn, due to poor community participation, ineffective teaching pedagogies, families’ socio-economic hardships and inadequate resources to support the programme. They affected their learning outcomes and the country’s efforts to ensure that all out-of-school girls and boys “complete free, equitable and quality primary education” as stated and emphasized in the National Education Policy of 2014, Tanzania Development Vision of 2025 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs2030), particularly goal 4. Improving the quality of COBET requires increased commitment and political will to invest more in providing resources, motivated facilitators, teaching and learning facilities and materials as well as making the public aware on importance of education through outreach campaigns.