20. June 2007
Tanzania - Female School Dropouts
Tanzanian authorities have expressed their concern over the large numbers of female students dropping out of school due to pregnancy, marriage, child labour or truancy.
In his monthly address to the nation, President Jakaya Kikwete, proclaimed that the number has risen from 32,469 in 2005 to 44,742 in 2006.
“We must find the solution to this problem as soon as possible,” said Kikwete. The president urges parents and community leaders to provide support and ensure that teenage girls complete school.
Ludovic Mwananzila, the deputy minister for education and vocational training, identified the dropout rate in primary schools as 30% and 20% in secondary schools. He continued to explain that dropouts resulting from pregnancy occured more frequently in some areas than others. Some girls were as young as 11. In the southern region of Mtwara at least 400 school-girls became pregnant in 2006, while in Rukwa in the southwest half as many discontinued their education due to pregnancy.
Women activists have accused the government of delaying a review of the law of marriage, especially regarding provisions that allow a girl to mary at 14 or 15.
“The government should make it illegal for a girl to be married at younger than 18 because she is still a minor as far as the country´s constitution is concerned,” said Ananilea Nkya, director of the Tanzania Media Women Association. “The Law of Marriage Act (1971) allows a girl as young as 14 to be married.”
According to the organization Global Campaign for Education, one in every five girls of primary school age are not in school. This has become such a pressing matter because not only are they missing out on the more obvious benefits of education such as learning to read and write, being able to earn a living, and participating in democracy. Education also gives women and girls the tools they need to protect themselves against HIV and AIDS.
“World leaders barely raised an eyebrow when we missed the Millenium Development Goal to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education. Shockingly, 94 countries missed this target. Two years on it is a travesty that the international community continues to stand by as millions of girls are denied their rights to a life-saving education,” said Maria Khan, GCE Board Member.
Women now represent 75% of all HIV-infected Africans between the ages of 15 and 25.
Sources
www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12730
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