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Girls’ Right to Education in Tanzania: Incongruities between Legislation and Practice

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Abstract

Tanzania is one of the Sub-Saharan African countries with low girls’ attendance rates, high drop-out rates and poor performance in schools. This is despite global, regional and country measures and interventions to promote girls’ right to education. This paper seeks to examine the major international and regional legal provisions for girls’ education and assess whether Tanzanian policies, laws and practices promote girls’ right to education in the country, using a women’s empowerment framework. It asserts that, while some policies and laws in Tanzania promote girls’ right to education, albeit with some shortfalls in relation to gender equality and girls’ empowerment, it is unfortunate that other policies, laws and practices undermine such a right. What we find, instead, is increased contradictions and confusions between specific legislation promoting a girls’ right to education, and broader policy and legal frameworks and practices. These contradictions and confusions contribute significantly to the continued disempowering of girls. Thus, there is a need for the amendment of some policies and laws to harmonise and make them effective and efficient in protecting the rights of girls.

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Acknowledgements

I wish to express my gratitude to Associate Professor Joanne Ailwood, Dr. Margot Ford and Dr. Rachel Buchanan for their excellent support and expert supervision throughout my PhD study. I also thank Japhace Poncian and Joseph Milinga for their support and assistance.

Funding

I am grateful to the University of Newcastle for providing me with financial support which enabled me to pursue and complete my Ph.D. study in Australia.

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  1. Mkwawa University College of Education (A Constituent College of the University of Dar es Salaam), P.O. Box 2513, Iringa, Tanzania

    Hassan Iddy

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Correspondence to Hassan Iddy.

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This study did not involve human subjects, so ethical approval was not necessary.

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Informed consent was not obtained because this study was based on intensive library research which critically reviewed and analysed already existing resources on girls’ right to education.

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Iddy, H. Girls’ Right to Education in Tanzania: Incongruities between Legislation and Practice. Gend. Issues 38, 324–343 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-021-09273-8

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