The Girl-Child and Government Service Provision.pdf - Tanzania ...

forty-two years after independence, the rights and wellbeingof children are far from being assured in Tanzania.As the government’s review of progress following the1990 World Summit for Children and report to theCommittee on the Rights of the Child make clear, Tanzaniahas not yet met the 2000 targets (MCDGC 2000;URT 1998), and is far from being on track to meet the2015 international development targets and Vision 2025goals.The situation of under-five children continues to be precarious.According to the Tanzania Demographic andHealth Survey, the proportion of births delivered at healthfacilities and by skilled personnel declined through the1990s from 53 per cent in 1992 to 44 per cent in 1999.This places both the mother and child at great risk of illness,injury and death. Infant and child mortality rates alsoincreased slightly, such that one in every six children failsto make it to his or her fifth birthday. Data derived frompopulation censuses and national demographic and healthsurveys indicate that child mortality rates dropped significantlyin the period 1960–85 (see Figure 2–1).However, since the late 1980s the infant mortality rateshave increased from 100 to 104 per 1,000 live births, andthe under-five mortality rates increased from 160 to 165per 1,000 live births in the same period. HIV/AIDS is likelyto have contributed significantly to the upward trend inthe child mortality rates, though its precise impact is yetto be established. Both infants and under-five mortalityrates are higher in rural areas than urban areas.Immunisation coverage in Tanzania has remained generallyhigh over the last decade. Overall, about 70 per cent ofchildren were fully immunised in the 1990s, suggestingthere is still scope for improvement, especially to overcomelarge disparities between urban and rural areas(UNICEF 2001).Children between the ages of 7 and 13 years, and in somecases older, have been faring poorly as far as primary educationis concerned. Although Tanzania recorded impressivegains in primary-school enrolment in the late 1970sand early 1980s, there were significant declines over thelate 1980s and 1990s. School infrastructure in much of thecountry is dilapidated, teachers are ill trained and poorlymotivated, books are scarce, and teaching pedagogy fails topromote real learning.Gross enrolment rates declined from their peak of 98per cent in 1981 to 73 per cent in 1989; they increasedslightly to 78 per cent in 2000. Similarly net enrolmentrates declined from their peak of 70 per cent in 1981 to54 per cent in 1991; they have increased gradually to 59per cent in 2000. This implies that close to half of all primary-school-agechildren (7 to 13 years), or about 2.5million – both boys and girls – are not in school (Kuleana1999; REPOA 2000). Girls and boys enrol at about thesame rates, suggesting that there is little gender discriminationin primary-school enrolment in Tanzania as awhole.Official 2001 data from the Ministry of Education and Cultureindicate that the average drop-out rate is around 5–6per cent. Children from poor families tend to leave schoolearlier than those from better-off families. School mappingand other qualitative studies indicate that attendance islow, and at times up to half of those enroled are not inFigure 2-1. Infant and under-five mortality, 1960–2000300Deaths per 1,000 live births2502001501005001960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1950 2000IMRU5MRYears30 The Girl-Child and Government Service Provision