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

Secondary schoolsTwo of the five villages visited during thecourse of this study had a government secondaryschool within reach and accessibleby children who have completed their primaryeducation. In the other three villagesthe absence of a secondary school wascited as a problem. In Sindeni ADP, for example,there is one government secondaryschool that serves a whole division. Administratively,Sindeni Division consists of fourwards that are divided into 18 villages. Thedivision covers 1,248 square kilometreswith a population of approximately 36,000people. All of these villages depend on justone government secondary school. Due toabsence of secondary schools in this division,very few children are selected for sec-ondary education; chances for girls are very slim. In SindeniADP three more secondary schools are needed to alleviatethis problem, so that each ward would have at leastone government secondary school.Access to waterIn four of the five villages visited, water was repeatedlymentioned as the main problem facing the community.There are no nearby water sources and the communitiesdepend largely on distant sources (charcoal dam, shallowwells). In all the villages girls and women were identifiedas having primary responsibility for ensuring that theirfamily members have access to water. The girls who attendschool estimated that they use the following amounts oftime every evening seeking and fetching water: in SindeniADP, up to 2.5 hours; in Lweru ADP, up to 1 hour; and inSamuye ADP, up to 2 hours. These girls spend this time ona daily basis while boy children are either playing or resting.PovertyPoverty at the household level greatly contributes to mostparents’ and guardians’ failure to meet the basic needs oftheir children. Over 85 per cent of interviewed householdheads mentioned that they are failing in one way or anotherto meet some of the educational needs as well asthe health needs of their children.Case story 2Zelidia K’haoa is the single parent of seven children, three boys andfour girls. She lives in Ovada village in Kondoa District, Dodoma Region.Four of her children are attending their primary schooling. When askedabout the biggest challenge she is facing at the moment, she responded:“At school where my children attend there is a school feedingprogramme that we are told is sponsored by the food organisation. Asparents, we are required to pay TSHS 150 each month per child. Mysingle main problem over a number of months has been how to get therequired TSHS 600 each month for my four children. I have no money.. . . There is no money here in the village whereby I can get all thesefunds and pay for my children. One of my daughters fell sick . . . and Ihad to sell my three chickens to get money and take her to hospital. Infact, my elder son had to help me with some money, and thereby I wasable to take my daughter to hospital. Thank God I had those chickens.Otherwise my daughter would have died.Although TSHS 150 per child might seem little, a parent inpoverty cannot afford it. A 2003 report by the governmenton poverty and human development reveals that theburdens of poverty has continued to weigh heavily onthose living in the rural areas; nearly 90 per cent of thepoor in Tanzania live in the rural areas. The findings of thereport suggest that the benefits of the recent and currenteconomic growth are not equally shared. There is an increasingneed for efforts aimed at reducing and eventuallyeradicating poverty in rural areas.In four of the five villages visited there are no governmentpre-primary schools. Private nursery schools in two of thevillages charged a monthly fee of TSHS 500, which mostparents indicated they cannot afford to pay.PlaygroundsFor children to grow adequately and develop physicallythey need appropriate areas for various kind of gamesand activities. In the five villages visited, no playgroundswere available for the children. All school-going childrendepend on playing grounds that are located within theirschools. However, the schools visited were found to lacksports equipment such as nets, balls, and so on. Out-ofschoolsport activities are almost nonexistent. Youth (17–20 years and older) sports activities do take place as seasonalevents at primary-school compounds. At present,there are no inter-school sports competitions, as thereThe Girl-Child and Government Service Provision 41