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

The third most frequently cited reason for not attendingschool, for both sexes, is geographic and/or climatic difficulties.This was mentioned by 22 per cent of the teachers interviewed(see Figure 3–1 above). This evidences that veryoften the state is not meeting the needs of road infrastructureand public transportation required in rural areas.Another factor that comes into play, according to someteachers and to the observations made by World Visionstaff throughout the years, is that on days the schoollunchroom is not offering services, attendance goes downconsiderably. This problem was highlighted by 5 per centof the teachers (see Figure 3–3 above). This is an indicatorthat poverty, as an external factor, is a major influence inthe use of the educational services by children; for manychildren, the food portion given them at the school lunchroomis the main motivation for attending school. In additionto revealing the inadequacy of the educational service,this shows the inability of the state to create the basicconditions to generate a minimum level of food securityin many communities.Coverage and quality in the educational serviceNinety-five per cent of the population interviewed assertedthat there is a school near their home. Likewise, 90per cent said that school-age children with whom they liveattend that school. This indicates that coverage in the areaunder study, at least for cycles I and II, can be rated aspositive. However, problems in rendering the service ofeducation manifest themselves in many ways.Cruz is the best rated among those included in thepresent analysis.The research involved the 81 cantons in Costa Rica, andthe indicators assessed were the number of students perteacher, the percentage of classrooms in good conditions,the number of teachers of computing and languages, andthe number of scholarships.For many teachers, poor involvement by parents is a veryvisible problem. As indicated above, this is not necessarilya sign of lack of interest but reflects economic factors andthe low levels of education achieved by the parents.Fourteen per cent of the teachers said that one of themain complaints they received from parents concernstheir children’s lack of interest in studies (see Figure 3–3above). This means that, in addition to the difficulties thatlow-income children in rural areas have to undergo in orderto attend school, it is likely that they do not find theeducational system or the study programmes attractive.This tends to be more visible for boys, as 20 per cent of theteachers said that boys don’t like school, which is almosttwice the perceived rate for girls (see Figure 3–1 above).HealthAccessData from the State of the Nation Report indicate that theBasic Teams for Integral Health Care (EBAIS) cover 82Eighty-six per cent of the teachers mentioned the lack ofteaching materials as a limitation at the schools wherethey work. Inadequate infrastructure (the physical conditionsof the facilities, recreational space, furniture, computingrooms, and so on) was mentioned by 54 per cent, andthe inadequacy of the school lunchroom by 25 per cent(see Figure 3–4).Figure 3–4. Main limitations of the schools, according tothe teachers86%54%A report published by the daily newspaper La Nación, 8 referringto a study by the World Bank, states that studentsin Costa Rica’s Central Valley are the ones that attendclasses with the best conditions whereas those in thenorthern area attend classes with the worst conditions.According to this study, the Los Chiles canton occupiesthe last place (out of 81 cantons) in terms of the conditionsin which the students receive their education. Upalais 79, Abangares 73, La Cruz 52 and Santa Cruz 36; Santa25%1 2 3ProblemsProblem 1: Lack of learning materialsProblem 2: Inadequate educational infrastructureProblem 3: Insufficient lunchroomThe Girl-Child and Government Service Provision 65