GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGET ANALYSIS OF THE EDUCATION SECTOR

Over the past few years, the Tanzanian educational system has made significant progress. For example, the National Bureau of Statistics states that, in 2021 there was 18,546 primary schools, up from 17,804 in 2019. There was also 5,289 secondary schools in 2021, compared to 5,001 in 2019. Additionally, the number of students enrolled in elementary schools rose dramatically from 10,605,430 in 2019 to 11,196,788 in 2021. Likewise, 2,671,927 students were enrolled in secondary schools in 2021 compared to 2,338,457 in 2019. The gross enrolment percentages for pre- primary, primary and secondary schools were 86.1 percent, 105.4 percent, and 43.7 percent, respectively; the net enrolment rates for pre-primary, primary, and secondary schools are around 39.9%, 91.9 percent, and 34.6 percent, respectively. However, in certain respects, the SDGs principle of ‘No One Should Be Left Behind’ undermines these achievements. The high number of out-of-school age children (estimated at 2 million) and school dropouts (166,991 in primary school and 98,949 in secondary school) is ongoing statistical evidence of this failure. Dropout rates are still quite low overall, with an average national dropout rate of 1.6% in government primary schools and an average repeat rate of 3.6%. In 2020, 43.5% of urban schools had electricity hookups, up from 29.4% in 2019.