East Africa

Urbanization & Education in

East Africa Edited by Moses O. Oketch and Moses W. Ngware

African Population and Health Research Center

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Urbanization and Education in East Africa

Urbanization and Education in East Africa By: Moses O. Oketch & Moses W. Ngware (Eds.)


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This book has been published by the African Population and Health Research Center © 2012

Urbanization and Education in East Africa by Moses O. Oketch and Moses W. Ngware (Eds.) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at www.aphrc.org. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.aphrc.org. Printed in Nairobi, Kenya First Printing, 2012 ISBN 978-9966-21-175-0 African Population and Health Research Center Kirawa Road, Off Peponi Road P.O. BOX 10787 – 00100, Nairobi; Telephone: 020-4001000/1, 2662244/55; Mobile: 0720 – 098388; 0733-410102 Email: [email protected]; Website: www.aphrc.org

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Table of Contents List of Tables List of Figures Foreword Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

vii ix xi xiii xv

Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Case Study of Urban Education in Kenya 2.1. Introduction 2.2. An Overview of Urbanization and Nairobi City 2.3. The Context and Research Design 2.4. Data Collection 2.5. Selected Findings from the FPE Assessment Study 2.6. Implications to Education Policy

1 9 10 10 12 12 13 18

References

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Chapter 3: Education, Training and Work Among Youth Living in Slums of Nairobi, Kenya 3.1. Background 3.1.1 The Youthful Population Conundrum 3.1.2. Korogocho and Viwandani Slums - a Profile 3.2. Population 3.2.1. Demographic Profile of the Population 3.3. Training 3.3.1. Socio-Economic Status 3.4. Education 3.5. Work 3.5.1. Involvement in Income Generating Activities 3.5.2. Involvement in Income Generating Activity by Selected Characteristics 3.5.3. Forms/ Types of Income Generating Activities 3.5.4. Reasons for not Being in Economic Activity 3.6. Conclusion References

21 22 23 24 24 24 30 30 33 35 35 36 38 39 40 41

Chapter 4: The Role of Household Characteristics in Schooling Decisions in Urban Kenya 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Literature on Household Characteristics and Schooling 4.3. The Context of Nairobi Urban Slums 4.4. Conceptual Framework 4.4.1. The Data 4.4.2. The Models

43 44 45 46 47 48 50


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4.5. Results and Discussion 4.5.1. Descriptive Statistics 4.5.2. Probit Model 4.6. Conclusion References

51 51 55 59 60

Chapter 5: Education in the Urban Context in Uganda 5.1. Background 5.2. Methodology 5.3. Urbanization and Education 5.4. Trends in Universal Primary Education 5.5. Issues in Urban Education 5.5.1 Access and Equity 5.5.2. Quality 5.5.3. Governance and Parental Involvement 5.5.4. Interventions for the Urban Poor 5.6. Focus on Inequality 5.7. Current Research Gaps 5.8. Lessons Learned 5.9. Recommendations for Further Intervention 5.9.1. Supply More Schools and Expand Facilities 5.9.2. Establish Community Schools 5.9.3. Promote Education as a Human Right 5.9.4. Provide for Alternative Modes of Attendance for the Excluded 5.9.5. Revise and Supervise UPE Grants to Schools 5.9.6. Popularize Education Using Civic Channels 5.9.7. Train Teachers in Counseling Skills 5.9.8. Provide Policy Guidelines on Responding to the Influx of Non-Nationals References

63 64 66 67 69 73 74 82 85 86 87 88 89 90 90 91 91 92 92 93 93 94 95

Chapter 6: Coming to Grips with Urban Education in Tanzania 6.1. Background 6.2. The UPE Drive 6.3. The Education Sector Development Program (ESDP) 6.3.1. Access and Quality 6.3.2. Financing 6.3.3. The Tanzania Education and Training Policy (TETP) 6.4. Urbanization In Tanzania 6.4.1. Effects of Increased Urbanization on Primary Education 6.4.2. How is the Government of URT Responding to Urban Primary Education Issues? 6.5. Urban Education Issues that Need Further Attention 6.5.1. Urban Education Access and Equity 6.5.2. Urban Schools and Education Quality 6.5.3. Urban Teacher Supply 6.5.4. Urban School Financing

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97 98 99 100 101 102 103 103 106 113 115 116 117 117 118

6.5.5. Urban School Governance 6.6. Concluding Remarks References

119 120 121

Chapter 7: Education in a Changing Urban Context: The Case of Burundi 129 7.1. Introduction 130 7.2. The Burundian Education System: Trends and Challenges 130 7.3. Primary Education for All 133 7.3.1. The International Context 133 7.3.2. The Move to Achieve Education for All in Burundi 135 7.3.3. Challenges and Constraining Conditions 137 7.3.4. The Way Ahead 139 7.4. The Dynamics of Urbanization and Schooling in Burundi: The Case of Bujumbura 140 7.4.1. Access to Education 141 7.4.2. Efficiency 142 7.4.3. Quality of Education 143 7.5. Research Agenda for Access and Quality Enhancement 147 7.6. Conclusion 148 References 149 Chapter 8: Education in Urban Areas in Rwanda 153 8.1. Introduction 154 8.2. Overview of the Rwanda Education Policies 154 8.3. Urbanization in Rwanda 157 8.4. Core Issues and Critical Analysis of Education Provision in Urban Primary Schools 158 8.4.1. Access to Schools and Students’ Satisfaction vis-à-vis Their Schooling 158 8.4.2. Private Primary Schools in Urban Areas 158 8.4.3. Computer Pilot Project in Urban Schools 159 8.4.4. Access to Quality Education 161 8.5. Kigali City 162 8.5.1. Southern Province 163 8.5.2. Eastern Province 164 8.5.3. Northern Province 166 8.5.4. Western Province 167 8.5.5. Comparison Among Provinces and Kigali City 169 8.6. Conclusion and Recommendations 172 References 174 Chapter 9: Cross-National Differences and Changes in Education Effects on Child Health Across Sub-Saharan Africa 9.1. Introduction 9.2. Education and Infant Mortality: A Theoretical Framework 9.3. Data and Methods 9.3.1. Data 9.3.2. Description of the Variables 9.3.3. Analytic Method

177 178 180 183 183 184 186


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9.4. Results 9.4.1. Descriptive Results 9.4.2. Multilevel Regression Results 9.4.3. Changes in the Effect of Education: Young and Old Cohorts Compared 9.5. Discussion and Conclusion References

187 187 189 191 195 197

Chapter 10: Conclusion

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Appendices

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Index

213

Author Biographies

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List of Tables

Table 1: Number of Individuals and Households Reached in the Target Population, 2005 - 2007 14 Table 2: Important Reasons for Changing Schools as Given by Respondents 2007, N=478 15 Table 3: Ever Received Training in a Trade or Skill, by Study Site, Gender for the Years 2005 to 2007 32 Table 4: Individual Used Skills Trained in to Earn Money 32 Table 5: Trade in Which Training Skills have Been Received for Those Who Had Ever Received any Form of Trade Training 33 Table 6: Number of School Going Pupils Included in the Education Project 34 Table 7: Primary School Availability Within the Study Site, 2006 34 Table 8: Education Level Among the Youth in the Slum and Non-Slum 35 Table 9: Involvement in Income Generating Activity by Household Wealth Index Among Youth Aged Between 15 and 24 Years By Slum Site 37 Table 10: Involvement in Income Generating Activity by Household Head Education Level Among Youth Aged Between 15 and 24 Years by Slum Site 38 Table 11: Main Economic Activities by Gender of the Youth 39 Table 12: Main Economic Activities 39 Table 13: Key Variables and Their Description 49 Table 14: Descriptive Statistics for Observations at Child Level 52 Table 15: Descriptive Statistics for Observations at Household Level 54 Table 16: Probit Regression: Enrollment and Type of School Decision Models 56 Table 17: Overall Primary Education Enrollment Trend 2006 - 2010 101 Table 18: Selected Typical Urban Schools in Mwanza City 108 Table 19: Selected Urban Schools’ Facilities and Their Respective Conditions 110 Table 20: Comparative PSLE Scores: Selected Urban Schools Tanga Region, 2009 112 Table 21: Gross Schooling Rates for General Secondary Education, 1989 - 2004 132 Table 22: Gross Enrollment Rates for Higher Education, 2004 - 2004 133 Table 23: The GER For Selected African Countries 134 Table 24: Evolution of Primary Education Enrollment Rates in Burundi, 1980 - 2009 136 Table 25: Distribution of PTR and Proportion of Qualified Teachers in Bujumbura City 143 Table 26: Kigali City and Location of the Major Towns in Rwanda 161 Table 27: The Situation of Education in Kigali City 2008 - 2009 162 Table 28: The Situation of Education in Southern Province 2008 - 2009 163 Table 29: The Situation of Education in Eastern Province 2008 - 2009 164 Table 30: The Situation of Education in the Northern Province 2008 - 2009 166 Table 31: The Situation of Education in Western Province 2008 - 2009 167 Table 32: Comparison of Students’ Statistics in Provinces and Kigali City 169 Table 33: Regional Comparisions of PTRs, 2008 - 2009 170


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Table 34: PTR in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2007 Table 35: PTR in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 Table 36: List of Selected Countries, Year of Survey and Corresponding Sample Size Used for the Analysis of Infant Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa Table 37: Descriptive Statistics of Country, Family, and Child Predictors of Child Mortality and by Maternal Cohort Table 38: Hazard Ratios for Multilevel Logistic Regression of Infant Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa from Child-, Family-, and Country-Level Variables (Pooled Sample, N=Children 427,581 from 187,619 Families and 28 Countries) Table 39: Hazard Ratios for Multilevel Logistic Regression of Infant Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa from Child-, Family-, and Country-Level Variables (Below 30 Cohort, N=Children 199,519 from 94,700 Families and 28 Countries) Table 40: Hazard Ratios for Multilevel Logistic Regression of Infant Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa from Child-, Family-, and Country-Level Variables (>=30 Cohort, N=Children 228,062 from 92,919 Families and 28 Countries)

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171 171

184 188

189

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List of Figures Figure 1: Trends in Type of School Attended Between 2000 - 2007 Among Children in Populations Living in Slums 14 Figure 2: Trends in Type of School Attended Between 2000 - 2007 Among Children in Populations Living in Non-Slums 15 Figure 3: Kenya Population Pyramid of Youth Aged 15 to 24 Years (in 1000’s) 25 Figure 4: Nairobi Population Pyramid of Youth Aged 15 to 24 Years (in 1000’s) 25 Figure 5: Kenya Population Pyramid in Age Groups (in 1000’s) 26 Figure 6: Nairobi Population Pyramid in Age Groups (in 1000’s) 26 Figure 7: Midyear Slum Population Pyramid of Youth Aged 15 to 24 Years in 2003 27 Figure 8: Midyear Slum Population Pyramid of Youth Aged 15 to 24 Years in 2007 27 Figure 9: Midyear Slum Population Pyramid of Youth Aged 15 to 24 Years in 2010 28 Figure 10: Overall Korogocho and Viwandani Slums Midyear Population Pyramid 2003 28 Figure 11: Overall Korogocho and Viwandani Slum Midyear Population Pyramid 2010 29 Figure 12: Ever Received Training in a Trade or Skill, by Study Site: 2005 - 2007 31 Figure 13: Proportion of Youth Engaged in Income Generating Activities 35 Figure 14: Proportion of Youth Engaged in Income Generating Activities by Gender 36 Figure 15: Involvement in Income Generating Activity by Household Wealth Index Among Youth Aged Between 15 and 24 Years in the Slum Sites 37 Figure 16: UPE Enrollment in Uganda, 1996 - 2009 72 Figure 17: Proportion of Girls in Primary School 73 Figure 18: Comparison of Students’ Enrollments by District in Kigali City 162 Figure 19: PTR by District in Kigali City 162 Figure 20: Comparison of Students’ Enrollments by District in the Southern Province 163 Figure 21: PTR By District in the Southern Province 164 Figure 22: Comparison of the Student Enrollments by District in Eastern Province 2008 - 2009 165 Figure 23: PTR by District in Eastern Province 2008 - 2009 165 Figure 24: Comparison of Student Enrollments by District in the Northern Province 166 Figure 25: PTR by District in the Northern Province 167 Figure 26: Comparison of Students’ Enrollment in the Western Province 168 Figure 27: PTR by District in the Western Province 168 Figure 28: Comparison Among Provinces and Kigali City 169 Figure 29: Pupil-Teacher Ratios by Provinces 170 Figure 30: PTR in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2007 171 Figure 31: PTR in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 172


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Foreword

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frica urban population is growing rapidly through natural increase of population as a result of improved health care and education of mothers. The growth of urban population is observable in most cities and towns in sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, Africa and Asia will drive future urban population growth in the world. By the year 2050, Africa’s urban population is projected to increase to 1.2 billion from the current 414 million. As urban populations grow rapidly, growth of large and unplanned urban settlements has become a common feature in sub-Saharan Africa. In East Africa’s major cities of Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, Kampala, Kigali and Nairobi, the pattern is that of growth. As the urban middle class grows in sub-Saharan Africa, disparities in access to social services including education are also becoming highly pronounced. Two challenges related to these dynamics of urban development seem to arise: First, is the paucity of accurate data on the major changes that are going on in the urban sector. The capacity to generate accurate, systematic and reliable data is a challenge that is not limited to urban centers but pervades all sectors of the society. Second, is how to plan for provision of social services to the increasing urban population, and particularly the urban poor in the informal settlements and slums of the cities and towns emerging in Africa. These are challenges which are visible in East Africa.

This book, attempts to provide us with evidence which faces the two challenges. However, the focus here is confined to basic education. The various chapters of this book, have, through evidence-based-research, given us the status of education in the informal settlements of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. It has also indicated areas of policy interventions in the field of education and child health. The researchers are to be commended for their pioneering work in this virgin research and urban planning policy. As we approach 2015, this book is an important contribution in that it directs researchers, policy makers and urban planners towards an area which should be given priority as we articulate new vision for education of the marginalized in East Africa. As documented in this book, some urban education issues cut across boundaries and will require the cooperation of East Africa states to resolve. More often, the rationale for regional integration hinges on trade and economic growth, and hardly focuses on the phenomenon of urbanization as an aspect that can interconnect all the states. This book provides interconnected challenges faced by urban education, and lessons that East Africa states can utilize under the East Africa integration. I wish therefore to recommend this book to policy makers, researchers, development partners, city planners, leaders of urban communities and those who are in the frontline of East Africa integration to study closely the issues that are emerging from this path-breaking research to see areas which could become the focus of policy debates, interventions and investments in education targeted to the urban poor. I wish to commend the researchers highly for posing the critical challenges that all of us must rethink and address to provide education to urban poor in the coming decades, indeed beyond 2015. In my view, this book is a first step in the right direction, and a good starting point in understanding urban education. This research is a critical requirement for a paradigm shift in service delivery in urban areas. It is a challenge to all of us to reflect deeply on how education and other social services can be provided to the increasing urban populations, and especially the poor. Prof. Kabiru Kinyanjui Chairman, Kenya National Examination Council Nairobi, Kenya. October 2012


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Acknowledgements

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his book has been made possible through the efforts of several people who have appreciated the rapid growth of urbanization in East Africa and reflected on its consequences for educational development in the region. Foremost, we are grateful to colleagues at APHRC whose demographic instincts and curiosity combined with intellectual thinking led to the inception of the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS) whose aim to study deprived urban populations formed the bedrock upon which the study of education in the urban context found its home. The education research component at APHRC was nested to the NUHDSS and through this, a number of insights on the inequalities in the provision of education, even under the acclaimed free Universal Primary Education policy began to emerge. As editors, we want to thank our chapter contributors who bought into the vision of this book and remained committed to it, even when we occasionally sent nagging emails, questioned the original submissions and insisted on deadlines being met. It wasn’t easy in a project which is a first like this one to get everything right, but we were aiming at breaking new ground and bringing to the attention of policy makers and other scholars that the traditional rural versus urban divide was no longer the only major challenge facing education in East Africa. Rapid urbanization had rendered urban education issues important and yet no one has been paying serious attention to it.

We are particularly indebted to the many APHRC field workers in Kenya who have collected the household-based longitudinal data upon which the foundation ideas of this book rest. They have remained committed to the project of highlighting the plight of the thousands of children living in the slums of Nairobi whose education challenges have simply been folded in to the national success of the free Universal Primary Education policy, completely remaining ignored by the national education policies. Thanks to the efforts of these individuals that led to a joint APHRC and Kenya Ministry of Education national conference in October 2008 which for the first time highlighted the plight of these children. In addition, the Kenya government, particularly the immediate two Education Permanent Secretaries between 2008 and 2011, Karega Mutahi and James Ole Kiyiapi, got to understand that pockets of exclusion still remain and that simply announcing policies of universal access which are implemented only in state schools is not adequate to guarantee enrollment in school for every child. Moses O. Oketch is thankful to the Institute of Education, University of London and particularly to Dean Susan Hallam for granting him leave to lead the Education Research Program at APHRC that culminated into this book.

We are particularly indebted to the many APHRC field workers in Kenya who have collected the household-based longitudinal data upon which the foundation ideas of this book rest

A few individuals deserve mentioning for their intellectual and logistical contributions to the ideas, which led to the writing of this book. On top of the long list of names is Alex Ezeh for his intellectual insights on educational issues and his passion for strengthening research capacity and promoting its use in sub-Saha-


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ran Africa. Catherine Macharia for bearing the burden of all the logistical requirements of the education research project at APHRC and for ensuring that chapter contributors were nagged as frequently as was possible to meet the deadlines. Maurice Mutisya for his skilful handling of massive data generated by the education research project, Peter Musyoka, Jackline Sagwe, Benta Abuya, Kassahun Admassu, James Ciera, Chima Izugbara, and Caroline Kabiru, all at APHRC for their insights during conversations and direct contributions to the education research at APHRC. Chaacha Mwita, Charles Okigbo, Rose Oronje, Eliya Zulu, Elizabeth Kimani, Deborah Mupusi, Jonathan Odhong, Albert Mwangi for spearheading the policy engagement aspects and ensuring that the work of the education research team is disseminated in the appropriate media channels. We finally thank Ward Heneveld for chairing one of the sessions at the 2008 conference and for his support towards the education research at APHRC. Similar appreciation goes to Lynn Murphy for her insights, constant questioning and passion to see meaningful access to education for many children currently in school but learning so little in East Africa, and those completely left out of school and who need to be reached for inclusion. Finally we are grateful to Hewlett Foundation and Google.org who have funded the Education Research Program and the dissemination of its findings and policy engagement at APHRC. They made it possible to write this book. However, any omissions and the conclusions in this book are solely the responsibility and views of the authors.

Moses O. Oketch & Moses W. Ngware - Editors

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List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ABEK

Alternative Basic Education for Karamoja

AIDS

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

BEUPA

Basic Education in Urban Poor Areas

CHANCE

CH Alternative Non-formal Complementary Education

COPE

Complementary Opportunities for Primary Education

DOS

Director of Studies

EMIS

Education Management Information System

ESAPR

Education and Sports Annual Performance Report

ESSP

Education Sector Strategic Plan

EUPEC

Enhancement of Universal Primary Education and Community

GDP

Gross Domestic Product

GTZ

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit

HIV

Human Immuno Virus

KCC

Kampala City Council

KKV

Kazi Kwa Vijana

NUHDSS

Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System

PLE

Primary Leaving Examination

PTA

Parent Teachers Association

PTR

Pupil-Teacher Ratio

SFG

School Facility Grant

SMC

School Management Committee

UPE

Universal Primary Education

USE

Universal Secondary Education


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Chapter

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Introduction Moses O. Oketch & Moses W. Ngware


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one The challenges of education were enormous and so were those of development, but education was placed at the center of modernisation and seen as the modernising catalyst

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hy has Africa not developed as fast, compared to East Asian countries, as should have been the case? Paul Collier has asked this question in several ways (see e.g. Collier, 2006). The evidence points to the fact that although Africa is endowed naturally and has the potential to experience rapid development, among the many factors, including mal-governance, educational expansion has lagged behind (Green et al., 1997). Even after the declaration of education access as one of the MDGs and the earlier crystallization of the targets through the EFA frameworks, average participation in SSA is still below the world trend 1999-2009 (UNESCO-UIS, 2011). Still, within the East African region education has been at the forefront of development vision in all the countries with Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania having declared and implemented universal education policies enjoined with their development visions. Burundi and Rwanda have followed suit albeit with emphasis on science and technology, particularly in Rwanda. Even before independence, the value of education to human well-being in the region was long recognized (Sheffield, 1973). The desire for widened participation in education was one of the pillars for the fight towards independence, and indeed, limited access to education was used as a means to perpetuate colonial rule that had existed in East Africa before independence in the 1960s (Oketch & Rolleston, 2007; Bogonko, 1992). Even as East African countries were preparing for independence, ensuring that the leaders were educated and the need for critical mass of leaders who would bear the burden of leadership was in the minds of the colonial administration and education was the conduit to achieving this. The challenges of education were enormous and so were those of development, but education was placed at the center of modernization and seen as the modernizing catalyst (UNESCO, 1961). Indeed, in the East African region independence and education were intertwined (Oketch & Rolleston, 2007). When independence was finally attained by each of the East African countries, education was declared a priority and promoted as the means of developing the then much needed manpower to run the state institutions and spur private sector development. Several policies were adapted to expand access to Africans who had been excluded by the colonial system- among them was scrapping of standard four examination that was common in the three East African countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and consolidating their education systems into one uninterrupted seven years of primary education (Oketch & Rolleston, 2007). Universal access policies were instituted in several countries and education became one of the pillars of the national development slogans. The Tanzania Musoma Declaration of 1974 placed education at the center of its Ujamaa and African socialism spearheaded by the founding president Julius Nyerere, and in the Kenya Harambee movement promoted by Jomo Kenyatta in the early 1970s was squarely aimed at expanding education. Uganda under Milton Obote also made tremendous efforts to expand access to education although the gains were reversed following turbulent years of Idi Amin’s brutal dictatorship and guerrilla warfare that ensued before peace was re-established in 1986 under Yoweri Museveni’s leadership (Oketch & Rolleston, 2007; Bogonko 2007). Rwanda and Bu-

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one rundi on the other hand being French speaking and educational development minimal, the desire to expand access has remained one of the development strap-lines in both countries. Rwanda has been particularly unique because of the tragedy of the 1994 genocide that led to the loss of about 1 million lives. The country has reconfigured its education system, and moved away from Francophone lingual system to Anglophone and even joined the commonwealth. The two countries have also joined the East African Community, the federation that is not only pulling all the countries together as a trading block but also allowing for free movement of people within the region. As the East African Community becomes strong and well established, education is again one of its fundamental pillars. This brief historical context places education at the center of development in East Africa. Over the years, some of the fundamental policy drives have included rapid expansion of access for those who have been excluded; addressing gender inequality in access; addressing access to secondary education and the issues around the relevance of the education. In recent years, the introduction of UPE policies, particularly in the last decade has seen access expand tremendously. Education budgets have also demonstrated national commitment to the EFA goals. The democratic space created has also meant that education has been an easy policy area for social development. Overall therefore, the education arena has benefited from the international target setting and national commitment to attempt to meet the set targets. However, while some of the issues such as relevance, quality, and gender parity, among others still remain, a greater challenge has emerged as a result of rapid urbanization. While in the past it was easy to organise and provide adequate education in the urban areas, and indeed the urban areas were often regarded as having superior education services, in recent years, urban inequality has grown and slum urban residents have greater challenges of education that in some cases supersede the challenges in the rural areas. There has been tremendous urban growth in the East African region. For instance, the population of Nairobi has expanded from a mere 315,000 in the early 1960s to 3.1 million in 2009. In Uganda, the population of Kampala city has expanded from 330,000 in 1969 (six years after independence) to 1.5 million in 2009. Similarly, in Tanzania the urban population has rapidly grown from 3.3 percent in 1957 (that is four years before independence) to 26 percent in 2010; and in Burundi and Rwanda the overall urban population in 2008 was 10 percent and 18 percent, respectively. More fundamentally, we are writing this book to highlight the consequences of rapid urbanization on education in the East African region. For many years, there has been a focus on rural versus urban divide in education and while this is still a valid paradigm of educational debate, rapid urbanization has led to great urban inequalities that the national education statistics seem to mask. For example, a significant proportion of the residents in urban areas live in the slums where access to public services is either of very deplorable quality or non-existent. Unregulated, unscrupulous providers in the services of health and education have filled the gap. Systematic study on these issues has grown in the health sector, but limited in education. Only recently have studies such as Tooley (2008), Oketch et al. (2010), Ngware et al. (2010) highlighted the nature of education provision in the slums. Tooley’s acclaimed work has the motive of making a good case out of a bad situation, by arguing the positive elements of the private schools for the poor. Others, such as the studies at APHRC have been aimed at highlighting the policy deficit in the Universal Primary Education policies and to have in-depth understanding of how households make schooling decisions for their children’s education particularly when


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one they are poorer households residing in the slums (Oketch et al., 2010; Ngware et al., 2010). There is also long-standing evidence in the literature that indicates that the inequalities that persist in the world may partly be explained by the differential educational attainment (Bertinelli, 2003). Lucas (1988) also placed education at the center of endogenous growth, and the long-standing role of education in human capital means that those segments of the population that do not access education will have low total human capital factor, and high human capital factor is complementary to physical capital development and FDI (Oketch, 2006). As cities become centers of economic development, and likely to be more densely populated in the years ahead, understanding the challenges of urbanization and education is necessary in the case of East Africa with a combined urban population of 50 million people in 2007; and projected to be 106 million by 2017 – making it the fastest urbanizing region in the World (UN-HABITAT 20081 ). The objective of this book is to pull together contributions on how education provision is affected by the rapid urbanization and to highlight the practice and policy gaps in the education of those who live in the urban areas. It is also aimed at recasting the debate, that it is, not simply the rural versus urban divide that is of fundamental challenge to development in East Africa, but that there is huge urban inequality that is rarely discussed in the education discourse. With a growing number of urban populations living in the slums, the development of an under-class that didn’t exist in the early years of urban development in East Africa is emerging. For example, majority of those children who lived in urban areas in the 1960s, 70s and 80s have had different educational experiences compared to those who have come to be of school age in the 1990s to present. In those early years, it was not uncommon for the children of a cook and those of a cabinet minister to sit in the same class and be taught by the same teacher. In fact, many children from low social and economic upbringing who resided in urban areas excelled in school. Today, it is a different story. The slums have sprung up, and they have grown in size. The link between rural subsistence and urban dwellers that existed in the early independence years has been reduced substantially and a number of children have been born in deprived and impoverished urban contexts. The slums have grown bigger and become more complex, and the existing schools which the better-off and their servants shared have entirely become schools for the poor, and in many cases, inadequate to meet the demand of education by majority of the children. Economic hardship at household level has now meant that many children in the slums find themselves out of school, or excluded from the public sector due to the complex housing structures that have spiralled in the slums, making even the shortest distance to the nearest school both long and risky for young children. These are examples of urban challenges that have emerged. The objectives of this book are therefore to; 1) highlight the gap in the education policies that address the emerging urban population education challenges; 2) provide an analysis of the nature and the obstacles to education in urban areas; and 3) contribute to the debate that can recast the educational policies in a manner that addresses the urban vulnerability and have a focused discussion that indicates the presumption that municipal councils are capable of providing adequate education has been overtaken by the challenges of rapid urbanization. This is an area that has not been covered in the available literature that focuses on educational inequalities. This book therefore aims to fill this gap. The case studies of the countries included in this book- Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda together stand to demonstrate that this issue is not unique to any particular Fourth Session of the World Urban Forum held in Nanjing, China, 2008

1

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one country, and that the regional bloc will need strategies to address the challenges that rapid urbanization has brought to the fore in the education sector. The book is divided into 10 chapters. In the second chapter, Moses W. Ngware and Moses O. Oketch provide an overview of urbanization and its educational challenges in Kenya. The chapter is based on the longitudinal study that has been conducted by APHRC over six years. It pays particular attention to the FPE policy that was introduced in 2003, and using comparison of slum and non-slum residents, it analyzes how the very poor and the middle-income have responded to the policy and highlights who benefits from UPE policies. The findings are perplexing as the poorest of the poor who ought to be enjoying the declaration and implementation of the FPE policy seem to struggle to send their children to school. Several key policy issues emerge: FPE is a policy that has excluded the very poor whom it ought to have included. The poor desire good quality education for their children and some seem to have been disappointed by the education system offered under FPE. Universal eligibility might not be the best approach to reach the poorest groups. It may be the case that targeting is necessary so that the poor don’t end up paying for education when there is FPE intended to benefit them most. In chapter three, Moses O. Oketch and Maurice Mutisya present an analysis of education, training and work amongst youth living in slums of Nairobi. The demographic profiles provided in the chapter show a very youthful population of Kenya and that of its urban areas. The cases of Korogocho and Viwandani, the two slums which provide the longitudinal data upon which the analysis is developed, show youth in the slums as lacking post-primary education opportunities such as secondary schools. There has been some training, but these are artistry and very short-term NGO-led training, without systematic policy for youth aged 15-24 years in Kenya. They conclude by saying that the population structure of Kenya clearly shows that the youth are its potential problem and solution. Therefore, their talents need to be nurtured and developed through expansion of education and training opportunities. The youth residing in the slums face the greatest educational challenges, and when they report to have received some training, there appears to be little employment opportunities that enable them to utilize the acquired skills to earn a living. The only solution is to ensure that there are opportunities available to them for education and training. This can only happen if there is systematic effort, involving partnership between the government and the private sector to identify, together with youth leaders, key areas of the economy where skills are most needed and to train the youth in these skills. Some of the training can be done on the job, through paid internships and self-starter initiatives with financial and leadership support by the government. More important as well is the need to expand secondary education opportunities for the youth. The data shown here indicates that majority (nearly 3 million) of the youth aged between 14-17 years do not have opportunities for secondary education, and with many having been exposed to low levels of quality at the primary level, literacy and numeracy skills will be low amongst them as well. Kenya therefore needs. to pay attention, beyond the Kazi Kwa Vijana initiative, on identifying the skill areas where the slum residing youth can be trained in. Kazi Kwa Vijana is a Swahili phrase for ‘work for the youth’ and is a joint initiative by the Kenya government and World Bank which offers mostly manual labor work to unemployed youth in Kenya. The youth are required to register themselves to be considered for the work.

The youth residing in the slums face the greatest educational challenges, and when they report to have received some training, there appears to be little employment opportunities that enable them to utilize the acquired skills to earn a living


5

one In chapter four Moses W. Ngware et al. focus on whether household characteristics matter in schooling decisions. The findings are startling, showing that the poorest of the poor find it most difficult to access the freely available public schools, negating the very benefits attached to FPE. Robust comparison is made between slum residents and non-slum residents and the coefficients of the tested model indicate that household characteristics are important in schooling decisions. It is testimony that where households are vulnerable, there is need for state involvement to mitigate under-investment in education by the poorer households. In chapter five Robina Kyeyune focuses on education in the urban context of Uganda. She provides an elaborate picture of the educational experience of the urban residents in Uganda. The chapter highlights the key challenges and concludes that an overall major lesson is that the average urban target beneficiaries of UPE are part of a very disadvantaged section of the population; the geographical location where they dwell is usually taken for granted as it is purported to be for the affluent. This reality nullifies the assumptions on which the UPE implementation guidelines were based, with the tuition fees being set higher than those charged in rural schools and parents being encouraged to provide children with lunch and contribute to the school programs in other ways for the success of UPE. She notes further that educational inequalities are pronounced in the urban areas because of poverty and the social limitations that attend it, with the urban-poor being excluded while the rich in the same areas and others from the suburbs enjoy advantages. These inequalities show that universalization of primary education is not easy to achieve simply by policy declarations and efforts to restrict the fees charged by schools, especially since schools find a way around the restrictions and charge more, thus making education out of reach for the poor. They also form a basis for exclusion of the poor from participation in development processes since they will lack a voice and the skills requisite for high paying jobs. To ensure inclusion and the extension of educational opportunities and livelihoods, the central and local governments need to make education free for the end user. Another aspect raised by the chapter is that in spite of any employment and other economic and social opportunities there may be in the cities and towns, primary education remains unaffordable for many parents and guardians in the urban-poor population. The limitation is not only monetary but also attitudinal, tied to the people’s perceptions of their needs and the value of education. While children’s failure to complete the primary cycle may be caused by a multiplicity of factors, their parents’ and guardians’ capability to pay the school dues is a significant factor. In chapter six Hillary Dachi writes on coming to grips with urban education in Tanzania. He argues that recent statistics show that there is an increase in the urban Tanzania population growth at a rate of 4.3 percent annually in tandem with geographical expansion of cities and major towns mainly through rural-urban migration and intra-urban movements. This expansion signifies the need for urban education services to expand outwardly and migrate to the outskirts and outlying districts, where the largest number and percentage of poor school children are residing. He notes that the number of school places does not meet the overall demand of UPE. Large concentrations of public schools in business districts and wealthy suburbs imply that public education places are unequally apportioned with outskirts getting fewer of these places. He recommends quantifying the spatial distribution of public school places and identifying geographical imbalances relative to the urban

6


one school children in order to apportion these places equitably. In spite of the ESDP transformations, inequalities in urban education are still pervasive exacerbated by abject poverty among households; the imbalances in teacher supply; overcrowded schools and classrooms; inadequate teaching and learning materials and lack of adequate water and sanitation services. The chapter concludes that urban pupils suffer more from school and home-related problems that impact on their cognitive outcomes than what is conventionally portrayed by policymakers. In chapter seven, Hernegilde Rwantabagu looks at education in the changing urban context of Burundi. The key highlights from the chapter include the need to articulate and implement a policy aimed at ensuring quality education for all as a human right. In this respect, the newly decentralized urban communes in Burundi should be provided with sufficient resources to build, expand and equip their own schools. In any case, it is through the availability of a qualified and equitably allocated body of teachers that the quality of learning can be enhanced, particularly in the low-income urban communes. At the Municipal level, the planning unit in cooperation with the communal education services should anticipate future education needs by adopting a medium to long-term plan for the development of education in the city. It is within this framework that the chapter recommends that in the creation of new urban settlements, ample space should be set aside for educational institutions. In chapter eight Evode Mukama focuses on education in urban areas in Rwanda. He brings to the limelight a number of issues that affect education in Rwanda. The study reveals that high PTRs in Rwandan urban primary schools raise a concern of quality education provision. He notes that the government’s goodwill to implement the MDGs puts pressure on the quality of education. This chapter suggests linking students’ intake towards the achievement of the EFA goals and the improvement of quality education. Otherwise the country would risk accumulating huge enrollments but with little effort directed to enhance the quality of education. Large classes may have implications on education such as the tendency to foster teacher-centered approach instead of learner-centeredness; the use of lectures instead of active and participatory learning strategies; individual learners disappearing in the “crowd”; inability to identify and attend to individual progress; focus on transmitting facts (knowledge exists out there) instead of supporting students to be creative and appropriate joint meaning for their personal and society fulfilment. Chapter nine by Walter Rasugu Omariba covers cross-national differences and change in education effects on child heath across sub-Saharan Africa. The chapter is different from the others in its central focus, but crucial for the book, and in this sense similar to the other chapters because child health is so pertinent to educational development. The key highlights from the chapter include confirmation of the importance of maternal education on child health. The improvement in the effect of education over the 15-year period covered in the analysis is an indication that investment in maternal education beyond primary school is particularly important. Given the low levels of secondary and higher education levels in the region, there is a large room for improvement by governments working together with international and local development partners. Maternal education by far provides the best avenue to improve household and national economic development and attain better population health. Chapter ten concludes the book.


7

one

8


Chapter

two

Case Study of Urban Education in Kenya Moses W. Ngware & Moses O. Oketch


9

two 2.1. Introduction

I

n 2003, the Kenyan government (following the 2002 election campaign pledge) introduced FPE policy in order to universalize access to primary education and to increase educational attainment in the country. The policy had international backing and credibility, as it was part of the universally agreed MDG’s. In this chapter, we seek to do two things: First, we want to create awareness and understanding of the outcomes of a public policy which even though it allows for universal eligibility, is intended to benefit the poor. Second, we want to draw on the evidence based on a case study of Nairobi city to highlight the plight of those who should benefit from this type of policy and to raise some policy issues and implications. But first, we provide a general overview on urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa, and Nairobi in particular. This will then be followed by a discussion of the Nairobi case study, highlighting the context of the study, the research design, the data, and a discussion of findings. Conclusion focuses on lessons drawn from the case study and policy implications.

It has also been noted that urban populations will continue to grow much faster than rural populations, implying that majority of the African population will in a few years to come be urban residents

10

2.2. An Overview of Urbanization and Nairobi City Several reasons have been advanced to explain the rapid urbanization in developing countries. These include rapid urbanization as a response to increasing poverty, failing infrastructure and social services, and more generally, weak and abdicating government service delivery systems in rural areas (Tostensen, Tvedten & Vaa, 2001). In Africa, urbanization is spontaneous with considerable negative consequences. Yet it has also been noted that urban populations will continue to grow much faster than rural populations, implying that majority of the African population will in a few years to come be urban residents (Hope, 1999). To illustrate the rapid and spontaneous urban growth, Oranje (2005) noted that between 2000 and 2010, urban Africa will absorb an additional 100 million people, and by 2010, 50 cities in Africa will have a population of between 1 and 5 million people each. In 1950, only 15 percent of the African population was classified as being urban. By 1990, this had risen to 32 percent, and it is projected that by 2030, 54 percent of the African population will be urban residents (APHRC, 2002). These statistics place Africa as the world’s fastest growing urban population at over 5 percent annually in the history of urban population growth, and yet it is still expected that the region will account for virtually all-future global urban population growth. This rapid population growth has occurred at a period when the region has also experienced slow and sometimes negative economic growth, particularly since the 1970s. Even in those countries where there has been an average positive economic growth, rapid population growth rates have wiped virtually all the benefits that would have accrued from such positive economic outlook.


two Nairobi city typifies the urban population boom in sub-Saharan Africa and its negative consequences. The following statistics illustrates Nairobi’s population boom. In 1948, its population was a mere 120,000 (Muwonge, 1980 cited in African Population and Health Research Center - APHRC, 2002). By 1971, Nairobi’s population had increased by over 400% to reach 500,000, with an estimated one-third living in informal and unauthorized settlements famously known as slums (Macharia, 1992 cited in APHRC, 2002). The 1999 Kenyan Population Census estimated the population of Nairobi to be 2.1 million, and in 2008 it was estimated at 3.04 million and spread over an area of 684 sq. Km. (Republic of Kenya, 2006; Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 2008). Informal settlement dwellers constitute the majority of Nairobi’s population. In 2001, it was estimated that 60 percent of the city’s population lived in informal settlements/slums but they occupied only 5 percent of the land area that constitutes Nairobi city (Syagga, Mitullah & Gitau, 2001; UN-HABITAT, 2007). Clearly, Nairobi has experienced rapid population growth, which the city’s services, either for lack of better planning or other reasons, have been unable to adequately cope. Among the negative consequences of the rapid population rise in Nairobi include high rates of unemployment, poverty and poor education outcomes among the most disadvantaged of the city’s residents. The focus of this chapter will thus be on education, one of the services that the city is mandated to adequately provide for its residents. To illustrate the poor situation of education services in Nairobi city, a study by Magadi and Ezeh (2002) found that at each age cohort (consider ‘group’ instead of cohort), enrollment rates are much lower in Nairobi’s slums than in other parts of Kenya. According to the study, only 40 percent of the 15-17 year old adolescent males in the slums were attending school compared with 74 percent of male adolescents aged 15-17 in Kenya and 89 percent of those in the entire Nairobi city. The results for females reported by the same study are even more revealing. 22 percent of 15-17 year old females in the slums were enrolled in school compared to 68 percent nationally and 73 percent in rural Kenya. Another aspect of education reported by Magadi and Ezeh is dropout and non-attendance. They found that in the slums only onefifth of adolescents and young individuals aged 12-24 were enrolled in school at the time of the study. Dropout rates were also unacceptably high with 69 percent of respondents reporting that education cost-barriers were the main reasons for dropping out. According to Hope (1999), country specific and appropriate urbanization policies are needed to manage challenges that come with urbanization. Since cost was associated with school dropout and low attendance, the introduction of FPE in Kenya in 2003 is a policy, which ought to show an impact by altering the schooling patterns of the slum dwellers. The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) designed a study to assess the impact of this policy on school participation among urban residents. Particular focus has been on household schooling decisions, schooling outcomes and participation patterns in Nairobi, known to have Africa’s largest slum. The case study reported here is based on a longitudinal dataset developed from data collected by APHRC at household level since 2005. The dataset contains information on a child’s schooling history collected retrospectively for the years 2000 – 2004, and prospectively since 2005.


11

two 2.3. The Context and Research Design To assess the impact of FPE on schooling outcomes, the APHRC initiated a longitudinal study among slum and non-slum residents. In addition, the study explored timing and linkages between school enrollment, retention and dropout, and onset of risky behaviours such as early initiation of sexual activity, unintended pregnancy, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, and gang membership. The slum population samples are from two settlements, Korogocho and Viwandani slums where APHRC had been carrying out a longitudinal Health and Demographic Surveillance System even before FPE was implemented in Kenya. A middle-income non-slum settlement was added to serve as comparison for assessing the impact of FPE. The education component of APHRC survey started in 2005. The study tracked children who were aged 5-19 years old in 2005. For the older children, the study provides an indication of factors associated with transition to secondary school in the context of FPE. For all those who dropout, in-depth interviews are conducted to assess reasons and circumstances of the dropout. In addition, information on school-related factors is collected from the schools that serve children in the study communities. The key outcome of the study is to assess the impact of FPE on schooling outcomes among the urban poor. The data has been collected annually since 2005. Three research questions have guided the study:

What is the impact of FPE on school enrollment patterns and dropout rates between urban slum and non-slum children?

What factors are associated with school participation (enrollment, attendance, repetition, performance and dropout) among urban slum and non-slum children?

What are the (causal) linkages between school participation and the onset and extent of indulgence in risky behaviours in children?

2.4. Data Collection Before we describe the statistics obtained through the survey questionnaire, which is administered at the household level, a word about the study sites is necessary. As was stated earlier, there are four sites: two slums and two non-slums. The selection of these sites is both purposeful and opportunistic. Opportunistic in the sense that APHRC was already conducting household based data collection in the two slums- Viwandani and Korogocho before FPE was introduced, hence it was easy to add the education component to the existing Health and Demographic Surveillance System. The two non-slums- Harambee and Jericho are conveniently located on the same Eastern side of Nairobi city, so choosing them is something close to comparing ‘apples with apples’ although of different kinds.

12


two The two slum settlements are largely as a result of rural-urban migration over the last four decades. The formal settlements of Harambee and Jericho are low to medium-income settlements and were established in the pre-independence period as predominantly African settlements for African workers. They have relatively better residential structures with good provision of public services including accessible feeder roads, schools and a drainage and sewerage system. Majority of schools in the slums are private, famously known as ‘private schools for the poor’ (Tooley et al., 2008) and they normally attract unqualified under-paid teachers or volunteer teachers. They are either community-owned or are businesses of entrepreneurial slum residents. The data collected by the Education Program at APHRC is a longitudinal study, which in 2005 had tracked a total of 13,257 children and youth aged 5-19 years of age. This group has been followed over the years since 2005 and asked the same questions. Since the data is collected annually, children who turn five in subsequent years (since 2005) in each of the households covered and all those who are five and above and move into the enumeration sites become part of the study. It should be noted here that while data was first collected for education purposes in 2005, those interviewed were asked to report on their children’s schooling history dating back to 2000 for those who had been 5 years and above in 2000. Table 1 presents data on the number of participants in the study between 2005 and 2007.

2.5. Selected Findings from the FPE Assessment Study The analysis of the data collected has revealed the following after the implementation of the FPE policy: 40 percent of children from the poorest quintile compared with 34 percent from the richest quintiles are still enrolled in fee paying ‘private’ schools in spite of the FPE policy. This is illustrated in Figure 1 below where the trends show that before FPE was implemented in 2003, 47.5 percent of school-going children in slums were enrolled in fee paying ‘private’s schools. By 2002, one year before FPE, there were more poor pupils in private schools in the slums than there were in public schools. FPE did have an immediate impact as seen by the surge in enrollment in public schools in 2003. The concern however, is that it appears more pupils are going back to the private schools, even as the Kenyan Government and donors have proclaimed success in implementing FPE in Kenya. We had mentioned earlier that Kenya has made an attempt to universalize access at various periods, but often, the trend reverses just after a few years of reported success. We can say from this study that Kenya may be back to where it started before FPE if this worrying trend is not addressed and reversed.


13

two Table 1: Number of Individuals and Households Reached in the Target Population, 2005 - 2007

Year 2005

Site name Site

Administ-

Number of Number of Number of

descri-

rative

individuals House-

individuals of

individuals of

ption

location

aged 5-19 holds

aged 5-20

House-

aged 5-19 House-

years

years

holds

years

Year 2006

Number

Year 2007 Number of Number

holds

Slum Korogocho 7,089 3,417 7,955 3,625 8,032 3605

Viwandani Slum Jericho

Viwandani 3,829

Non-slum Makadara 1,608

2,242

3,442

1,988

5,387

3040

797

1,930

935

2,168

1011

Harambee Non-slum Makadara 730 356 707 347 911 424 Total

13,256

6,812

14,034

6,895

16,498

8,080

Source: Ngware, et al. (2008)

Figure 1: Trends in Type of School Attended Between 2000 - 2007 Among Children in Populations Living in Slums

Source: Oketch et al. (2009)

Figure 2 shows the trends in enrollment in both public and non-public schools among populations living in the non-slums whom we are comparing with the slum residents. It is clearly a contrast of what is observed in Figure 1. Here, children were mostly enrolled in state schools even before FPE was introduced. Once FPE was introduced, we do not see the kind of shift that we witness in the two slums, indicating that the impact of FPE was not dramatic for this group, and that they indeed were not the group for whom the FPE should have benefited most, as they were already part of the state system. Although there has been a rise in the utilization of private schools in post FPE era, this is very low compared to the shift that is seen in Figure 1.

14


two The trends shown in Figures 1 and 2 prompted us to investigate the issue of school mobility or shift effect of the policy. Analysis of reasons why parents transfer their children from one school to another are as shown in Table 2 Figure 2: Trends in Type of school Attended Between 2000 - 2007 Among Children in Populations Living in Non-slums


Table 2: Important Reasons for Changing Schools as Given by Respondents 2007, n=478 Reason for changing schools Total Transfers % Into Private Schools No % No % School cheaper or provides FPE

120

25.10

28

23.33

Teachers/school perform well or more disciplined

237

49.58

186

78.48

School buildings/facilities of good quality

9

1.88

5

55.56

School is near or it is easily accessible

45

9.41

29

64.44

Lack of appropriate grade or level

32

6.69

13

40.63

Peer influence

9

1.88

8

88.89

26

5.44

20

76.92

Other (Relocation of family, Expelled from previous school; School on strike)


Table 2 shows that more than half of the transfers were explained by better pupil discipline and teachers perceived to be better performers in the school transferred into. Most of those reporting school and teachers’ performance as key reason for transfer were those who transferred to a private school. This is a crude indication that parents are concerned about the quality and kind of education their children are receiving and that they perceive private schools as being of better quality.


15

two A preference for free and cheaper education is evident with nearly one-third of transfers reported to be due to this. School availability and its proximity as well as the highest grade offered in a school were other reasons why pupils transfer from one school to another. Perceived teacher quality, discipline and overall school performances were the most frequently cited reasons for transfer into any given school. It can be argued that the movement between private schools was in search of a cheaper private school whereas those who managed to move into public schools are those who wanted to benefit from the FPE policy. Moreover, movement to private schools was also in search of better performance. Another frequent reason for transfer was lack of appropriate grade in the school a pupil was presently enrolled in, although this was not a major reason. Most of the transfer’s occurred during early grade (grades one to four) and more of these transfers are into private schools. In later grades about two thirds of the transfers were into private schools which may be because of the lack of an appropriate grade in the original school attended. Moreover, most of the private-owned schools are perceived to perform better (as indicated by reasons for change of school) than public schools hence could also explain the observed large transfers into the private schools at later grades compared to the public schools. We have also explored the determinants of household schooling decisions in terms of enrolling or not enrolling on one hand, and attending a public primary school or private primary school on the other (Ngware, Oketch, Ezeh & Mudege, 2009). The purpose was to identify household and individual-level key factors that are important when a household in an urban settlement makes a schooling decision. The evidence has important implications in targeting the provision of public services. From the analysis, it may be inferred that households are disposed towards enrollment of their children in primary school if they are richer, residing away from urban informal settlement, are headed by a female, smaller, lived nearer a primary school and the household head had more education. Child individual attributes also influenced the decision to enroll. As would be expected, orphans were less likely to be enrolled compared to non-orphans, however the type of orphan did not matter – an indication that children are treated in the same way with regard to schooling whether they have lost one or both parents. From the sample, child age was an important consideration in enrollment with older children being more likely to be in school. The analysis also shows how different household and individual attributes motivate the decision on the type of school. Households are more inclined to choose a public primary school if they do not reside in informal settlements, are not in the lower wealth quintiles, are female headed and have an older household head. Households were more likely to choose a public school as the child became older – perhaps to take advantage of public schools being national examination centers and also owing to selection in government secondary schools. These factors are perhaps reinforced by the flexibility of non-public schools, low social capital and networks and perceived differences in the quality of education provided by different schools. Our analysis also indicates that, in the study sites, it may be the better off households that benefit from FPE since they are more likely to have children in public schools whereas the poor send children to private schools where education is not subsidized by FPE. The evidence adduced here can inform demand driven policies aimed at increasing the utilization or uptake of FPE services as the paper isolated distinctive characteristics that can be used to identify target households.

16


two Besides enrollment and transfers, another important schooling indicator that the data collected has enabled us to examine is achievement. The results, based on an OLS analysis indicate that residents in the informal neighbourhoods, enrollment in a public school and one’s gender if female, are the strongest explanatory variables for low achievement among pupils in the Kenya primary education examination taken at the end of the primary cycle (see Epari, Mutisya, Ezeh, Oketch & Ngware, 2008). This is not to suggest that FPE has had any direct impact on the pupils’ performance, but it rather does indicate slum children are disadvantaged throughout, from low participation in the public system to low achievement in the national examination that determines transition to secondary level, and subsequently, ones total human capital and life chances. We also examined the type of schools that pupils are enrolled in as an attempt to make a case for the quality of school input. Logically, FPE should enable poorer children to improve their participation through increased enrollment, improve their attendance, both of which would lead to a reduction in the total number of out-of-school children as well as dropouts. The quality of school input can be an important indicator of the success of FPE. In this case, we focused on the materials as well as classsize as an aspect of assessing the quality of schooling. On this measure too, our findings are quite revealing. On inputs alone, the quality of government schools is ‘better’ with respect to infrastructure, teacher qualifications and textbook provision than that provided in nonstate owned schools in the slums (Ngware, Oketch, Ezeh & Mudege, 2009). We need to make a point here regarding private schools attended by children in Harambee and Jericho, the two non-slum residential areas. These are not the ‘private schools for the poor’ found in the slums, but instead selective and expensive private schools. The comparison here in terms of the quality of school is therefore with respect to slums in the case of private schools and both slums and non-slums with respect to public schools. Here is what we found: in terms of class-size, the private schools did better with class-size of 22 pupils and PTR of 27 on average compared to 50 and 47 respectively in the public schools. Literature on the effect of class-size on learner achievement shows that large class-sizes disadvantage weak students as the teaching methods focus on the average student (Arnold, Gaddy & Dean, 2004). Another important aspect of school quality is the school infrastructure. According to the standards set out by the Kenyan government through its Ministry of Public Works building guidelines, classroom walls are supposed to be made of building stones/blocks while the floor should be cemented. On this measure, the study found that government schools have superior infrastructure by far compared to those schools attended by the poor children in the slums. For instance, 95 percent of government schools can be described as having very good classrooms that meet the minimum requirements set by the government. Government policy on pupil-textbook ratio stipulates that lower primary (grades one to four) should have a ratio of at most three, while upper primary should have a ratio of at most two in all main subjects. While government-owned schools have almost attained the required pupil-textbook ratio, the non-government schools have higher pupil-textbook ratios. For example, the private individual owned schools have a mean ratio of 2.5 and 7.6 in lower and upper primary, respectively, while the community-owned schools have mean ratios of 5.4 and 2.3 for these levels. Textbooks are an important learning input that provides the learner with different learning experience. Most of the schools with pupil-text book ratios that are of the minimum standards for lower grades are in informal settlements. Teacher teaching load in the schools studied varies by school ownership and location. On average, in government-owned schools, teachers teach for 32 hours in a week followed by


17

two those in private Non-Government Organization (NGO) schools where they teach for 28 hours, and community and private religious group owned schools where they teach for 27 hours.

2.6. Implications to Education Policy Several policy issues emerge from the findings of this case study on schooling in Nairobi:

18

FPE is a policy that has excluded the very poor whom it ought to have included. It is not acceptable that a large number of poor children in slums are still enrolled in the so-called ‘private schools’. This is truly a testimony that a policy that ought to benefit the poor can indeed exclude the poor.

The poor desire good quality education for their children and some seem to have been disappointed by the education system offered under FPE. Figure 1 illustrated this point as the shift from private to public occurred in 2003, indicating positive response by parents to the government policy, but followed thereafter by disappointments and a shift back to the private schools. How can the Kenyan government claim successes in FPE when poorer parents are already disappointed and willing to pay for education rather than stay in the public system?

The findings demonstrate that universal eligibility might not be the best approach to reach the poorest groups. It may be the case here that targeting is necessary so that the poor don’t end up paying for education when there is FPE intended to benefit them most.

Finally the study exposes the challenges of urbanization and the need for a different strategy when it comes to providing social services to a city where 60% of its residents are those who are classified as slum-dwellers.

There is need for the government to expand school infrastructure and employ more teachers in urban settings to cope with the rapid urbanization and create opportunities for disadvantaged urban children to access quality education. The aim is to reduce both class-sizes and PTR to the Ministry of Education’s acceptable standards. This may call for radical measures some of which may require political goodwill and community consultations.

To improve the quality of education in urban informal settlements, public-private partnership initiatives should be encouraged and supported by the government. Such a partnership targeting urban school quality improvement is one way of mobilizing resources for improving quality of education. For this to be successful across different school ownerships, all education institutions should register with the Ministry of Education as they stand to benefit from technical support among other gains. In particular, the government should extend the provision of textbooks and inspection visits to private schools serving the poor.

Education stakeholders go beyond the education sector. In view of this, it is imperative to address the problem of school inputs from a sector-wide approach. For example, provision of school toilet facilities and safe drinking water would benefit from a sector-wide approach with stakeholders coming from the education, housing, environment, health, water and local government sub sectors.


two References African Population and Health Research Center (2002). Health and livelihood needs of residents of informal settlements in Nairobi City. Occasional study report. Nairobi: African Population and Health Research Center. Arnold, M.L., Gaddy, B.B., & Dean, C.B. (2004). A look at the condition of rural education research: Setting a direction for future research. Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning. Epari, C., Mutisya, M., Ezeh, A.C., Oketch, M., & Ngware, M. (2011). Factors associated with low achievement among students in Nairobi’s informal neighborhoods. Urban Education, 1-22. doi 10.1177/ 42085911400323 Hope, K. R. (1999). Managing rapid urbanization in Africa: Some aspects of policy by Hope, Kempe Ronald Sr. Fall 1999. Retrieved from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3821/is_199910/ai_n8862001/ Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (2010).Kenya 2009 population and housing census highlights. Retrieved from: http://www.knbs.or.ke/Census%20Results/KNBS%20 Brochure.pdf Magadi, M. & Ezeh, A. (2002). Adolescents in Nairobi informal settlements. In African Population and Health Research Center (2002), Population and health dynamics in Nairobi informal settlements. Nairobi: African Population and Health Research Center. Ngware, M., Oketch, M., Ezeh, A. & Mudege, N. (2009). Do household characteristics matter in schooling decisions in urban Kenya? Equal Opportunities International, 28(7),591608. Ngware, M., Oketch, M., Ezeh, A., & Mudege, N. (2008). Do households characteristics matter in schooling decisions in urban Kenya? (Working Paper No.37). Nairobi: African Population and Health Research Center. Oketch, M., Mutisya, M., Ngware, M., & Ezeh, A.C. (2008). Why are there proportionately more poor pupils enrolled in non-state schools in urban Kenya in spite of FPE policy? (Working Paper No. 40). Nairobi: African Population and Health Research Center. Oranje, M. (2005). Implications of urbanization in Africa for sustainable cities and towns. Presentation made at the 23rd IAHS World Congress on Housing 2005, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Retrieved from: www.housing.gov.za/.../Implications%20of%20Urbanization%20in%20Africa%20for%20Su. Republic of Kenya (2006). Statistical abstract 2006. Nairobi: Government Printer.


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two Syagga, P.M., Mitullah, W.V., & Gitau, S.K. (2001). Nairobi situation analysis, Government of Kenya and UNCHS collaborative Nairobi slum upgrading initiative, Nairobi. Retrieved from: http://practicalaction.org/docs/shelter/kis_urban_poor_report_march2002.doc Tooley, J., Dixon, P., & Stanfield, J. (2008). Impact of Free Primary Education in Kenya: A case study of private schools in Kibera. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 36(4), 449-469. Tostensen, A., Tvedten, I., & Vaa, M. (Eds.) (2001). Associational life in African cities: Popular responses to the urban crisis. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute. UN-HABITAT (2007). Twenty first session of the governing council, 16-20 April 2007, Nairobi, Kenya. Retrieved from: http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/ docs/4625_34413_GC%2021%203%20Things%20to%20know%20about%20 slums.pdf

20


Chapter

three

Education, Training and Work Among Youth Living in Slums of Nairobi, Kenya Moses O. Oketch & Maurice Mutisya


21

three 3.1. Background

T Majority of the schools in the slum settlements are private and often attract unqualified and unpaid or under-paid teachers or volunteers who often leave once better opportunities avail themselves, leading to high teacher turnover

he three post-independence governments in Kenya (Kenyatta era of 1963-1978, Moi era of 1979-2002, and Kibaki era of 20022012) as noted in policy documents have prioritized education (Oketch & Sommerset, 2010; Oketch & Rolleston, 2007). Education has been one of the pillars of Kenya’s development mantra from the Sessional paper No. 10 of 1965 often cited to have set the pace for development planning to the more recent Vision 2030 which aims to transform Kenya into an industrialized middle-income country by 2030 (Republic of Kenya 1965a, 1965b, 1969,1976,1981,1988,1999, 2005). However, skills training, particularly for the youth who have not been accommodated in the formal education system has remained elusive and patchy at best in these broad development plans. This is not to negate the fact that tangible achievements have been made in universalizing access to primary education (Sifuna & Sawamura, 2008; Oketch & Ngware, 2010; Oketch et al., 2010). But Sifuna and Sawamura argue that beyond the euphoria over the success of the FPE initiative and the increased enrollments, there has been little policy attention to issues of equitable access, relevance, quality, and outcomes of education, including key competencies and skills training. Consequently, and as recent studies have found, it can be said that one symptom of the ills and the conundrum of Kenya’s education system is the fact that while universal access policies such as FPE has led to improved school participation, a large proportion of pupils from poor households use low-fee private schools due to inadequate space and many have very limited opportunity to transition to secondary level (Oketch, Mutisya, Ngware & Ezeh, 2010). Majority of the schools in the slum settlements are private and often attract unqualified and unpaid or under-paid teachers or volunteers who often leave once better opportunities avail themselves, leading to high teacher turnover (Ngware, Oketch, Ezeh & Mudege, 2009). All these compound the youth vulnerability in the slums. Clearly, if within the FPE policy the slum-residents find it most difficult to access education it is likely that they will be excluded at the secondary and post-secondary training levels. This is not because households are disinterested in further education, but instead because there are very limited educational and training opportunities for those aged between 15-24 years and residing in the slums (Oketch & Ngware, 2010). Out of about 750,000 pupils who sat for the class eight primary exit examination in 2007 often taken at the ages of between 14 and 15, only 57 percent secured a place in the few secondary schools in the country. There are currently about 2.7 million youth aged between 14-17 years who should be in secondary school but are out of school. The net attendance rate is only 843,801 and the gross attendance for this age cohort (consider the word group) is 1.796,467 (KNBS, 2010, pp. 23 Table VII). The secondary exit examination is taken at the age of 17 and 18 and out of 357,488 (KNEC, 2010) who sat for the examination in 2010, less than 10 percent were assured of a place in the few universities, with majority of those aged between 18-24 years left without any opportunities for education and training. Private commercial colleges are few, mostly concentrated

22


three in major urban centers, and they are very expensive and majority of youth from disadvantaged backgrounds lack resources to meet the cost of training offered in these supply-side commercial colleges. Efforts by the government have not been adequate to match the need for skills in Kenya. Lack of opportunity for further education and skills deficit among the youth in Kenya is therefore one of the contributing factors to youth unemployment, poverty among the youth, general household poverty, and one of the greatest challenges facing Kenya today.

3.1.1 The Youthful Population Conundrum The educational and training challenges highlighted in the background section are linked to Kenya’s rapid population growth and the structure of its population pyramid. Like majority of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya is teeming with youthful population. Out of a population of about 39 million, about 8 million (20.58 percent) are youth aged between 15-24 years (KBNS, Population Census, 2009). The rate of unemployment in Kenya is 40 percent with the youth accounting for 78 percent (Kiiru, 2009). A large number of youth are increasingly found in the urban areas, particularly urban informal settlements. This youth unemployment has drawn attention from several quarters, leading to both government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) led initiatives. One such government-led initiative in partnership with the World Bank is the Kazi Kwa Vijana (KKV) project, which is a Swahili word that translates literally to ‘jobs for the youth’. Its success is yet to be seen, but it basically offers manual jobs to youth both in rural and urban areas so that they are occupied and to also help improve their poverty situation. One of the main criticisms levelled against the KKV project is its lack of systematic skills training for the youth. It is perceived as encouraging low level, limited upward skills development for the youth. Its existence is nonetheless a testimony of the reality and acceptance by the Kenya government that the youth and their unemployment problem must be addressed, but a plan on how to address the skill development opportunities that is so crucial to addressing the youth unemployment does not seem to be in place yet. Yet it is also true to say that the youthful population in Kenya, as can be said of the rest of sub-Saharan Africa countries, offers the potential for development - but only if they can be educated and offered opportunities for skills training. Another aspect of youth situation worth highlighting is that it is a double-edged issue. On the one hand the high unemployment rate among the youth is related to labor market dynamics and the labor market opportunities. On the other hand, ‘how easily and how effectively young people find jobs is also dependent on how well the labor market is prepared to receive them, and how well they are prepared for the labor market’ (World Bank, 2009 pp. 2). Based on an opportunistic sample that was aimed at demographic health profiling of the poorest of the poor urban slum dwellers, this chapter sheds light on the youth skill and income generating opportunities in two urban slums of Nairobi, Kenya- Korogocho and Viwandani slums. Where the data permits, some comparison is made with formal settlements of Harambee and Jericho. The chapter analyzes the living and working conditions and education and training opportunities of youth living in the slums using data from the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS) collected by APHRC. It highlights the education and training opportunities and challenges facing the youth in the


23

three two slums, and assesses the nature of skills and income generating activities that the youth are engaged in. The data comprise a large longitudinal sample covering the 2003-2008 period. The two slums which are profiled in this chapter have slightly different characteristics, with one having more long-term residents than the other, which has a large majority of men amongst its residents, and higher average educational attainment.

3.1.2. Korogocho and Viwandani Slums- a Profile About 60 percent of Nairobi’s population of 3 million are slum residents. Nairobi is thus surrounded by slums. Korogocho and Viwandani, which are located approximately 10 kilometers from the Nairobi city center, are two such slums. They are old and established slums. The two slums are high population density areas with Korogocho having over 250 dwelling units/structures per hectare. The two slums together occupy an area of land of just about 0.97 square kilometers (Oketch, Mutisya, Ngware, Ezeh & Epari, 2010). When the two slums were selected for APHRC’s urban demographic surveillance study, they ranked among the poorest in Nairobi. Korogocho was ranked 48th and Viwandani 44th out of a total of 49 locations by their wealth index. The ranking was based on the proportion of the population below poverty line using the Kenya 1999 housing and population census, and the 1997 Welfare Monitoring Survey III collected by the Central Bureau of Statistics (GoK, 2000). The environment in which these two slums sit is heavily polluted. Typical of slums across the world, the two slums are settlements in public land left by the City Council as reserve land for rivers -Korogocho reserve for Nairobi River and Gitathuru River while Viwandani is reserved for Ngong River. The building materials are mostly non-permanent. The rivers are heavily polluted with either industrial or human waste or garbage, posing major health risk to the slum residents. But these two slums are not identical and homogenous. For instance most structures in Korogocho are made of mud and timber with waste tin cans roofing, whereas in Viwandani most are made of iron sheets and tin with proper iron sheet roofing. In terms of their physical location, Viwandani lies between Nairobi’s industrial area and Ngong while Korogocho is not spared either, as it is located next to the main Nairobi dumping site and Nairobi River. These conditions therefore mean that these two are impoverished settlements whose youth face many challenges and are vulnerable in many ways.

3.2. Population 3.2.1. Demographic Profile of the Population This section outlines the demographic profile of the youth population in the two slums. It focuses on the changes in the numbers and share of youth aged 15-24 and will speculate on the reasons for such changes, whether, in-migration from rural areas or other urban areas. The population diagrams below shows the population of the youth Kenya in 2009 (n=7944646), Nairobi in 2009 (n=737460) and that of the two slums sites for the years 2003 (person years=13237), 2007 (person years=13178) and 2010 (person years=14107).

24


three Figure 3: Kenya Population Pyramid of Youth Aged 15 to 24 Years (in 1000’s)

Figure 4: Nairobi Population Pyramid of Youth Aged 15 to 24 years (in 1000’s)


25

three Figure 5: Kenya Population Pyramid in Age Groups (in 1000’s)

Figure 6: Nairobi Population Pyramid in Age Groups (in 1000’s)

26


three From Figures 3 to 6 (KNBS, 2010), it is clear that the Kenya population is a youthful one. In the 2009 census conducted by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), youth aged between 15 to 24 years accounted for about 20 percent of the population. Figure 5 shows a bulging youthful generation, with more than half of the Kenyan population being those aged below 24 years. In Figures 3 and 4, it is clear that the age band of 20 is the largest in Kenya overall, and in Nairobi in particular. Nonetheless, the youth aged 18 and over are larger in Nairobi compared to the rest of the country. This could be explained by the fact that a larger number of youth who complete secondary education at age 17 tend to migrate to the urban areas, with Nairobi as the favorite destination in search of employment. Many with limited or no skills training at all would start with seeking informal employment and often also find themselves starting urban life in the informal slum settlements.

Figure 7: Midyear Slum Population Pyramid of Youth Aged 15 to 24 Years in 2003

Figure 8: Midyear Slum Population Pyramid of Youth Aged 15 to 24 Years in 2007


27

three Figure 9: Midyear Slum Population Pyramid of Youth Aged 15 to 24 Years in 2010

Figures 7 to 9 shows little change over a period of seven years when the data was collected in the two slums, which are profiled in this report. Those within the youth age band of 20-24 years form the bulk of the youth population in these slums, compared to those aged 15-18 years. Figure 10: Overall Korogocho and Viwandani Slums Midyear Population Pyramid 2003

28


three Figure 11: Overall Korogocho and Viwandani Slum Midyear Population Pyramid 2010

The population pyramid shows the number of person years contributed by individuals in each of the ages and not single years. It is averaged at the midyear for each of the years. Overall, in 2003 the two slums were characterized by youthful generation aged between 20 and 35 years of age. The pyramid shows that most of the youth to be aged above 20 years in 2003. The youth population seems to be stable between 2003 and 2007 and grown in 2010. The pyramid also shows that there are more female youth than males over time. The youth sex ratio in 2003, 2007 and 2010 was 0.98, 0.96 and 0.94 respectively. This shows a growing number of female youth populations, and this is lower than the Kenya sex ratio of 1 for ages between 15 and 64 years. What is also interesting is the comparison of population structure in the slums versus that of Kenya. It is clear that these two slums mirror the structure of Nairobi (Figure 11) but different from that of Kenya overall (Figure 10). In the overall Figure, those between ages 0-14 are the largest. In the slums, those in the ages of 18-27 are the largest with a squeeze in the middle for those aged around 13-17. It is not very clear why this is so. The larger bracket of 18-24 is definitely as a result of migration from rural to urban or within urban migration.


29

three 3.3. Training 3.3.1. Socio-economic Status Some of the key socio-economic features of the two slums are as follows. In Korogocho, among men aged 18 years and above, only 11 percent were in salaried employment in 2006, 10 percent were in established trading, 34 percent in casual employment, 29 percent in petty trading, and 15 percent without any income generating activity. Among Korogocho women, 50 percent were not involved in any income generation activity, 32 percent in petty trading, 8 percent in casual employment, 4 percent in salaried employment and 6 percent in established trading. The situation is not that different for Viwandani. Among men aged 18 years and above in Viwandani in 2006, 20 percent were in salaried employment, 7 percent in established trading, 42 percent in casual employment, 14 percent in petty trading and 12 percent without any income generating activity. Among women, 50 percent were without any income generation, 19 percent in petty trading, 18 percent in casual employment, 3 percent in salaried employment and 7 percent in established trading (APHRC dataset, 2007). Educational attainment varies between the two sites. Most Korogocho residents are either uneducated or dropped out of school at primary level. Only 19 percent of the men and 12 percent of the women have attended secondary school. In Viwandani, the education situation is a bit better with many of the residents reporting to have attained secondary school education. 48 percent of males and 36 percent of females had secondary education. This reinforces the fact that most of Viwandani population are labor migrants, mostly people from rural areas trying to get their foot in the urban employment search, and once their economic situation improved, they tend to move to better non-slum settlements. So, it can be said that Viwandani seems to serve as a starting point for rural-urban migrants (Oketch et al., 2010). The APHRC survey has the Education Research Child Behavior component for 2005, 2006 and 2007 and the data collected include information on individual training skills, the different areas in which training was received, and whether such skills have been used to earn income (livelihood). The age of individuals in 2005 was between 15 and 19, in 2006 was between 15 and 20 and between 15 and 21 in 2007. The number of cases included in the analysis was 2,356 for 2005, 3,482 for 2006 and 3,430 for 2007. The upper age varies since 2005 was the time individuals were first captured in the system and were followed prospectively. The results in Figure 12 shows whether the respondents aged 15 to 21 years in 2007 had ever received training on trade (any skill).

30


three Figure 12: Ever Received Training in a Trade or Skill, by Study Site: 2005 2007

The graph shows a high proportion of individuals have not received any form of training although the reasons could vary from lack of training opportunities to being enrolled in secondary school. It is unlikely that those in the slums will have cited enrollment in secondary school as the main reason because they don’t have secondary schools available to majority of them. The socio-economic profile also shows that it is more likely for those residing in the non-slum settlements to go to secondary school compared with the slum residing youth. What is most interesting from Figure 12 is that more youth in the slums reported that they had received training compared to their counterparts in the non-slums. Again, this can be explained by the fact that it is likely that those in the non-slums were enrolled in secondary school and therefore didn’t require training whereas those in the slums were not enrolled. This would apply particularly to youth aged between 15-17 years when they are supposed to be enrolled in secondary level. The other possible explanation is that due to the nature of informal job opportunities in the slums, majority of the youth there compared to those in the non-slums had undertaken some ‘informal’ apprenticeship training, which they simply reported as training. ‘Some’ apprenticeship training is not as common among non-slum residents who tend to seek more normalized training in the post-secondary high fees commercial or public training colleges. There is also the likelihood that the youth in the slums have benefited from the training opportunities offered by several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the slums. This could possibly be true because most NGOs tend to concentrate their initiatives in the slums. What is interesting from the Table 3 below is that there is no statistically significant difference in the proportion of individuals who have received training between the slum and non-slum (Table 3).


31

three Table 3: Ever Received Training in a Trade or Skill, by Study Site, Gender for the Years 2005 to 2007 Chi Square Non-Slum Slum P-Value Received Training No Yes No Yes Year=2005 (n=2356) Gender

Female

83.15

16.85 86.65 13.35 0.109

Male

93.98

6.02 89.39 10.61 0.020

Age group

15 - 18

89.10

10.90

89.04

10.96

0.313

19 - 20

85.43

14.57

81.85

18.15

0.968

Gender

Female

94.98

5.02 87.16 12.84 0.000

Male

94.57

5.43 90.27 9.73 0.008

Age group

15 - 18

97.00

3.00

91.67

8.33

0.000

19 - 20

91.74

8.26

82.63

17.37

0.000

Gender

Female

89.33

10.67 84.20 15.80 0.011

Male

94.01

5.99 86.71 13.29 0.000

Age group

15 - 18

96.74

3.26

90.89

9.11

0.000

19 - 20

86.82

13.18

77.20

22.80

0.000

Year=2006 (n=3482)

Year=2007 (n=3430)

Individuals who had received training were further asked to state whether they have ever used the skills acquired to earn income (Table 4).

Table 4: Individual Used Skills Trained in to Earn Money Year Study Site Used Skill to Earn Money Chi square No Yes p-value 2005 (n=283)

Non-slum

Slum 74.38

67.50

25.62

2006 (n=342)

Non-slum

42.86

Slum 55.00

45.33

2007 (n=449)

Non-slum

35.38

Slum 46.09

57.14 64.62

32.50

0.243 0.763 0.006

53.91

It is apparent that two thirds of the individuals despite reporting to have received forms of training are still not using them to earn any form of income. 2007 looks better with an improved number of those reporting to have used the skills they have acquired through training to earn some income. These figures also simply reflect the lack of job opportunities even among those who are trained in Kenya. It is a reflection of the unemployment situation among the youth in Kenya. The fact that slum residing youth with training seem to have faired slightly better in utilizing the skills acquired through training could be explained by the apprenticeship training hypothesis - this would allow them to be retained by the masters, compared to those who have been trained in areas that are not directly leading to available employment opportunities.

32


three Table 5: Trade in which Training Skills have been Received for those who had ever Received any Form of Trade Training Trade Skill

2006 (n=342) Non-slum Slum

2007 (n=449) Non-slum Slum

Accounts/Nursing/hospitality 0.00

1.00

12.31

1.30

Hair Dressing

29.33

15.38

21.61

21.43

Dressmaking/Tailoring

28.57 24.00 21.54 20.83

Computer training

2.38

Mechanic

9.52 17.33 6.15 13.28

3.33

24.62

5.99

Carpentry

2.38 6.00 1.54 7.29

Electrician

23.81 5.00 6.15

Welding

4.76 5.33 0.00 3.13

5.21

Cookery

0.00 1.00 3.08 1.30

Art and Craft

0.00

Cobbler

- -

0.00 0.78

Others like Driving

7.14

4.62

2.33 5.33

4.62

4.43 14.85

Table 5 shows the different trade skills in which training has been received. In 2006, very few of the youth had trained on professional skills- i.e. accounting, nursing or hospitality. This number grew to 12.3 percent among the non-slum in 2007 and nearly constant for the slums. Most of the training skills are either in hairdressing, dressmaking and tailoring or artisan such as mechanics and electricians. For instance, in 2006, 21 percent and 29 percent of the slum and non-slum youths had trained on hairdressing respectively; in 2007, 22 percent and 21 percent had trained in dressmaking or tailoring. Generally, the youth profiled in the two slums show that they have very slim chances of receiving formal skills training but they do receive training in several areas that have been highlighted. Many of those unable to find work are likely to be those who also lack any skills training. Many of the possessed skills reported were most likely received through NGO training sponsorships, apprenticeship and few individual personal efforts. There is thus clear skills deficiency in the slums as shown in Figure 12. This is not restricted to slums, but can be said of the youth in Kenya more generally, with the slum residing youth facing the sharpest steep skills deficit in Kenya. This is compounded by lack of secondary education access by majority of them within the 15-17 years age bracket.

3.4. Education There is also limited access to secondary education for the youth in Kenya as transition rate is just about 50 percent with a larger majority of the excluded likely to be those living in the slums. The slum sites are characterized by a large number of pupils yet they are served by very few public schools. The two slum sites do not have a secondary education of their own. Majority of the youth will therefore have had no opportunities for secondary education. Training centers are also limited and expensive. The government training institutes often require entry qualification that is from secondary level. With limited access to secondary education, many of the slum residing youth are excluded from formal training prospects offered in Kenya because entry to such training often require secondary completion.


33

three Table 6: Number of School Going Pupils Included in the Education Project Year

Non-slum n %

Slum n %

2005

2,338

17.64%

10,918 82.36%

2006

2,641

18.79%

11,415 81.21%

2007

3,089

18.65%

13,478 81.35%

2008

2,912

17.89%

13,366 82.11%

2009

3,605

16.62%

18,082 83.38%

2010

3,548

16.83%

17,532 83.17%

The private primary schools within Korogocho and Viwandani are informal schools offering the approved ministry of education curriculum. These informal schools are different from the formal private schools in the non-slums in a number of ways. To start with, the informal private schools charge very minimal tuition fee compared to the private formal schools; nearly all are not registered by the ministry of education but other ministries like those of social services and by the attorney general office as children/rescue centers. The fees payment is by some flexible informal arrangement between the parents and the operators of such schools. These kinds of schools do not exist at the secondary level. Even with the announcement of some form of ‘free’ secondary education policy in Kenya, there are no secondary schools to cater for those living in the slums. Transition to secondary education is therefore still a major hurdle for many of the primary graduates who live in the slums. The need to support their families also drives the youth- ages 15-17 years into early forms of informal employment rather than pursuit of secondary education. Nonetheless, supply is clearly the first challenge that must be addressed if the youth in the slums are to be helped towards employment skills development. Table 7: Primary school availability within the study site, 2006 Study Site No. of Private

Private (%)

No. of Public Public (%)

Total Schools

Korogocho study site

29

93.54

2

6.45

30

Larger Korogocho

4

80.00

1

20.00

5

Korogocho neighbourhoods

3

60.00

2

40.00

5

Viwandani study site

24

92.31

2

7.69

26

Larger Viwandani

6

75.00

2

25.00

8

Viwandani neighbourhoods

9

100.00

0

0.00

9

Jericho study site

2

50.00

2

50.00

4

Larger Jericho

1

33.33

2

66.67

3

Jericho’s neighbourhoods

6

37.50

10

62.50

16

Harambee study site

2

66.67

1

33.33

3

Harambee neighbourhoods

1

20.00

4

80.00

5


Table 8 below shows the education level of the youth in the study sites. There are clear differences between the slum and non-slum. While majority of the youth in the slum are in primary or have achieved primary education, majority in the non-slum have secondary education. It is also clear that more youth in the non-slum than the slum sites have tertiary

34


three education. The contrast is clearly in secondary education. This reinforces the point made earlier that there is very limited opportunity for secondary education among the slum residing youth. For example, in 2005, only 31 % of slum residing you reported to have secondary education level (this figure include currently enrolled, some secondary, and completed secondary) compared with 77% for the non-slum residing youth. Table 8: Education Level Among the Youth in the Slum and Non-slum

Year

Slum

2005 3.79%

None/Pre-primary Primary 64.68%

Secondary Tertiary 31.12% 0.41%

2006 1.62%

60.13%

36.91% 1.34%

2007 0.37%

55.23%

41.27% 3.13%

2008 0.54%

46.82%

46.72% 5.92%

2009 0.62%

43.11%

49.49% 6.78%

2010 0.65%

42.92%

49.93% 6.51%

Non-slum

2005 0.48%

16.95%

77.28% 5.29%

2006 0.53%

13.27%

72.61% 13.59%

2007 0.33%

10.84%

66.17% 22.66%

2008 0.16%

9.35%

60.67% 29.82%

2009 0.13%

8.02%

55.95% 35.90%

2010 0.19%

6.82%

55.22% 37.77%

3.5. Work 3.5.1. Involvement in Income Generating Activities Education, training and work are interrelated. Using data collected by the NUHDSS in 2009 and 2010, the study also looked at the different income generating activities that the youth in the slums engage in. Using the same data individuals were mapped back to their training skills in order to establish whether in the longer- term the youth end up utilizing their skills for their livelihood. It is however important to note that the youth engage in different activities over time to earn their living. These activities are usually driven by their availability rather than the training received. Figure 13: Proportion of Youth Engaged in Income Generating Activities


35

three Figure 13 shows the proportion of youth involved in income generating activities in 2009 and 2010 from the NUHDSS livelihood surveys. Youth involvement in income generating activities is highly correlated with the age of the youth and this result is expected. Nearly 50 percent of the youth by the age of 23 are already earning their living through involvement in income generating activities. The results also show a similar pattern of youth involvement for both years in question. To further understand the dynamics of youth employment, the same data was stratified by gender (Figure 14 below). Interestingly and contrary to the notion that more male youth are in income generating activities, the study shows that both male and female of different ages are equally involved in some form of income generating activities. Figure 14: Proportion of Youth Engaged in Income Generating Activities by Gender

3.5.2. Involvement in Income Generating Activity by Selected Characteristics Further analysis was undertaken to assess how different household characteristics interact with the likelihood of youth being engaged in some form of employment- which was simply asked as ‘income generating activity’. The key variables included household wealth and the education level of the head of the household. The results are reported in the next sections.

Household wealth Notes: From Figure 14 and Table 9.

36

1.

In both Viwandani and Korogocho, involvement in income generating activity by the youth significantly decreased with increased household wealth. i.e. poorer households are likely to have their youth involved in income activities, and these are generally petty trading and artisan work, informal in nature and purely survival.

2.

More youth in Viwandani engaged in income activities than Korogocho in both years

3.

The same pattern is also seen when split by gender. However, more male than female are likely to be involved in income generating activities in both years.


three Figure 15: Involvement in Income Generating Activity by Household Wealth Index Among Youth Aged Between 15 and 24 Years in the Slum Sites 45% 40% 35%

2009

30%

2010

25% 20% Poorest 20%

2

3

4

Least poor 20%

Table 9: Involvement in Income Generating Activity by Household Wealth Index Among Youth Aged Between 15 and 24 Years by Slum Site Household Wealth Index

2009 (n=16301)

2010 (n=16913)

Korogocho Viwandani

Korogocho Viwandani

Poorest 20%

36.59

35.09

2

34.64 48.18

33.71 49.39

3

27.26 45.82

26.92 45.5

4

23.35 37.82

24.06 36.24

Least 20%

19.37

16.58

Female Male

Female Male

Poorest 20%

23.52

21.99

2

23.16 56.38

21.92 60.02

3

22.31 60.43

22.66 58.02

4

18.07 51.46

19.77 48.26

Least 20%

18.07

18.96

44.57

34.36 51.67

41.83

38.17

32.96 47.28

37.03


37

three Household Head Education Level Table 10: Involvement in Income Generating Activity by Household Head Education Level Among Youth Aged Between 15 and 24 Years by Slum Site

2009

2010

Education Level

Korogocho

Viwandani

Korogocho

Viwandani

No education

11.23

19.74

12.37

15.33

Primary

31.14 41.35

Secondary 26.81 42.57

30.62 40.86 27.53 41.3

Age group

15 to 18

19 to 24

15 to 18

19 to 24

No education

2.87

19.49

3.81

20.48

Primary

8.44 44.6

8.02 44.58

Secondary 4.72 45.85 5.16 45.22 Gender

Female Male

Female Male

No education

7.64

11.23

Primary

19.64 53.52

20.49 51.81

Secondary 23.96 55.65

23.15 54.68

18.06

14.57

Significant differences observed in all above variables (between those involved in income activities versus those not.

Notes: From Table 10 1.

While in Viwandani involvement of youth in income generating activities is positively and significantly associated with education level of the household head, in Korogocho it is not.

2.

Those aged between 15 to 18 years were less likely to be involved in income generating activities. The proportion of those aged above 18 years and involved in income generating activities increases with increased education level of the household head

3.

In terms of gender, there is a positive and significant relationship between household head education level and involvement in income generating activities.

3.5.3. Forms/Types of Income Generating Activities For those involved in income generating activity, we mapped the different economic activities in which they were involved (Table 11). More female youth were in self-employment (un-established and established business) than were male. Informal casual work was the main economic activity, with more men (47.7 percent) engaged in this activity than women (33.9 percent). The informal casual jobs in this context means there are no contracts and are mainly on daily basis without any form of job security (so one day there is work, the next day there might not be work). There were also reports of formal and yet still regarded as casual types of work – meaning short cover, daily employment, etc.- and this was common with about 30 percent of the youth involved in it.

38


three Table 11: Main Economic Activities by Gender of the Youth Economic Activity Female Male Total Economic % % % Activity Female Male Total % % % Un-established own business 14.46 7.96 9.94 Un-established own business 14.46 7.96 9.94 Established own business 11.79 5.24 7.24 Established own business 11.79 5.24 7.24 Informal Casual 33.89 47.66 43.46 Informal Casual 33.89 47.66 43.46 Informal Salaried 5.21 5.22 5.21 Informal Salaried 5.21 5.22 5.21 Formal Salaried 2.20 4.46 3.77 Formal Salaried 2.20 4.46 3.77 Formal Casual 31.58 29.06 29.83 Formal Casual 31.58 29.06 29.83 Rural Agriculture 0.42 0.09 0.19 Rural Agriculture 0.42 0.09 0.19 Urban Agriculture 0.08 0.04 0.05 Urban Agriculture 0.08 0.04 0.05 Other 0.37 0.28 0.31 Other 0.37 0.28 0.31

Those in formal salaried jobs were a paltry 4 percent (2 percent female and 3.5 percent male). The formal salaried economic activity involve a monthly salary, drawn either once or twice a month. Both rural and urban agriculture are rarely termed as economic activities despite the fact that most individuals might be practicing some form of agriculture.

3.5.4. Reasons for not Being in Economic Activity The study further sought to understand the reasons why some of the youth were not involved in economic activities (Table 12).

Table 12: Main Economic Activities Economic Activity Female Male Total Reason Female % % % % Un-established own business 14.46 7.96 9.94 Household Responsibility 35.41 Established own business 11.79 5.24 7.24 In School 23.67 Informal Casual 33.89 47.66 43.46 Too young 0.24 Informal Salaried 5.21 5.22 5.21 Health reasons 0.22 Formal Salaried 2.20 4.46 3.77 Cannot find work 22.63 Formal Casual 31.58 29.06 29.83 Doesn’t want 0.04 Rural Agriculture 0.42 0.09 0.19 Lost job 0.94 Urban Agriculture 0.08 0.04 0.05 Pregnancy 0.87 Other 0.37 0.28 0.31 Other Reason 15.99

Male Total % % 0.32

22.79

46.63

31.93

0.23

0.24

0.58

0.35

22.05

22.42

0.06

0.05

2.58

1.53

0.00 0.55 27.53

20.13

The reasons for non-involvement in economic activities vary by gender of the youth. For instance, 35.4 percent of the female youth cite household responsibilities as the main reason for not involving themselves in economic activities, 23.7 percent cite school and a further 22.6 percent state that though willing to work, they cannot find a job. On the contrary, nearly 50% of the boys cite being in school as the main reason and 22 percent cannot find


39

three work. It is interesting to note here that the youth did not cite lack of skills or training as one of the reasons. Perhaps this reflects the fact that they didn’t consider it the impediment to finding work or simply had noticed that work that existed did not require specific training or even a case of perceiving training as being irrelevant to the work situation in their context. Either way, there is lack of linking of the two, or this could be part of the challenge that the youth face in Kenya.

3.6. Conclusion The population structure of Kenya clearly shows that the youth are its potential and problem. Therefore, their talents need to be nurtured and developed through expansion of education and training opportunities. The youth residing in the slums face the greatest educational challenges, and when they report to have received some training, there appears to be little employment opportunities that enable them to utilize the acquired skills to earn a living. But, the only solution is also to ensure that there are opportunities available to them for education and training. This can only happen if there is systematic effort, involving partnership between the government and the private sector to identify, together with youth leaders, key areas of the economy where skills are most needed and to train the youth in these skills. Some of the training can be done on the job, through paid internships and self-starter initiative with financial and leadership support by the government. More important as well is the need to expand secondary education opportunities for the youth. The data shown here indicates that majority (nearly 3 million) of the youth aged between 14-17 years do not have opportunities for secondary education, and with many having been exposed to low levels of quality at the primary level, literacy and numeracy skills will be low amongst them as well. Kenya therefore needs to pay attention, beyond the Kazi Kwa Vijana initiative, on identifying the skill areas where the slum residing youth can be trained in. This should be done along with expanding formal and informal opportunities for youth employment in the slums. These opportunities can include training in youth leadership, artisan skills, securing markets for the products produced by the youth and developing a national training scheme that targets those who have not completed school, and those who have completed some secondary but have not had the opportunity for any form of tertiary level training. The youth are the future of Kenya and the analysis presented in this chapter with the case illustration of the two slums demonstrates the challenges they face in education, training and work. The efforts needed are in expanding secondary education opportunities for the 3 million youth currently excluded and skills training for those ready to join the labor market.

40


three References Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), (2010). 2009 Kenya population and housing census, Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printers Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), (2010). KCSE statistics. Retrieved from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/49933701/KCSE-statistics. accessed on November 11, 2011 Kiiru, J., Onsomu, E., & Wamalwa, F. (2009). Education training and youth unemployment in Kenya. (Working Paper No. 26). GDN Library. Montgomery, M., & Hewett, P. (2005). PPoverty and children’s schooling in urban and rural Senegal. (Working Paper No.196). New York: Population Council, Policy Research Division Mutisya, M., Orindi, B., Emina, J., Zulu, E., & Ye, Y. (2010). Is mortality among under-five children in Nairobi slums seasonal? Tropical Medicine & International Health, 15(1),132139. Ngware, M., Oketch, M., Ezeh, A., & Mudege, N. (2009). Do household characteristics matter in schooling decisions in urban Kenya? Equal Opportunities International, 28(7), 591-608. Oketch, M., & Rolleston, C. (2007). Policies on free primary and secondary education in East Africa: Retrospect and prospect. Review of Research in Education, 31(1), 131-158. Oketch, M., & Ngware, M. (2010). Free Primary Education still excludes the poorest of the poor in urban Kenya. Development in Practice, 20(4-5), 603-610. Oketch, M., Mutisya, M., Ngware, M., & Ezeh, A. (2010). Why are there proportionately more poor pupils enrolled in non-state schools in urban Kenya in spite of FPE policy? International Journal of Educational Development, 30(1), 23-32. Oketch M., & Sommerset, A. (2010). Free Primary Education and after in Kenya: enrollment impact, quality effects, and the transitions to secondary school. CREATE PATHWAYS TO ACCESS. (Research Monograph No. 37). London: Institute of Education/University of Sussex. Oketch M., Mutisya M., Ngware, M., Ezeh, A., & Epari, C. (2010). Free Primary Education policy and pupil school mobility in urban Kenya. International Journal of Educational Research, 49(6), 173-183. REPUBLIC of KENYA (1965a). African socialism and its application to planning in Kenya. (Sessional Paper No. 10). Nairobi: Government of Kenya.


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three REPUBLIC of KENYA(1965b). Kenya education commission report part 1. CREATE PATHWAYS T0 ACCESS (Research Monograph. No.37). Nairobi: Government of Kenya. REPUBLIC of KENYA(1969). Development plan, 1970-1974. Nairobi: Government of Kenya. REPUBLIC of KENYA(1976). Report of the national committee on educational objectives and policies. Gachathi report. Nairobi: Government of Kenya. REPUBLIC of KENYA(1981). Second University in Kenya: Report of the working party. Mackay report. Nairobi: Government of Kenya. REPUBLIC of KENYA(1988). Report of the presidential committee on manpower development for the next decade and beyond. Kamunge report. Nairobi: Government of Kenya. REPUBLIC of KENYA (1999). Totally Integrated Quality Education and Training, TIQET. Report of the commission of inquiry into the education system of Kenya (Koech report). Nairobi: Government of Kenya. REPUBLIC of KENYA (2003). Status report on preparatory activities and way forward for the economic recovery. Strategy Paper (ERS) for Kenya. Nairobi: Government of Kenya. REPUBLIC of KENYA (2005). Educational statistical booklet. Ministry of Education Science and Technology: Nairobi: Government of Kenya. Sifuna, D. N., & Sawamura, N. (2008). Universalizing primary education in Kenya: Is it beneficial and sustainable? Journal of International Cooperation in Education, 11(3), 103-118. World Bank. (2009). Youth and employment in Africa- the potential, the problem, the Promise. Africa development indicators 2008/09. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

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Chapter

four

The Role of Household Characteristics in Schooling Decisions in Urban Kenya Moses W. Ngware, Moses O. Oketch, Alex C. Ezeh & Netsayi N. Mudege


43

four 4.1. Introduction

H The objective of this book is to pull together contributions on how education is affected by the rapid urbanisation and to highlight the practice and policy gaps in the education of those who live in the urban areas

ousehold characteristics are important determinants of schooling decisions and outcomes. The household production function approach developed by Becker (1965) is often used by researchers in economics of education to show that household characteristics such as income and levels of parental education determine whether a child enrolls in school, stays in school, learns and makes progress to higher levels of education (Al-Samarrai & Peasgood, 1998). It is also used in economics of education to model other household schooling decisions, such as the type of school that a child attends (Kingdon, 2007; Belfield, 2004). In Africa, studies that use the household production function approach usually differentiate between urban and rural households. Rural households are often portrayed as disadvantaged in terms of having lower income and lower levels of education and therefore being associated with disadvantaged schooling decision and outcomes when compared with urban areas (Lion & Moock, 1991; Handa, Simler & Harrower, 2004; Johannes, 2005; McMahon, 2005; Mugisha, 2006; Walque, 2005). While rural-urban differences in household characteristics are still a significant determinant of differences in school participation patterns, there is now a growing urban-urban divide following rapid urbanization which calls into question the notion that urban settlements in Africa are always advantaged. Much of the current rapid growth in urban settlements is occurring in informal housing, usually known as urban slum dwellings. This trend has led to the emergence of households with different characteristics from those of earlier phases of urbanization used in previous studies to model rural versus urban household schooling decisions and outcomes. It is no longer obvious that all urban households are advantaged. Moreover, the nature of the relationships between household characteristics and schooling decisions and outcomes in these settings is not well understood and requires further research in the sub-Saharan African context. Work in contexts such as India, where there are large urban informal settlements, is informative to some extent although the Indian context is different from that of sub-Saharan Africa because of the caste system and a high incidence of child labor. An important policy development that underlines the need for a better understanding of the interactions between household characteristics and urban schooling decisions is the implementation of FPE policy in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. FPE signals governments’ preferences to keep all or most of educational ‘production’ in the public domain for equity reasons (Kingdon, 2007) including the realization that direct and indirect costs of schooling may inhibit equitable human capital formation and lead to a more unequal society. These two phenomena - rapid urbanization of a different kind from earlier urbanization; and the FPE policy- a supply side-intervention that removes direct fees that would otherwise discourage schooling by poorer households provides us with an opportunity in the form of a ‘natural experiment’ with which to assess the relationship between household characteristics and school participation in urban Kenya. Accordingly, this chapter examines how household characteristics affect schooling decisions, controlling for the effects of informal and

44


four formal settlements in urban Kenya in the context of the implementation of FPE. The rest of the chapter is organized as follows. Section two reviews the international evidence on household characteristics and school participation. The background to and the relevance of this study to Kenya are discussed in section three. Section four presents the theoretical framework and describes the methods and data analysis by which household characteristics and schooling decisions in urban Kenya are assessed. Section five presents and discusses the regression results and the main findings. Section six contains the conclusion and considers the implications of the findings to education policy in Kenya.

4.2. Literature on Household Characteristics and Schooling Cross-country national studies on school participation show that demand for schooling is an important factor in overall schooling outcomes (Colclough et al., 2003; McMahon, 2005). A study in rural Peru found that mother’s education has a bearing on their children’s school attendance, particularly in low-income households (Lion & Moock, 1991). This finding is replicated in Africa (see Sibanda, 2004; Onsomu, Kosimbei & Ngware, 2006; Walque, 2005). The study also reveals that school attendance of low income and female children is most strongly affected by changes in school fees. In Kenya, it is notable that Nairobi province, with 60 percent of its inhabitants living in informal settlements, has the second lowest primary school enrollment rate out of eight provinces (Government of Kenya, 2005; Warah, 2008; UN-HABITAT, 2003). In South Africa, Sibanda (2004) found that both individual and household-level attributes are important determinants of dropping out of primary and secondary school. Sibanda’s study indicates that race, household size, female household headship and the head’s level of education are strong predictors of school withdrawal. The selection process for staying in primary or secondary school seemed to favour students from upper income groups (Sibanda, 2004). In Rwanda, following the genocide during which many children were orphaned, a study controlling for the schooling of biological parents and the child’s relationship to the head of an adoptive household found that education of the most educated female adult in the new household had a positive and significant effect on the schooling of the adopted child (Walque, 2005). The magnitude of the effect was similar to the effect in a biological mother-child relationship. For the most educated adult male in the adopting household, the effect was smaller than in a biological father-child relationship, but remained positive and significant. Walque (2005) concluded that the nurture component of the intergenerational transmission of human capital is important with respect to both parents. This is contrary to literature that indicates mothers’ education have no environmental (nurture) impact on a child’s schooling (see for example Behrman & Rosenzweig, 2002; Plug, 2004). According to Walque (2005), mothers’ education matters more for girls, while fathers’ education is more important for boys (Al-Samarrai & Peasgood, 1998). Walque’s analysis of interaction terms also show that positive effects are only present for children related to the household head of their new household. Using multivariate regression techniques, Al-Samarrai and Peasgood (1998) show how household and individual characteristics affect whether or not a child goes to primary school, completes primary and attends secondary in 15 villages of Tanzania. Their study shows a sizea-


45

four ble intra-household difference between the way in which household characteristics affect outcomes for boys and girls, and between the effects on schooling outcomes of mothers’ and fathers’ influences over resource decisions. The study shows that, married mothers’ education can increase the probability of girls enrolling in secondary school by 9.7 percent for primary education and a further 17.6 percent for secondary, while having no significant effect on the enrollment of boys (Al-Samarrai & Peasgood, 1998). Using data from a national household survey of living conditions, a study on the role of education in determining the social and material wellbeing of Mozambican households show that the educational level of parents, or of other adults in a household, is one of the most important determinants of primary school enrolllment in both urban and rural areas (Handa, Simler & Harrower, 2004). In urban areas, a study by Handa, Simler and Harrower (2004) found that household income and child’s age are also important determinants of primary school enrollment, whereas in rural areas, the gender of the child is important; boys have higher enrollment than girls, indicating rural gender bias in household schooling decisions. However, the study did not disaggregate urban areas by welfare to elaborate on urban differences. This chapter aims to fill this gap by focusing on informal versus formal settlement.

4.3. The Context of Nairobi Urban Slums The UN-HABITAT describes informal settlements as places with numerous economic and social, as well as infrastructural problems. The informal settlement populations lack proper housing, water and sanitation, are exposed to serious health risks and have limited access to credit, socio-economic networks and the formal job market due to stigmatization,discrimination and geographic isolation (UN-HABITAT, 2003). The urban informal settlements that we focus in this chapter are characterized by poverty and a poor or non-existent infrastructure (APHRC, 2002). These settlements are largely served by poor quality, low cost private, community and informal schools managed by individual entrepreneurs, communities and NGO’s. The Government of Kenya implemented an FPE program in January 2003. This led to an increase in the gross enrollment ratio (GER) from 88 percent in 2002 to 103 percent in 2003 and to a rise in the net enrollment ratio (NER) from 76 percent to 80 percent (Government of Kenya, 2005). In Nairobi province, the GER rose from 34 percent to 42 percent, while NER reached 38 percent from 27 percent within the same period. FPE was expected to benefit poor and vulnerable populations by removing barriers to access such as school fees and other related charges. While the introduction of FPE did improve access, it also resulted in overcrowding of classrooms, high PTR’s (42 for Nairobi), reduced contact time with pupils, and an overall decline in quality in public schools (UNESCO, 2005; Ruteere, 2007). The situation was worse in urban informal settlements where demand for primary schooling far exceeded supply. Parents perceived public schooling under FPE as inadequate and consequently sought alternative schools for their children. FPE had a differential impact in informal and formal settlements households. For instance, in formal settlements, some parents moved their children from public schools to high cost private formal schools characterized by small class sizes, low PTR’s and quality

46


four facilities (Ngware et al., 2008). In the informal settlements, parents were more likely to move their children to low cost poor quality informal private and community schools (ibid). While it is rational for the formal settlement households to shift their children from low quality free public schools to high quality fee paying private alternatives, it is unclear why poor parents in the informal settlements would shift their children from free low quality public schools to fee paying low quality informal schools. It is this conundrum that this chaper aims to address by assessing how household characteristics affect schooling decisions controlling for informal and formal settlement specific effects in urban Kenya in the context of the implementation of FPE.

4.4. Conceptual Framework According to Al-Samarrai and Peasgood (1998), household schooling decisions are explained by the interaction of social, cultural and economic factors working through power relations within the household. In the literature, a household production function approach typically assumes that a combined household utility function is maximized and that resource allocation decisions are made by the household head either unilaterally or in consultation with other household members (Al-Samarrai & Peasgood, 1998). Households make the decision to send a child to school as an investment with expected future returns. Earnings will however only accrue in the future. This future orientation of decision-making means that for some families the opportunity cost of schooling can be high even with FPE. This could be explained by the loss of family earnings from child labor. The household is also faced with two constraints; firstly, scarcity of education resources and secondly owing to other competing basic needs for household income including expenditure on food, health, clothing and water among others. Under such constraints, free schooling would be attractive to such a household. In the analytical model, school decision-making is conceptualized as a function of household characteristics as well as individual child characteristics. In specifying the analytical model, the approach used by Wooldridge (2002) is followed, where a binary response model is defined according to conditional maximum likelihood theory. The binary response is broken down into two components, V and such that: Uih = (Vih +

ih

) …………………………. Eq(1)

where; Uih is the overall utility of decision i for household h; Vih is the systematic or measurable utility which is a function of Xh and i for household h and decision i; includes idiosyncrasies and taste variations, combined with measurement or obih servation errors and is the random utility component. The decision-maker h (household) chooses the alternative from which it derives the maximum utility. In the binomial or two-alternative case (for example to enroll-not to enroll or attend public school-attend non-public school) the decision-maker makes decision 1 if and only if:


47

four U1h ≥ U2h or when: V1h +

1h

≥ V2n +

2h

In probabilistic terms, the probability that decision 1 is made is given by: = Pr (U1 ≥ U2) ……………………. Eq(2)

Pr (1) = Pr (V 1 + = Pr (

2

-

1

1

≥ V2 + 2)

≤ V1 - V2).

Assuming that the composite error term is normally distributed gives rise to an estimable probit school decision model.

4.4.1. The Data This chapter is based on data collected by APHRC through the Education Research Program (ERP) nested in the longitudinal Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS). NUHDSS covers two Nairobi informal settlements - Korogocho and Viwandani while in addition the ERP has extended its coverage to two formal settlements of Harambee and Jericho. Viwandani is located within the industrial area on the southern part of Nairobi while Korogocho is in Nairobi’s Eastland areas. These two informal settlements are largely as a result of rural-urban migration over the last four decades. The formal settlements of Harambee and Jericho are low to medium income settlements and were established in the pre-independence period as predominantly African settlements. They have relatively better residential structures and provision of public services including accessible feeder roads and a drainage and sewerage system. The NUHDSS has been monitoring about 60,000 people living in the informal settlements since 2002. All households are visited once every four months to update basic demographic events (deaths, births, and migration), household characteristics and livelihoods. ERP collects education data but is limited in scope with respect to data collected on household characteristics. Therefore for this analysis ERP data was merged with NUHDSS data using STATA 9.0 software to assess the impact of household characteristics on the decision to enroll a child in school and on the decision concerning type of school. Most schools in the informal settlements are private and often attract unqualified and unpaid or under-paid teachers or volunteers. Furthermore, these volunteer teachers often leave once better opportunities avail themselves, leading to high teacher turnover. To worsen the already bad situation is the large class sizes. In public primary schools, class size ranges from 26 to 90, while in non-public schools the range is between 20 and 75 (Ngware et al., 2008). The ERP is a longitudinal study where a total of 13,257 children and youth aged 5-19 years of age in defined geographical areas who were observed at the start of the study in mid- 2005 are followed. Children turning five years of age or move into the area become part of the study. At the start of the follow-up in the year 2005, APHRC collected retrospective data on school participation for all children aged 5-19 years spanning a period of six years (2000-2005). Children under 10 years of age in 2005 only had information for the

48


four years in which they were within the defined age bracket of 5-19 years. Therefore 5-year olds in 2005 had data for only one year (2005) while 9-year olds had information for five years (2001-2005). Those aged 10 years and older had information for the entire period (20002005). The school experience data of children in these communities have been routinely updated twice each year since 2006. In this analysis we use cross-sectional data collected in 2005. For the purpose of this chapter, the sample is based on 7,475 primary school age children spread across 4,751 households. Table 13 presents the description of variables used in this chaper.

Table 13: Key Variables and their Description Variable

Description

Enrollment

Referred to whether a child was enrolled (1) in school or not (0).

Type of School

Refers to whether the school where the child was enrolled was a government (1) or non-government (0) school. Government schools were those registered by the Ministry of Education, owned by the government/local authority and receiving the FPE funds. In the text, non-government schools are also referred to as private or non-public.

Site

Variable site referred to either informal settlement (1) or formal settlements (0). Korogocho and Viwandani are the locations that form the informal settlements while Jericho and Harambee are the formal settlements.

Age of Household

Refers to the age of a household head as at the time of data collection. It was

Head

measured in years as a continuous variable and also presented in three age categories – aged 18 or below; between 19 and 35; and above 35 years.

Education level of

Refers to the highest level of schooling reached by the household head. The

household head

available categories for this variable were: No education(0), primary(1), secondary education(2) and post-secondary education(3).

Household Size

Refers to the number of people staying/living in the same room/house – as characterized by such things as having the same household head and eating dinner together among others. Household size was a continuous variable, but also categorized into three groups – less or equal to 4; between 5 and 9; and, 10 and above.

Household head sex

Refers to the biological difference between male and female. This was a dichotomous variable, female=1, otherwise=0.

Household wealth

This was an indicator for household economic characteristics based of asset

(asset) quintile

ownership. A composite asset index for each household was generated as a proxy for wealth index. Five quintiles were established – Poorest 20%, 2, 3, 4, and Richest 20%.

Distance to school

Distance referred to the physical distance between the household premises and the closest primary school. This may not necessarily mean that children from


49

four such a household were attending this closest primary school. The variable was collected as a categorical variable, with four categories that were collapsed into two categories for the purpose of the model: within half a Kilometre (1) and More than half a Kilometre (0). Age of child

Child chronological age. This was measured in years as a continuous variable. Adding child’s age squared (and age squared divided by 1000) did not improve the decision model though some studies have used it in schooling outcome models.

Sex of child

Child sex, male=1 otherwise =0

The two main dependent variables are child school enrollment for primary school-age children (enrolled=1, otherwise 0) and type of school (public=1, otherwise 0). Informal settlement dummies are not introduced into the model as they are captured in the estimate of the household asset index. If introduced then they would correlate highly with the wealth (asset) quintile measure. Enrollment and type of school decision models are also estimated separately for the informal and formal settlement groups in order to examine variables that are specific to a settlement. The independent variables are both individual and household characteristics. The household characteristics variables considered include sex of the household head, age of the household head, household size, education level of the household head, household wealth (asset) quintile, place of residence/site and distance to school. At individual child, variables considered include child age, sex and orphan status. To arrive at an asset index which proxy’s household wealth, home possession and access to social amenities were used to rank the households in a wealth (asset) quintile. The items used included the main material of the roof, floor, or wall of the dwelling unit, main sources of safe drinking water, main type of toilet facility, main sources of lighting and cooking fuel, and ownership of the household dwelling unit. Other household items that were included in the determination of asset index included ownership to a car, motor-cycle, bicycle, refrigerator, television, radio, sewing machine, electric iron box, fan, electric gas cooker, stove, kerosene lamp, landline telephone, mobile phone, sofa set, mattress, wall clock, mosquito bed net and livestock. To transform these variables into a single component the Principal Components Analysis (PCA) technique was used (see Rutstein & Johnson, 2004). Each household asset for which information was collected was assigned a weight generated through PCA. The resulting asset scores were standardized in relation to a standard normal distribution with a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one. These standardized scores are then used to create the break points that define wealth quintiles as: Poorest 20 percent, Second 20 percent, Third 20 percent, Fourth 20 percent, and Richest 20 percent.

4.4.2. The Models Six models were estimated, two for the combined informal and formal settlement data, and two each for separate informal and formal settlement data. The combined models included a variable for neighbourhood (site) to capture the environment of the settlement. The theory underlying the model is that the household and individual characteristics influence the

50


four schooling decision. The data were separated into informal and formal groups, as using the entire sample would hide the influence of variables in specific sites. The first set of models analysed data from households in the formal and informal settlements separately for both enrollment and school type (see Appendix 1). In the formal settlements data, most dummy variables perfectly predicted enrollment and the model was dropped as fewer variables had been retained. Separate models are useful in that they provide an understanding of whether variations in enrollment and type of school exist within urban centers. If conditions in formal settlements differ substantially from those of the informal settlements their inclusion in the model may bias parameter estimates. The combined models are useful, however, as they provide a basis by which to compare enrollment and type of school decisions by urban residents in the wake of the FPE program.

4.5. Results and Discussion 4.5.1. Descriptive Statistics This chapter focuses on the characteristics of households with primary school age children with reference to their effects on schooling decision. Primary school-age children are more at risk of not enrolling or enrolling late at primary school and therefore more likely to miss out in school. Children should not only be enrolled, but they should be enrolled in a timely fashion and at the correct school entry age. If not, then they may have a shorter post-school working life. Also, late enrollers are less likely to reach higher levels of education as the opportunity cost of schooling increases with age as they become more able to earn a wage. In the study, data on enrollment was more complete than that on school type largely because not all respondents knew the type of school. In most cases, the City Council of Nairobi Directorate of Education was used to confirm the type of school. The final sample for the analysis of enrollment was reduced to 7,475 while that for type of school was reduced to 6,724 children aged between 6 and 13 (inclusive) years who had complete information in most (except for wealth quintile and orphan hood). Most children in the sample were enrolled in school in 2005, with majority (99 percent) of those who were not enrolled coming from the informal settlements. Among the sample, the proportion of children enrolled was closely related to the wealth quintile of the household in which the child belonged to. However, the sample had an almost equal proportion of girls and boys enrolled, though the sample had a slightly higher (54 percent) proportion of girls than boys who were not in school. Among the sample, 16 percent of those not enrolled and 14 percent of those enrolled were orphans.


51

four Table 14: Descriptive Statistics for Observations at Child Level Enrollment School Type Private Public Variables Category No (%) Yes (%) Total (%) (%) 1.0

16.9

1,202

8.1

21.1

Total

Site

Formal settlement

Informal settlement 99.0 83.1 6,273 91.9 78.9 5,649

1,075

Location Korogocho

85.1 51.4 3,974 64.4 44.5 3,516

(estate) Viwandani

13.9 31.7 2,299 27.5 34.4 2,133

Jericho

0.8

Harambee

0.3 5.4 385 4.3 5.4 331

11.5 817 3.9 15.7 744

Wealth

Poorest 20 percent

quintile* 2

32.5

19.5

1475

19.8

19.1

1277

22.9 18.3 1361 19.7 17.6 1218

3

18.9 19.4 1451 22.4 18.6 1327

4

15.2 20.0 1,447 19.2 20.6 1,326

Richest 20 percent

10.6

22.4

1,597

19.0

24.1

1,460

Child sex Female

53.5 50.2 3,765 49.3 51.1 3,387

46.5 49.8 3,710 50.7 48.9 3,337

Male

Orphan Double orphan 4.2 1.9 150 2.1 1.8 125 hood* Single orphan 11.7 11.8 862 11.2 12.3 778

Non orphan

84.1 86.2 6,276 86.7 86.0 5,660

Child age 6

34.1 14.6 1,167 22.9 9.7 999

15.9 14.7 1,105 17.7 13.0 996

7

8

12.9 14.9 1,103 15.3 14.9 1,014

9

6.8

12.9 939 11.7 13.9 877

10

4.0

11.1 804 8.4 12.6 739 10.5 758 8.6 11.8 709

11

3.5

12

10.6 11.7 873 9.0 12.8 761

13

12.1

9.6

726

6.5

11.2

62

7,475

2,635

4,089

6,724

Total (n)

396

7,079

Notes: * Observations for wealth quintile and orphan hood are fewer than the total (n) count observed in the other variables mainly due to missing information.

Table 14 shows the type of school attended by children. Public primary schools are government owned (through the City Council of Nairobi) and all of them receive support from the FPE program. On the other hand, various stakeholders including communities, religious organizations, private individuals and private organizations own non-public schools. As shown in the total row (Table 14), a majority, 4,089 or 61 percent, of primary school-age children in the sample attended public schools, though the proportions varied across site and location. For example, computing the row site percentages within the informal settle-

52


four ments shows 57 percent of primary school age children attended public schools while 43 percent attended private schools. A further analysis for the row on wealth quintile (Table 14) reveal that among the poorest quintile, 40 percent of children attended private schools compared to 34 percent who attended private schools among the richest quintile. These statistics change when the informal settlements are considered separately. For example, among the poorest quintile in the informal settlement, 46 percent of children attend private schools compared to 39 percent who attended private schools among the richest quintile. In 2005, most (58 percent) households in the sample had one primary school-age child, with another 29 percent having two primary school-age children, while 13 percent of the households had more than two primary school-age children. Almost one-third of the household heads were female. 10 percent of the household heads in the sample had no education with another 47 percent having primary school level of education. Most (54 percent) households had between five and nine members. Table 14 presents the descriptive statistics of the various variables observed at household level. A total of 4,751 households who had at least a child aged between 6 and 13 (inclusive) years were included in the analysis. As was the case with child level observations, some variables (wealth, gender and education) had some missing information hence have fewer than 4,751 counts. The sample had 87 households with some primary school-age children either in school or not in school. In another 184 households, some children attended public schools while others attended private schools. In 2005, a majority (74 percent) of households in formal settlements had children attending public schools only, compared to 52 percent of households in informal settlements. Informal settlements had twice the proportion of households who had all their children attending non-public schools when compared to households in formal settlements.


53

four Table 15: Descriptive Statistics for Observations at Household Level Variable Category

Settlement Formal% Informal% Total

Household head gender

Male

71.2

Female

28.8 31.8 1,454

68.3

3,198

Household head level of education

No education

2.1

Primary

0.0 55.8 2,130

11.2

Secondary

9.4 32.6 1,311

Post secondary

88.5

0.5

441

649

Distance to nearest Primary

More than half a km

9.6

35.2

1,468

Within half a km

90.4

64.8

3,283

Household with enroled and

All Enrolled

99.6

91.4

4407

not enrolled children

Both enrolled and not enrolled

0.3

2.2

87

None enrolled

0.1

6.4

257

Household with children in

public only

74.2

51.5

2412

public and private

private only

22.3

44.1

1,766

Both

3.5 4.3 184

Wealth quintile

poorest 20 percent

19.3

2

21.2 17.6 849

20.7

951

3

19.0 20.1 926

4

19.0 20.3 934

richest 20 percent

21.5

21.3

992

Household size

Less or equal to 4

30.5

42.9

1,940

between 5 and 9

65.6

51.5

2,560

10 and above

3.9

5.6

251

Household head Age group

Aged 18 and below

0.3

4.4

176

Aged 19-35

18.4

36.0

1,572

Aged above 35

81.4

59.6

3,003

794

3,957

4,751

Total (n)

Table 15 also shows the distribution of households by age of head and household size. The analysis looked at the age of the household head, which was grouped into three categories – aged 18 years or below, between 19 and 35 years and above 35 years. Young-headed households formed a proportion of about 4 percent of the sample households, while those over 35 years old were 63 percent. The number of people in the household is an important determinant of the distribution of household resources as well as the income generated by the household. The larger the household size, the lower the per capita allocation of resources to spend ceteris paribus and depending on the ratio of income earners to depend-

54


four ants. In the sample, the mean household size was about five with more non-adult members (mean≈3) than adult members (mean≈2). On one hand, the presence of other children in a household meant that household educational resources have to be shared among the school going children. On the other hand, the presence of adult members in a household may increase learning opportunities in a household as children may get encouragement from adult members as well as support with their school work. The presence of younger children in a household, as well as that of elderly members may increase expenditure on living expenses, for example health, as they are more prone to illnesses thereby decreasing household resources available to other needs such as education. Households were asked to estimate the distance and time taken to walk to the nearest primary school. Overall, 71 percent of the children were within less than half a kilometre from a primary school, with the rest (29 percent) being more than half a kilometre radius from a primary school. It emerged that proximity to a primary school did not differ by school type with almost equal proportions of households being close to either a public or non-public primary school within a particular radius. However, distance to the closest primary school differed across wealth quintiles. The association between distance to the closest primary school and wealth quintile was significant (chi2=72.15, P = 0.000) in the informal settlements. The proportion of households who were within half a kilometre from the richest quintile was higher (24 percent) than that for the poorest quintile (19 percent).

4.5.2. Probit Model In this chapter, a probit model is used to model the relationships between the dependent variables (enrollment and type of school) and a set of independent variables presumed to affect the schooling decision made by a household head. Table 16 presents probit coefficients and marginal effects for a binary probit choice model of enrollment and type of school in primary schools among urban populations, using the combined data (separate models are presented in Appendix 1). For ease of interpreting these outputs, the marginal effects were generated. It gave the estimated effect of an independent variable at the mean values of the covariates (for the continuous variable and the discrete change of dummy variable from zero to one). The interpretation was limited to marginal effects of predicted probabilities corresponding to significant probit coefficients. These included the residence or location of the household (settlement or site), the wealth (asset) quintile in which the household belonged to, age of the child, household head sex, household size, the household head’s highest level of education and age group and the child’s orphan status. When data was combined for informal and formal settlements, a child’s gender did not significantly influence any of the decisions – to enroll or to attend a particular type of school. However, a child gender significantly influenced the decision to enroll if a household resided in a formal settlement (see Appendix 1). In the formal settlements, the predicted probability of a male child being enrolled increased by 0.6 percent. This is an indication that in urban settlements, even among wealthier populations, gender biases in schooling decisions still exist. In the overall model, with the poorest quintile as the reference category, the wealth (asset) quintiles become significant determinants of enrollment decision if the child belonged to the third quintile or above, and in the case of the decision concerning


55

four ‘type of school’ only for the richest quintile. For example, the predicted probability of a child being enrolled if it belonged to a household in the third quintile increased by 1.8 percent, and 3 percent if the child belonged to the richest quintile. These findings underscore the socioeconomic characteristics that are associated with schooling outcomes. This is a common observation in many parts of the world. For example, in Duval County, Florida, Borg, Plumlee and Stranahan (2007) conclude that minority students from poorer and less educated households are less likely to qualify for graduation from high school. The results for the enrollment models were not significant when data was separated for formal and informal settlements. In Hungary’s segregated school system, failure to objectively identify children’s schooling needs has led to social exclusion and discrimination in education of children from the city of Roma (Kende & Nemenyi, 2006). In the informal settlements model for the ‘type of school’ using private school as the reference, the predicted probability for decision to join a public school increased by 5.7 percent if the child belonged to the richest quintile, but reduced by 7.7 percent and 5.2 percent if the child belonged to the third or fourth quintiles, respectively. In the formal settlements, it reduced by 1.9 percent and 3.3 percent for a child from the fourth and fifth quintiles, respectively. From these statistics, there is a bias towards private schools among lower quintile households in the informal settlements and higher quintiles in the formal settlements. Relative to those who had no education, other household heads’ levels of education did not have a significantly different effect on decisions regarding the type of school, though they were important for the decision to enroll. By comparison to older heads, younger household heads (aged 18 and below), did not affect the decision to enroll significantly though they did affect the decision in relation to the type of school. Table 16: Probit Regression: Enrollment and Type of School Decision Models Variable Enrollment Marginal School Type Coef. effect † Coef. Site (formal settlement)

-0.6132***

-0.0324***

-0.7849***

Marginal effect † -0.2610***

(0.2109) (0.0074) (0.1353) (0.0369) Wealth quintile (poorest 20%)

2nd

0.1230 0.0087 -0.1051 -0.0405

(0.0862) (0.0056) (0.0648) (0.0251) 3rd 0.2734*** 0.0180***

-0.0922

-0.0354

(0.0852) (0.0049) (0.0641) (0.0248) 4th 0.3858*** 0.0240***

0.0692

0.0262

(0.0903) (0.0047) (0.0634) (0.0239)

Richest 20%

0.5016***

0.0299***

0.1738***

0.0652***

(0.0944) (0.0047) (0.0656) (0.0241) Child gender (female)

0.0649

0.0049

-0.0349

-0.0133

(0.0530) (0.0041) (0.0334) (0.0127) Child age 0.0712*** 0.0054*** 0.1046*** 0.0399*** (0.0134) (0.0010) (0.0075) (0.0029)

56


four Household head gender (male)

0.1923**

0.0137***

0.1283**

0.0485***

(0.0760) (0.0052) (0.0498) (0.0187) Distance to nearest primary school (more than half a Km)

0.1369**

0.0110

0.0236

0.0090

(0.0633) (0.0054) (0.0463) (0.0178) Household size (less or equal to 4) between 5 and 9

-0.1318**

-0.0098**

0.0083

0.0032

(0.0643) (0.0048) (0.0446) (0.0170) 10 and above

-0.3242***

-0.0314**

0.0999

0.0376

(0.1070) (0.0133) (0.0906) (0.0336) Household head level of

Primary

0.0551

0.0042

-0.0784

-0.0299

education (no education)

(0.0875)

(0.0066)

(0.0713)

(0.0272)

secondary 0.4955*** 0.0316***

0.0854

0.0324

(0.1020) (0.0057) (0.0764) (0.0288) Post-secondary

0.7598***

0.0364***

-0.1342

-0.0518

(0.2764) (0.0070) (0.1525) (0.0596) Household head age group (aged 18 or below)

aged 19 - 35

0.0208

0.0016

-0.3677***

-0.1422***

(0.1347) (0.0101) (0.1142) (0.0444) aged above 35

0.0122

0.0009

-0.2213**

-0.0833**

(0.1318) (0.0101) (0.1125) (0.0417) Orphan (No)

-0.2177**

-0.0190**

-0.0497

-0.0190

(0.0850) (0.0086) (0.0572) (0.0220)

Number of

observation

7152

6442

Wald chi2(17)

150.77

432.230

Prob > chi2

0.000

0.0000

-411.7911

-4038.82

0.0919

0.0635

Log pseudolikelihood Pseudo R2

(†) Marginal effect is for discrete change of dummy variable from 0 to 1, except variable age5 which is at mean. Notes: Significance level: ***=1%; **=5% , * 10%

From Table 16, a child’s age had a significant effect on the decision to enroll as well as the type of school to enroll in. A unit increase in age increased the probability of the decision to enroll by 0.5 percent and that of deciding in favour of a public school by 4 percent. In the informal settlement the effect of age was significant in making both decisions while


57

four in the formal settlement, age was only significant in the decision on the type of school. From these findings, positive decisions (enroll and public type of school) in favour of older children are more likely. In the short term, this is likely to cause delayed school enrollment among younger children, while it will translate to over age children later in school life. Inclusion of a variable for the square of age did not change the age-enrollment relationship in the model. Household head gender had a significant effect on the decision to enroll and also concerning the decision on type of school. From Table 16, if the head was a female, the predicted probability increased by 1.4 percent for enrollment, and 4.9 percent for a public school. The effect of household gender on the decisions was significant in informal settlements but had no significance in the formal settlements. The analysis also showed that, overall, distance to the nearest primary school did not have a significant effect on the decisions to enroll and type of school to enroll in. However, the effect of distance on decision to enroll was significant for children in informal settlements. Using a distance of more than half a kilometre as the reference, being within half a kilometre from a primary school increased the predicted probability of decision on enrollment by 1.6 percent. This underscores the importance of physical accessibility of a school. In informal settlements, pathways and surrounding environment are not always friendly to schoolchildren. The closer the school, the lower the risk of exposure to an unfriendly environment while walking to school. Household size also seems to influence the decision to enroll a child in school but not the type of school. For example, using a household with four or less members as the reference category, a household size of between five and nine reduced the predicted probability of the decision to enroll by 0.9 percent - this reduced by 3.1 percent if the household size was 10 or above. A similar pattern was observed in informal settlement. Larger households are associated with lower household per capita expenditure ceteris paribus. This could reduce the schooling resources available to children in larger households. This is explained by the fact that bigger households have to share their resources among more members hence decreasing resources are available to pay for education inputs not provided by the FPE, including uniform, transport and meals. As would be expected, there was a significant positive effect on the decision to enroll if the household head had post-secondary education compared to a household head with no education. This effect increased the predicted probability on the decision to enroll by 3.6 percent and 3.2 percent for post-secondary and secondary levels of education, respectively. In the informal settlement, the effect was significant if the household head had secondary education. There were very few (0.5 percent) household heads with post-secondary education in the informal settlements. However, the effect of household head level of education was insignificant for the decision on the type of school. Orphan status had a significant effect on the decision to enroll but not on the decision concerning the type of school. From Table 16, overall, being an orphan reduced the predicted probability on the decision to enroll by 1.9 percent. In the informal settlements, it reduced the predicted probability on the decision to enroll by 2.0 percent. This could perhaps be explained by the reduced support due to loss of a parent.

58


four 4.6. Conclusion In this chapter, two binary variable probit models of decision-making are estimated to explore the determinants of household schooling decisions in terms of enrolling or not enrolling on one hand, and attending a public primary school or non-public primary school on the other. The purpose was to identify household and individual-level key factors that are important when a household in an urban settlement makes a schooling decision. The evidence has important implications in targeting the provision of public services. From the analysis, it may be inferred that households are disposed towards enrollment of their children in primary school if they are richer, residing away from urban informal settlement, are headed by a female head, smaller, lived nearer a primary school and the household head had more education. Child individual attributes also influenced the decision to enroll. As would be expected, orphans were less likely to be enrolled compared to non-orphans, however the type of orphan did not matter – an indication that children are treated in the same way with regard to schooling whether they have lost one or both parents. From the sample, child age was an important consideration in enrollment with older children being more likely to be in school. However, the issue of late school entrants, in particular among children from households in informal settlements need to be further investigated to establish the dynamics of effects on enrollment (both household and environmental). The analysis also shows how different household and individual attributes motivate the decision on the type of school. Households are more inclined to choose a public primary school if they do not reside in informal settlements, are not in the lower wealth quintiles, are female-headed and have an older household head. Households were more likely to choose a public school as the child became older – perhaps to take advantage of public schools being national examination centers and also owing to selection in government secondary schools. These factors are perhaps reinforced by the flexibility of non-public schools, low social capital and networks and perceived differences in the quality of education provided by different schools. The chapter has provided evidence to show which types of households are likely to benefit from public provision of FPE. Based on Tables 14, 15 and 16, it appears that the households which use non-public primary schools have distinguishable characteristics, strongly attracting them to these schools. This chapter indicates that in 2005, it may have been the better off households that were benefiting from FPE since they were more likely to have children in public schools whereas the poor send children to private schools where education is not subsidized by FPE. The evidence in this chapter can inform demand-driven policies aimed at increasing the utilization or uptake of FPE services as the chapter isolated distinctive characteristics that can be used to identify target households. The findings also point towards key supply issues however including the lower level of accessibility of public schools in areas of informal settlement. The existence of systematic patterns of enrollment in school and of the type of school attended by children from various households provide important clues to what happens when there is FPE in a situation of constrained supply of publicly provided education. It demonstrates that even if the intention of the government is to publicly provide education, equity cannot be attained if private demand for education exceeds supply. Ultimately, it appears that the poorest of the poor are not adequately served by the FPE policy and that equity remains elusive even when education is said to be free.


59

four References Al-Samarrai, S., & Peasgood, T. (1998). Educational attainments and household characteristics in Tanzania. Economics of Education Review, 17(4), 395-417. Becker, G.S. (1965). A theory of the allocation of time. Economic Journal, 75(299), 493-517. Behrman, J., & Rosenzweig, M. (2002). Does increasing women’s schooling raise the schooling of the next generation? American Economic Review, 92 (1), 323-334. Belfield, C. (2004). Modelling school choice: A comparison of public, private-independent, private-religious and home-schooled students. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 12(30), Retrieved April 21, 2008 from: http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n30/ Borg, M.O., Plumlee, J.P., & Stranahan, H.A. (2007). Plenty of children left behind: Highstakes testing and graduation rates in Duval County, Florida. Educational Policy, 21(5), 695-716. Retrieved December 11, 2008 from: http://epx.sagepub.com Colclough, C., Al-Samarrai, S., Rose, P., & Tembon, M. (2003). Achieving schooling for all in Africa: Costs, commitment, and gender. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited. Government of Kenya (2005). Education statistical booklet 1999 – 2004. Nairobi: Ministry of Education Science and Technology, Handa, S. (1999, November). Raising primary school enrollment in development countries: The relative importance of supply and demand. (Discussion Paper. FCND, Food Consumption and Nutrition Division No. 76). Washington, D.C: International Food Policy Research Institute Handa, S., Simler, K. R., & Harrower, S. (2004). Human capital, household welfare, and children’s schooling in Mozambique. (Research Report No.134). Food Consumption and Nutrition Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, Retrieved March 5, 2009 from: http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/abstract/134/rr134.pdf Ilon, L., & Moock, P. (1991). School attributes, household characteristics, and demand for schooling: A case study of rural Peru. International Review of Education, 37(4), 429-451. Johannes, T. A. (2005). Household level social capital and children’s schooling decision in Cameroon: A gender analysis. A paper presented at the regional conference on education in West Africa, Dakar November 1-2, 2005. Kende, A., & Nemenyi, M. (2006). Selection in education: The case of Roma children in Hungary. Equal Opportunities International, 25(2), 506-522.

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four Kingdon, G. G. (2007). The progress of school education in India. (Working Paper No. WPS-071). Retrieved July 9, 2008, from: Global Poverty Research Group http://www. gprg.org/pubs/workingpapers/pdfs/gprg-wps-071.pdf McMahon, W.W. (2005). Achieving schooling for all in Africa: Costs, commitment, and gender. Journal of African Economies, 14(2), 312-317. Mugisha, F. (2006). School enrollment among urban non-slum and rural children in Kenya: Is the urban advantage eroding. International Journal of Educational Development, 26(5), 471-482. Ngware, M., Ezeh, E., Nderu, E., & Epari, C. (2008), Policy and program issues emerging from the APHRC education research in urban informal settlements of Nairobi, Kenya. (Occasional Report No. 2). Nairobi: African Population and Health Research Center. Onsomu, E.N., Kosimbei, G., & Ngware, M.W. (2006, January). Impact of gender and socio-economic factors on learning achievements in primary education in Kenya: Empirical evidence. (Discussion Paper No. 56). Nairobi: Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis Plug, E. (2004). Estimating the effect of mother’s schooling on children’s schooling using a sample of adoptees. American Economic Review, 94(1), 358-68. Ruteere, M. (Ed) (2007). Falling short: The right to Free Primary Education. (Discussion Paper). Urban Primary Education Advocacy Initiative, DARAJA. Rutstein, S.O., & Johnson, K. (2004). The DHS wealth index. (DHS Comparative Report No. 6). Maryland, USA: ORC Macro, Calverton. Retrieved January 5, 2009 from: http:// www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/CR6/CR6.pdf Sibanda, A. (2004). Who gets to drop out of school in South Africa? The role of individual and household attributes. African Population Studies, 19(1), 99-117. Undie, C., Mugisha, F., Epari, C., & Ezeh, A. (2008). Schooling among Nairobi slum residents in the wake of Free Primary Education: From border crossings to borderland. (Working Paper No. 36). Nairobi: African Population and Health Research Center. UNESCO (2005). Challenges of implementing Free Primary Education in Kenya: Experiences from the districts. Nairobi: UNESCO. UN-HABITAT (2003). The challenge of slums. Global report on human settlements 2003. Nairobi: UN-HABITAT.


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four Walque, D. (2005). Parental education and children’s schooling outcomes: Is the effect nature, nurture, or both? Evidence from recomposed families in Rwanda.. (Working Paper No. 3483). Development Research Group. Washington, DC: World Bank Policy Research. Retrieved December 15, 2008 from: www.ifpri.org/ Warah, R. (2008). Slum upgrading: Lessons learned in Nairobi. A summary of the Nairobi situation analysis. Retrieved July 9, 2008 from: http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/zalam/Urban%20Renewal/Slum%20 Upgrading%20Lessons%20Learned.pdf Wooldridge, J. M. (2002). Econometric analysis of cross section and panel data. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

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Chapter

five

Education in the Urban Context in Uganda Robina Kyeyune


63

five 5.1. Background

T While all the eight MDGs are significant for their contribution to the envisaged better world, three are selected for their immediate and specific relevance to this paper on education in the urban context in Uganda.

his chapter describes experiences of primary education in the urban context in Uganda from the point of view of both providers and beneficiaries. It interrogates particularly the match between commitment and achievement of Universal Primary Education, critiquing the extent to which policy and implementation enable access by both girls and boys in the population category of the urban poor, the quality of instruction received in urban schools, and the preparation for future life that the young urban citizens receive. The critique is made against an appreciation of some key characteristics of the process of urbanization. By committing to the global movement for Education for All (EFA), launched in Jomtien in 1990, 155 countries, including Uganda, set out to provide Universal Basic Education and massively reduce illiteracy by the year 2000. While each country was expected to define what exactly it would offer as basic education, a global standard was the conceptualization of basic education “as the foundation level of education that consolidates the acquisition of literacy and numeracy, life skills, and lifelong learning skills” (Obanya & Binns, 2009). All six EFA goals by which progress would be reviewed are a useful backdrop against which to examine the state of education in the urban context. Goal 1, Goal 2 and Goal 6 for the expansion of early childhood care and education, provision of free and compulsory primary education, and the improvement of the quality of education, respectively, point to the need to review the extent and quality of basic education provision in Uganda. They raise questions of whether children in urban areas are accessing primary education and the extent to which the provision of early childhood care and education is functional in ensuring opportunities for children to join primary school. Besides, they imply an important question of how well education is supported and how effective teaching and learning is. The goals illustrate a huge task, given the proportion of young people involved and the level of resources implied. But United Nations member states demonstrated the seriousness of their commitment to bringing about a better world in the 21st Century by signing up to the Millennium Declaration of 2000 in Dakar, contained in the eight MDG’s, which they set themselves to realise by 2015, and reaffirmed at the World Summit of 2005.

While all the eight MDGs are significant for their contribution to the envisaged better world, three are selected for their immediate and specific relevance to this chapter on education in the urban context in Uganda. These include reaching every child with primary education, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and achieving gender equality. They are significant because the extent to which target beneficiaries will participate in and benefit from education is directly influenced by their socio-economic status, while the reflection of gender equality ought to be reflected in education provision besides other social aspects. A description of the status of education in the urban context cannot be full without a reference to poverty, which, as the literature demonstrates, is a major characteristic of urban life, and a key hindrance to access and participation in

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five education. The literature points out educational and other social inequalities based on the urban-rural divide. Baharoglu and Kessides (2004) indicate that the urban poor population is of a diverse character, that they face different types of vulnerability, and that differences in the size of cities are matched with differences in the problems encountered by the poor. Kozol (1991) in Kuhn (2001) cites sharp differences between funding for inner city schools and suburban schools in America, with the former receiving much less than the latter. He also shows that teachers in suburban schools get higher pay than those in inner city schools. Raley (1999) observes the outstanding problem of teen childbearing, which interferes with social welfare schemes besides pushing the youth out of school at an early age. Wilson’s (1987) observations on the impact of urbanization add valuable detail to the descriptions. He argues that minority youths are taught and trained so that “they feel and appear capable of jobs in the low wage sector”, indicating the suppressive effect of urbanization on the youth’s aspirations. Likewise the issue of gender equality must be part and parcel of the description, for poverty implies deprivation, and gender inequalities will certainly be a pronounced part of the picture of deprivation. It is useful to view progress in universal education provision against international and regional backdrops. The MDG’s 2009 Report illustrates that achievement is still out of reach although, to some extent, this situation is attributed to a reversal of the progress reported in 2008, following a major economic slump. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, indications are that out of the 113 million children of primary school-going age 32 million are out of school (Lewin, 2009). The source also reports that although many of these children once enrolled and left school, they are at risk of not going back, excluded by various direct and indirect barriers. In this regard, Uganda is placed in the same exclusion zone as Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Madagascar, Lesotho and Mozambique, where children drop out after initial enrollment. The countries report very high GER in the first two grades of primary school but register over age enrollment, low levels of participation, very high repetition and dropout rates and low completion. They also report an overall wastage of 50 percent of enrolled children due mostly to internal inefficiency. How the experiences of Uganda’s urban beneficiaries contribute to the above observations may be known, especially as lived experience, but has not yet been documented in certain terms. The description of educational experiences in Uganda’s urban context is organised into seven sections. First, a brief section on urbanization and education provides a global context for the educational concerns amidst the major characteristics of the process of urbanization. These characteristics include spatial and demographic expansion, industrial and commercial growth and cultural diversity. Others are the decidedly negative factors such as the loosening of community connectedness; inequalities in education, health and legal systems, and the rise in unemployment and petty crime. The section should aid reflection on whether the universalization of primary education in Uganda necessarily prepares the urban dweller for the national goals of social transformation and sustainable development. These contextual details are followed by a review of the trends in UPE in Uganda, which focuses on the statistics of Uganda’s achievement of increased access and provision of qualified teachers. It acknowledges the specific context of Uganda’s Education Sector Strategic Plan. In this context, urban educational experiences are viewed against the goal of scientific and cultural knowledge, basic literacy and numeracy skills and moral and spiritual values. The section points to the significance of Uganda’s goal of an integrated national economy


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five in search of a fast growing gross domestic product and expanded educational investment in view of a large school-going population. The third and longest section presents some issues in urban education, dwelling on specifics of increased need for secondary schools as an expression of equity; affordability of school dues, absenteeism as a characteristic directly linked to poverty and the need for children to work; age as a barrier to schooling and quality as seen in the material and human resources, the curriculum and in school governance. In the fourth section the chapter presents some findings on the measures taken by governments and development partners to ensure that especially alternative provisions that cater to their needs reach the urban poor. In light of the findings, section five outlines some research gaps to highlight the absence of data to (i) explain parents’ choice of private schools for their children in spite of the implementation of the UPE program; (ii) illustrate any disaggregation between the urban and rural context in the primary enrollment figures and (iii) to describe the quality of teaching and learning outcomes in the urban schools. Section six outlines some key lessons learnt and section seven presents recommendations for stakeholders at various levels to act in the areas of professional teacher development; alternative attendance modes and revision of fees requirements aimed at reaching more disadvantaged urban children as well as expanding school facilities and improving school governance.

5.2. Methodology In search of issues in urban education, this chapter is based on data collected to establish urban beneficiaries’ access to UPE, the quality of education offered in urban schools, the challenges experienced by urban dwellers in their pursuit of primary education and the educational interventions that have been set up to reach the urban school going population. These issues were viewed against the background of the fast growing population size in urban centers, which is consequent to the attractions of perceived job opportunities and improved living conditions. The data on these issues would be the basis of lessons on education provision and the responses to it in the urban context and what needs to be done to further universalization of UPE in Uganda. The study that informs this chapter was conducted in the districts of Kampala, Wakiso and Lira where there is rapid urbanization that has impacted various social services. Given concern for the urban poor and for diverse community participation in education, there was need to involve more than one district for diversity: one district may easily be particular to itself. All three districts should be comparable on the basis of urbanization. They therefore should be representations of the urban context of education provision. Yet, the districts were presumed capable of presenting some interesting differences based on the regional variation between them. Kampala is a city in the Central region, while Wakiso surrounds Kampala with peri-urban locations and Lira is an upcountry district in the Northern region. It would be useful then to find out how similar or different the educational experiences in the three districts may be. Sources of information included education officials, documents on education policy and implementation, and classroom and other teaching and learning activities. Education offi-

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five cials were interviewed on the program policy governing the implementation of UPE as well as the practices of parents, teachers, school managers and other stakeholders. Their data was checked against the documented data in publications and other print sources on UPE as well as data obtained by observation of school activities.

5.3. Urbanization and Education Urbanization as a development process typically manifests as the notable replacement of the rural character of locations by many houses, factories, shops, offices and such other markers of built-up environment which results into the development of many suburbs (Pearson Longman, 2006). In urbanized locations most people work in offices in towns and in the informal sector. Uganda government defined urban in the 2002 census as “gazetted cities, municipalities and town councils as per the Local Government Act of 2000” although Kampala, the capital, is the only city (Republic of Uganda, Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2006). However, the sources report that in earlier censuses persons living in un-gazetted trading centers with more than 1,000 people were counted among the urban population. Besides, the Local Government Act gazetted more than 75 urban centers in Uganda regardless of their population density. The extension of the definition may arise due to the common labelling of locations as urban if they have piped running water and electricity. In fact, by law, all Uganda’s district headquarters are urban. The phenomenon of urbanization is characterized by an increase in the proportion of people living in the developed areas, as well as an increased number of structures and transport networks. It can occur with great physical and economic benefits. For instance, Lwasa and Nyakaana (2004) argue that urbanization brings about not only physical expansion, which results into economic growth and development but is also a factor of social transformation and improvement. It is also known to result into industrialization and commercialization of services, which in turn create jobs and expansion of the informal employment sector, thereby attracting larger proportions of people into the suburbs. The population density brings about a high degree of economic and social interaction. Since there are many immigrants, urban locations also have high levels of cultural diversity and dynamism. But urbanization is said to have negative consequences too, such as increased levels of poverty and unemployment, degrading living conditions and high rates of petty crime (http: go.worldbank. org). For instance, by 2008 Kampala’s urban character was marked by a population of 1.2 million. The majority of this population are reported to live in acute poverty in temporary dwellings in slums built in the wetlands and flood plains of suburbs like Kalerwe, Kyebando, Bwaise, Namasuba and Banda (MFPED, 2007; UBOS, 2008). The literature adds to these conditions the lack of community connectedness, inequalities in the education and legal systems as well as in access to health care, and a high concentration of airborne pollutants. While the demographic characteristics of the urban context imply a significant rise in the demand for education, the cultural and economic factors point to the likelihood of a poor support system for education due to large families whose incomes are low. It is important to understand how urban conditions in Uganda actually impact on education provision and the extent to which the target beneficiaries in this context participate in and support primary


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five education. This chapter raises the specific question of whether the urban population shares the national development vision and participates in education actively and gainfully enough for the children of school-going age to learn skills by which they can achieve self-development and also contribute to national development. As late as 2008 Uganda was reported to have one of the highest population growth rates and, at 3.2 percent per annum, was ranked third after Niger and Yemen (Republic of Uganda, 2008). It is expected that her urban population will increase, although she is one of the least urbanized countries in Africa, coming in 13th position (Mukwaya, Sengendo & Lwasa, 2010). The country has one city, Kampala, 15 municipalities, over 120 town councils and over 130 town boards which are populated by 40 percent of the country’s population that stands at an estimated 30 million (Nyakaana, Sengendo et al., 2004). Her largest urban population is concentrated in the central region, notably in Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono where the urban population grows at a rate higher than 15 percent per annum. Lira and Gulu in the north present the next highest urban population growth rate at more than 10 percent per annum (Mukwaya, Sengendo & Lwasa, 2010). The urban population in Uganda is known to be more as a result of rural-urban migration than of legislation and private development interests as is known to be the case in many developed countries (Wegner, 2001). Although a growing population would demand more services, Kampala’s population is reported to have grown too rapidly to allow the authorities’ planning for the habitants’ settlement and housing, sanitation, employment and transport (Republic of Uganda, 2008). Thus Uganda’s increasing urban population, though a ready market for food and industrial goods is a factor that the official provision of urban services cannot actually cope with (Lwasa & Nyakaana, 2004). Since urbanization is perceived as a necessary driver of high and sustainable rates of economic progress, one of its significant characteristics – the urban poor, who are the fastest growing population group - makes the attainment of MDG goals a critical challenge (VREF Center of Excellence, Rockefeller Foundation). This source argues that the challenge makes it necessary for planning to be done with a diverse community of individuals. The concern for community involvement and participation gave direction to the data collection exercise for the chapter. The characteristics of urbanization are significant in a study of education in the urban context, for the provision of the service and the environment and the conditions will affect the participation of the beneficiaries in educational activities therein. However the literature of urbanization in Uganda dwells much on the spatial and economic aspects, showing the effect of the development on services such as water and sanitation, transport and housing, and does not make any reference to education (Lwasa & Nyakaana, 2004; Nyakaana & Sengendo et al., 2010). Yet, since the ultimate goal of education is social transformation, discussion of its provision should include, among other details, how the education in the urban setting may contribute to sustainable development. Besides, education is a tool for fighting poverty head on, and an avenue for improving the social status of girls and women by enabling them to participate in decisions that affect their lives. , as acknowledged by the January 26 and 27, 2010 meeting of the Global Campaign for Education in Brussels. The meeting also emphasised that staying in school can help girls avoid early sex, pregnancy, forced marriage and in future large unhealthy families and the misfortune of their own children not going to school. In light of the demand for quality education for realising these values, it is crucial that education as a service brings on board the experiences of the urban dwellers and their implication for sustainable development.

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five It was the concern of this study to establish whether in the context of UPE urban schools and the beneficiaries who attend them have similar or different educational experiences. The finding would be a basis for useful lessons especially about universalization. Some authors in the American context argue that urban schools are bound to face some unique challenges, thereby reflecting their environmental context, which has resulted in a lot of attention being drawn to the issue of urban schools (Olson & Jerald, 1998; Gallay & Flanagan, 2000). Olson and Jerald, for instance, dwell on the likelihood of several kinds of inequalities in urban schools. They suggest that urban schools are bound to be larger and poorly resourced; have higher degrees of indiscipline, lack of parent involvement and greater teaching challenges, including greater numbers of unqualified teachers. They also experience concentrated poverty and children’s lack of access to health care, besides the less likelihood of obtaining a secondary school degree let alone completing secondary school. They add that the schools are bound to suffer from political interference and bad governance. Which of these and other inequalities manifest in Uganda’s urban schools, how they manifest, and what responses they beg to ensure true universalization are specific concerns.

5.4. Trends in Universal Primary Education According to the MDG’s 2009 Report, by June 2009 MDG 2; the provision of UPE had not been achieved, a fact reiterated at the January 26 and 27, 2010 Brussels meeting of the Global Campaign for Education, since some 77 million children worldwide, 57 percent of them girls, are still not enjoying their right to education. The MDG report shows variable achievement among the world’s regions: “low enrollment” in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to the “moderate enrollment” registered in Western and Southern Asia, and the “high enrollment” in South Eastern Asia, Eastern Asia, North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Commonwealth of Independent States of Europe and Asia. Assessment on MDG 3 shows that the regions may have done a little better, being reported to have achieved “parity”, “near parity” or “almost near parity” although the world has yet to achieve gender equality in education. Treating these developments as a broad context of any appreciation of the world’s performance in the provision of free UPE, this section provides a review of universal education trends in Uganda as the immediate context for understanding education in the country’s urban setting. Uganda’s individual record on the provision of UPE is often one of celebration of success, especially with regard to access and, to a smaller extent, gender equity, although interrogation of the statistics and qualitative inquiry yield, as later sections will indicate, need for review of the reported achievements. Perceiving education as a key to national integration and prosperity, government developed the UPE policy to prioritise primary education, responding to the pronounced demand for manpower development, which had been pointed out as early as 1963 by the Castle Commission and later in the Education Policy Review Commission (EPRC) of 1987. The UPE program therefore would be a relief from an elitist pyramidal system which excluded the majority of supposed beneficiaries, a direct response to the observation of the EPRC that the majority of Ugandan children could afford only primary education in their lifetime. This value is clearly reiterated in the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) 2004-2015 whose purpose is to help the “Ministry of Education


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five and Sports fulfil its mission of supporting, guiding, coordinating, regulating and promoting quality education and sports to all persons in Uganda for national integration, individual and national development” (Ministry of Education and Sports, 2004). Based on the Government White Paper on Education of 1992, the ESSP focuses on educational investments in the development of scientific and cultural knowledge, citizenship, literacy, moral and spiritual values, basic skills and knowledge and an integrated national economy. It is premised on recognition of the need for Uganda to grow the skills required for the achievement of the nation’s development goals so that the gross domestic product (GDP) can grow fast enough to support expansion of the education system, which must cater for a fast growing school age population. The plan makes reference to the need for citizens who can actively participate in democratic processes, make decisions about the health of individuals and families, and for competent laborers, technicians and professionals to modernise the country’s economy in the global market. The ESSP is important considering that UPE is about the said school age population and, given Uganda’s rate of urbanization, the urban-based proportion of this population is bound to be significantly large. How much specific attention has been paid to this population in the provision of education is a necessary fact to establish. Besides, value will be added to any review of the trends in primary education in Uganda if it makes reference to the quality of education this population is given, basically to assess how close they may come to being equipped with the skills they need to continue their education and for the world of work. A national program, UPE was designed to be funded jointly by international development partners including Uganda Government, the community and funding agencies. The goal of UPE was, in line with the international pursuit, to increase access and equity, and to improve the quality of primary education. Specifically the program has been implemented with the following seven objectives:

Establishing, providing and maintaining quality education as the basis for promoting necessary human resource development;

Transforming society in a fundamental and positive way;

Providing the minimum necessary facilities and resources to enable every child to enter and remain in school until the primary cycle of education is complete;

Making basic education accessible to the learner and relevant to his or her needs. as well as meeting national goals;

Making education equitable in order to eliminate disparities and inequalities;

Ensuring that education is affordable by the majority of Ugandans, and

Fulfilling Government’s mission to eradicate illiteracy while equipping every individual with the basic skills and knowledge with which to exploit the environment for both self and national development.

(Ministry of Education and Sports, Uganda, 1996)

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five The UPE program objectives carry promise for the poor who, ordinarily, would be barred from schooling and girls whose attendance and participation would otherwise be hindered by various barriers including socio-cultural beliefs and values against female participation and achievement. They promise provision of, say, classrooms and other educational facilities that support learning, besides teachers, scholastic materials and other instructional resources that are basic to learning. They also promise support for achievement of literacy and other skills that are essential for self-sustenance and the world of work. Indeed, the objectives forecast social transformation through attention to the educational needs of the young generation. It is therefore necessary that an appreciation of the state of education in Uganda’s urban setting takes stock of some implied issues. For instance, there is need to explore how far the UPE program in Uganda has enabled girls and boys in urban poor families access education and stay in school to complete the primary cycle. In other words how affordable is UPE for the urban poor? In addition, there should be an assessment of how far UPE has removed barriers to active participation by girls in the urban environment, provided educational facilities and instructional resources in urban schools and promoted the development of skills among the beneficiaries in this setting. The next section presents a review of some firmly documented achievements in UPE in Uganda, particularly increased access and equity, in light of these questions. Having embarked on the implementation of UPE in 1997, Uganda reports a phenomenal increase in primary school enrollment from 3,068,625 in 1996 to 7,354,153 in 2002 (Nsibambi, 2006), to 7,963,969 in the financial year 2007/08 and 8,193,267 in the 2008/09 financial year (Republic of Uganda, Ministry of Education, 2010). Figure 16 shows the progressive increase in primary enrollment in Uganda between 1996 and 2009 that has been hailed as a great success. It is noted that implementation of UPE has enabled children from poor families to access schooling, making the education sector “one of the most successful sectors in Uganda in terms of reach and impact of its service delivery” (Nsibambi, 2006). The expanded access indicated in the statistics is attributed by the Ministry of Education and Sports to several interventions, most significant among them the expansion of the primary school network to cater for rapid increases in pupil enrollments. The number of primary schools has nearly doubled, from 8,531 in 1996 to 16,600 in 2009, with a 4 percent rise between the 2007/2008 financial year and 2008/2009 financial year only (Nsibambi, 2006; Ministry of Education, 2010) and the private schools contributing a significant percentage rise. Other undertakings include the registration and licensing of pre-primary and primary schools; payment of grants; infrastructural development, including the construction of classrooms, pit latrines and teachers’ houses under the School Facility Grant (SFG) and the emergency construction and rehabilitation of primary schools project; grant aiding of primary schools; prioritization of girls’ education; enhancement of public-private partnership, and support of education for children in conflict areas and disadvantaged children.


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five Figure 16: UPE Enrollment in Uganda, 1996 - 2009

Enrolment in millions

Boys

9,000,000 8,000,000 7,000,000 6,000,000 5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 0

1996

1999

2002

Girls

Total

2004

2008

2009

Year of Implementation

Source: Nsibambi (2006)

Increased access has in turn been supported by the recruitment of more teachers so that from the 81,600 primary teachers available in 1996, with 40 percent on government pay roll, the force grew to 145,000 in 2003 with 85.1 percent on government pay roll. The number of teachers has increased since, with a total of 4,392 being recruited and deployed in the 2008/2009 financial year alone, 1,392 above the target for the sub-sector. Although the total number of qualified teachers in the primary teaching force in 2009 is not available, the Education and Sports Annual Performance Report (ESAPR) for the Financial Year 2008/09 cites an increased availability of qualified teachers in schools represented by the reduction of the number of unqualified teachers which stood at 21.9 percent from the 2007/08 financial year to the 2008/09 financial year. The quantitative increase in the availability of qualified teachers implies improvement in the quality of instruction, especially in light of the reported curriculum review aimed at suiting the curriculum to the children’s needs besides the improved provision of instructional materials such as textbooks and reference materials for both teachers and learners. How much of such material support has reached the urban poor school population must be established in order to understand how the quality of instruction has improved for this section of the UPE beneficiaries. Apart from the marked transformation in gross enrollment figures, an achievement in parity has been reported. Girls’ enrollment has increased significantly each year over the 13 years, to the extent that gender disparities have been, according to EMIS statistics available at Ministry of Education and Sports, rendered a feature of the past and girls are considered to have been the greatest beneficiary of UPE. Figure 17 is a representation of the percentage ratios of female and male pupils in primary schools between 2000 and 2009.

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five Percent of Females and Males

Figure 17: Proportion of Girls in Primary School 53 52 51 50

Boys

49

Girls

48 47 46

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2008

2009

Year of Implementation

Source: Nsibambi, (2006)

Gender parity is reported by, Nsibambi (2006) and Uganda’s Ministry of Education and Sports (2010) to have been achieved as a result of emphasis on girls’ education and, among other core activities, the production of the gender in education policy for guiding early childhood development and education. The percentage shares show some direct pay-off by policy developments. While boys may not be quitting school, more girls are joining as parents respond to the call for girls’ education and schools are made more girl-friendly by the efforts of both government and education funding partners. Not only are there more girls enrolling, more girls stay in school although it is true that dropout is still a reality. Celebration of parity is justifiable considering Government and partners’ investment in girls’ education towards MDG 3. Amidst the achievements noted in Government reports, there are still issues in the provision of primary education in the urban setting in Uganda. Understanding these issues is necessary for an appreciation of the challenges of education in the face of implementation of UPE. These issues are the subjects of the next section. They include affordability, absenteeism in relation to the need to work, and age, which are grouped as factors of and equity. The other issues, grouped under quality, are facilities, instruction and governance and parental involvement.

5.5. Issues in Urban Education Contrary to common belief that urban schools are always better endowed with human and material resources, more efficiently run, and a sure foundation for success for all children who attend them, the schools have great challenges, not least among them the reassurance of all beneficiaries about the value of education. The evaluation by education leaders and beneficiaries introduces other perspectives – additional to and sometimes different from those represented by, say, the statistical picture of access and the declarations of intentions for making primary education affordable.


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five 5.5.1 Access and Equity Increased Need for Urban Secondary Schools Increased access to primary education has reportedly resulted in greater numbers of children completing the primary cycle (Republic of Uganda, Ministry of Education and Sports, 2010), in spite of dropout due to factors such as inability to pay and overage, which shall be detailed in subsequent sections. Thus, there is an increased need for secondary schools and this has been noted with special interest, for instance in Kampala, where the population is growing recognisably fast. In his address to participants in a stakeholders’ education conference for Makindye Division in June 2010, the area Member of Parliament decried the shortage of secondary schools in the division, pointing out that there were many more primary school leavers in the division than the available secondary schools could admit. The children enrolling for secondary school have to cope with either the expense of commuting or high boarding school fees and may ultimately drop out when they can no longer meet the expenses. The MP observed that USE was not expanding fast enough to absorb the products of UPE. Thus, he explained the imminent lack of access to secondary school, probably felt more in some urban localities than in others, threatens to demotivate especially the children from poor families who have completed the primary cycle, together with their parents. Any such challenge would send ripples through the system and parents and guardians may be discouraged from sending children to primary school, perceiving no reward for those who complete the cycle. And this would defeat the purpose of UPE.

Affordability The brightness of the picture of increased access seems to wane in the face of reported inequalities in urban schooling, based on the issue of affordability, especially since education is obtainable at a cost levied by Government. While education leaders acknowledge the high levels of access in urban environments, which are attributed to the “removal of fees”, they also indicate that many children leave school prematurely, unable to meet the additional or “hidden” costs of schooling. This demystifies the long held myth that urban dwellers are always able to pay for services and that their children are guaranteed a good education. A Senior Education Officer (SEO) in Makindye, one of Kampala’s five administrative divisions explained access is poor. “80 percent go to school but quickly drop out. 15 to 20 percent of (beneficiaries) fail because they cannot afford to pay for uniform, meals, scholastic materials, coaching, and there are other costs. Schools charge Ushs 10,400, for tuition, 10,000 for feeding and 2,500 in bank charges. Schools actually demand payment and send away defaulters” (SEO, Kampala, Interview). Access in the urban context may therefore sometimes be limited to enrollment in school since children drop out because of official and unofficial costs of schooling, which are beyond reach for some families. The official charges of USh. 20,400 (10,400 for tuition fees and 10,000 for feeding costs) for children in urban schools remain much higher than the income of some families can support, and the top up charges, which vary between schools, easily render school a luxury for children from poor families. All in all it is very hard for these children to stay in school.

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five Much as Government declared illegal any charges other than the official ones, it has encouraged parents and the community to contribute to the implementation of UPE and provided official guidelines for such contribution right from the launch of the program. Local governments may enact by-laws to support implementation. The Council requires that schools provide a hot meal for pupils at a cost. Consequently those who cannot pay the school charges for lunch miss nourishment throughout the day, although some may have left home without breakfast and may have missed an evening meal the previous day. While the efforts of schools to provide lunch should be appreciated, some would-be beneficiaries consider the meals in many schools less than basic, consisting of small portions of posho (maize meal) and beans in a monotonous diet. But the hands of school administrations are tied, for they cannot purchase larger quantities since children are paying the same amount of money that was set in 1996 as UPE started. Poor schools, with characteristically larger populations, buy from the same markets as the smaller schools attended by the children of affluent families, where the diet consists not only of a variety served over the school week but also of larger quantities. The midday meal is particularly problematic in urban schools, largely because poor urban families often cannot spare either the money to pay at school for children to have it or any food to pack. This is unlike the experience in the rural setting where children may carry a piece of sugar cane, cassava, or maize. In the capital, the City Council of Kampala, also commonly called Kampala City Council (KCC) has passed a by-law that stops children from carrying food to school, citing health and food hygiene reasons. Thus, the midday meal is one factor of schooling that clearly divides the urban school population into the “haves” and the “have-nots”, stressing the inequalities in urban schools in particular and in education in general. The official range of costs has proved a barrier to schooling. For instance, according to an Inspector of Schools (IS) in Kampala, “Children pay between Ushs. 20,000 and 30,000 for school uniform and sportswear, and have to buy a school bag, shoes, and scholastic materials. This is a burden, yet parents wish their children to be smart. It is about standards, though they are not verbally declared…” (IS, Kampala, Interview). Overall, according to the SEO Makindye, the situation is one of poverty, for those who cannot afford these extras are often the children of single parents or guardians. “The adults are … market vendors or petty traders and earn very little, live in one room accommodation and spare very little to eat. If they can’t feed the family, they simply can’t pay for their education. They try very hard but can’t sustain children at school” (SEO, Kampala, Interview). Parents or guardians who want to avoid payment of fees move such children from school to school. Sometimes the adults concerned choose to send children to private schools, where feeding is not a priority. In reality, though, they end up being loaded with even greater expenses, paying for two to three sets of uniform in a single year. Although local governments have been charged with the responsibility of implementing Free Primary Education, the burden that schools load onto the urban- poor seems to be


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five much more complex than the governments can handle. All school administrators do not always declare some of these extra costs, though known to exist, or, at least, the information does not reach the relevant offices when required. For instance, a SEO in Kampala expressed near frustration with regard to the tardy response of head teachers who do not submit the details about their schools, which are sought in the monitoring form in Appendix 2. The reported lack of response makes monitoring of school charges very difficult. It means that the local governments’ efforts at regularization cannot succeed very easily since some schools will likely charge what the administrators determine without reference to the center. Ironically fees extras are usually presented to parents and guardians at parent-teachers association (PTA) meetings and to school management committees (SMCs) as dire essentials. Paper, for instance, is described as necessary at least for primary six and seven to practice in assessment tests, and a school nurse is necessary, especially in very large schools, to take care of sick children and accident cases. But the majority of the participants in these meetings are the more able and more articulate parents and guardians, the non-urban dwellers whose children commute to the city schools from the outlying areas, who have a vision for their children to do well at school as a sure avenue to future success. In accordance with government’s encouragement for parents’ participation in education provision, these participants vote to raise the school fees to accommodate such expenses. Head teachers explain that on the other hand this category of parents are usually wary of government’s position on extra charges, and are quick to indicate that parents who cannot afford the extra fees should not be forced to pay, although their children should be allowed to benefit from the services. As long as the responsible local governments express tolerance for extra charges, as the detail in “Approved by: Please quote ‘’minute where applicable” suggests that the observed inequalities based on differentiated abilities to pay will continue to be a characteristic of Uganda’s primary education. After all, head teachers report the approach of Ministry of Education and Sports of quietly granting permission to individual schools, especially the large city schools, to charge these extras, basically in recognition of their unique needs such as budgets for water and electricity. This differentiation, though justifiable given the location and character of schools which influence their needs, is itself a source of inequality. In any case, although the schools that seek permission to charge extras have a large proportion of children from poor families, they are governed by elite minorities who demand quality education. This places such schools at an advantage over others that are populated by poor majorities and are governed by poor parents who do not recognize a long-term value in education. Beneficiaries’ mobility between schools by the urban poor is a problem larger than the repeated avoidance of fees, especially since the “fees dodgers” as they are called in some circles, may pay up to three times the official fees to three different schools in a year. This mobility is suspect for obscuring the reality in trends of access since those who leave some schools are bound to be counted among dropouts when in fact they only change schools but continue as beneficiaries in the school system. Besides, some urban schools remain heavily populated in spite of the urban poor “dropping out”, which makes it difficult to track access. An officer in the City Education Office in Kampala attributed this to the dual nature of the urban school population. Answering the question of who attends Kampala schools, she described two types of beneficiaries:

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five “… children of the slums dwellers, the low income earners… actual residents of Kampala, who enjoy limited access, and attend in poorly resourced schools and can’t access better quality because they fear the costs which includes uniform, shoes, lunch…. But we have a large proportion of children of non-residents, who access these schools from outside the city because their parents come to work here and prefer to come with them. They leave with them in the evening. And these have no problem paying.” (Officer, City Education Office, Interview). The illustrated mobility by the urban-poor confounds Government’s responsibility of providing primary education for the school going citizens. When the populations of government aided urban schools, who are clearly the poor and no doubt the target of UPE, drain into private schools then the government’s universal provision of primary education is rendered less than a benefit. With some schools reporting declining enrollment to be the “most outstanding problem”, as six out of the 17 schools in Makindye Division did in May 2009 (Kampala City Council), the increased access story is soon distorted by the image of inequalities. The administrators of schools in this category are concerned about declining enrollment partly because much as the schools will receive less in UPE grants, which are paid on the basis of enrollment, some of their running costs are bound to be high, influenced by the urban location of the schools. Unscrupulous persons who lure the poor families into registering their children for supposed educational benefits that do not materialise further complicate the outstanding problem of declining enrollment. In Kampala, a SEO spoke against “… leaders of fake religious organisations that persuade parents that they will support them but exploit them to raise money for personal ends. People such as Bishop (name withheld in this report) who calls himself a pastor but is just an impostor. He would take more than 1,000 children from our schools, lying to parents that he would support them in his own schools. But he would just take all they had, and keep them in unacceptable conditions…. We have closed his schools…. He is still inside (in prison).” (SEO, Kampala, Interview). All in all the mobility stresses the inequalities in urban education and schooling. It illustrates the level of desperation that the urban poor can be pushed to, and poses the question of how best to ensure that the target beneficiary understands the gains of UPE. Further, it illustrates the challenges to providers that UPE brings with it. The quantitative and qualitative effect of charging fees in UPE schools, thus breaking the promise of free education, is comparable to the late seventies situation in Tanzania when a fee of TSh. 20 per year was imposed on school children in addition to the cost of uniform after the declaration of fees-free education. The parents, sceptical about the use of the money and uncertain about the quality of life their children would live, rejected the opportunity for fees-free education. Some urban middle class parents chose to enroll their children in private schools, thereby endorsing the feared social stratification (Williams, 2009). Overall, the rejection of UPE by some parents, who then pay to get what they perceive to be better quality primary education, focuses attention on the challenge of when and how Government’s provision will become actually universal. It also draws attention to the need for active stakeholder involvement. It thus has implications for recommendations for altered approaches to provision. These will be discussed in the recommendations section later.

Absenteeism and the Need to Work Urbanization and Education in East Africa

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five The complex issue of affordability needs to be appreciated hand-in-hand with that of absenteeism. Some children are reported to habitually miss school for very flimsy reasons that do not, on the surface, involve parents although when probed seem to be the parents’ responsibility. There seems to be a general pattern of the older children being absent from school and the explanations in Kampala do not really differ from those given in Wakiso and Lira. In all three districts there are more reports of absenteeism concerning older boys and girls, usually in P4 and above, than there are of younger children. Although absenteeism is attributed to lack of parental involvement and economic activity, including petty trade, it would seem that these two are often inseparable. Education leaders in Kampala, Wakiso and Lira explain that some children in urban schools miss school either because they need to work in order to supplement the family income or because they are the heads of their families and the sole bread winners. It is also true that some children in poor families who are desperate to stay in school are often exploited as workers since they offer cheap labor and are sometimes cheated by their supposed employers (Makindye Division Conference Newsletter, Vol. 6). The need to work affects girls and boys alike although the nature of activities that they engage in may differ. On market days boys and girls in poor families in Kampala, Wakiso and Lira help their parents to carry produce to the market for sale or from the market after purchase, or to babysit their younger siblings while the mothers run stalls at the market. Some children sell merchandise on their own. The Director of Studies (DOS) and a Deputy Head teacher of a large primary school in Kampala’s Central Division described absenteeism as one of the greatest administrative challenges of urban schools in, for instance, the following detail. “Some of our children here have to wake early and prepare market stuff and then they leave market late. Then they arrive at school at 10 am and teachers bar them from entering the classroom because they are very late. … Those ones hang between home and school. Anyway they are often tired because they are workers and they don’t have anyone to explain to.” (DOS, Deputy Head teacher, Central Division, Interview). The challenge is not limited to pupil absenteeism. It is, indeed, a vicious cycle of pupil absenteeism that impacts teacher motivation and leads to teacher absenteeism which aggravates pupil absenteeism. “At least one government owned school in the heart of Kampala has been closed and a few more are said to be threatened with the same development after absenteeism and a declining enrollment has rendered them dysfunctional. One teacher would come on Monday, and another one on Tuesday, and so on, because there were very few pupils and the teachers had no motivation. The problem is that (school A) was right there … film shows, garages, washing bays, motor spare dealers, shops, … gangsters, all the city’s idlers, … even thieves. The children would sometimes run out of class and join the crowd to chase thieves! … It is very difficult because some of our schools are not enclosed. If (school B) did not have an enclosure, it would be like (school C) where children and teachers spend the day trading in the market with other people” (DOS, Deputy Head teacher, Central Division, Interview).

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five Urban location and the economic opportunities that come with it therefore seem to be a factor in complicating the educational experience of the poor especially to defeat the purpose of universalization. A head teacher in Wakiso district explained how some older boys in her school, which is only 28 kilometres from Kampala, bargain over fees payment, promising to pay after they have sold their crop, usually sugar cane or bananas or yam. An Inspector of Schools working with the Directorate of Education Standards (DES) in Wakiso district expressed concern over the conditions in some urban families, which place huge demands on children, including orphans and those with parents. Citing the increased number of child-headed families that are a consequence of HIV/AIDS deaths, he pointed out the high incidence of absenteeism due to enrolled children taking up various forms of employment in search of a livelihood. Schoolboys who work on construction sites may be absent from school over a considerably long period of up to a whole term. And because they cannot catch up at school, they eventually drop out. Those who sell merchandise in weekly markets, either as their own, their parents’ or guardians’ (family) business miss school for what seems like much shorter periods but on a regular basis, and so fall behind peers in certain aspects of school work. They too tend to drop out eventually, especially because they end up realizing that the demands of supporting their families are a burden that they cannot meet in combination with attendance at school. In Lira, a teacher at one of the schools in the municipality described the responsibilities of 16, 17 and 18 year old girls and boys in P5, P6 and P7 who often miss school because they divide their time between school and businesses of selling oranges, eggs or flour from which they earn the family income. These teenagers are the heads of their families (themselves and siblings) of school-going children who live in the municipality and need food, clothing and money to settle various charges at school and pay for health care. The circumstances of working children in urban schools are a challenge to attendance and participation that sometimes comes in relation to their age. Working children tend to be older than the average age of their class for various reasons. On the one hand, the implementation of UPE meant the opening up of access by allowing some children who had dropped out to start schooling again where they had left off. On the other hand, some children from poorer families in the urban centers are orphans who have ended up in the care of guardians after losing their parents to HIV/AIDS, and they enroll late, or miss school when they are turned away for non-payment, or repeat grades when their performance is found below a desired average. Age, though indirectly related, is therefore a factor of absenteeism and eventual drop out and may contribute to the image of low efficiency in the school system. This factor deserves some specific attention in this chapter, especially to reflect on the experiences of overage children.

Pupils’ Age Related to absenteeism and children’s need to work and sometimes being the reason for these, is the issue of age. Overage enrollment is quickly becoming a distinct feature of Uganda’s urban schools. The development is due, partly, to the government’s restriction of school dues to the official fees, such as the USh. 10,400 for tuition and Ush.15,000 for lunch


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five in Kampala and widely discouraging the levy of extra charges on parents. No expansive body of literature is yet available to detail the consequences of fees elimination on enrollment. However, a study by Deininger (2003), cited by Grogan (2008) makes indications of reduced socio-economic disparities in access to primary schooling due to fee elimination in Uganda, although the reality is not one of elimination but of restriction. While Grogan argues that children are likely to enter school before they attain nine years of age, observation in the classroom shows that at all levels there are children who are older than the average class age. This suggests that one positive effect of universalization, with the doors being open to all in the school-going age bracket, is the inclusion of older children. In Uganda’s UPE program children who might have dropped out and choose to go back to school after non-attendance for some time should be allowed to start where they left off. But overage seems to come with some challenges, not least among them the likelihood of children being teased and giving up schooling before they complete the cycle. Descriptions of education beneficiaries and UPE policy implementers provide some detail on the challenges accompanying these changes with regard to age, and some suggestions for solutions. According to Nsibambi (2006), officers at Kampala City Council and reports at the Ministry of Education and Sports (2010), activities for widening access and sensitizing communities about the benefits of primary education have resulted in the enrollment of children at an age at which, ordinarily, would have been ready to join upper secondary school or university. Most of these beneficiaries fall into one of two categories. They may be nationals, being taken care of by parents or relatives or guardians who have been unable to send them to school before the implementation of UPE or have delayed them at various stages of school by their inability to pay school dues on time, thereby causing their exclusion from examinations by which children are promoted through the school grades. Some of them are workers and live with adults who are burdened by multiple-employment in search of a livelihood. Or else, they are non-Ugandans whose families have fled war- torn neighbouring countries to seek refuge in Uganda. Although no statistics are available for a concrete picture of the extent of settlement, education leaders and Local Council (LC) leaders point out the presence of a large number of Sudanese, Somali and Congolese children in the primary and secondary schools of all of Kampala’s five divisions and in Wakiso. The Congolese and Somali families live in the heart of the city, in squalid housing conditions and the children go to the cheaper city schools in the slums. The Sudanese rent bungalows in the outlying suburbs and their children attend day and boarding primary and secondary schools. The Sudanese are better off than other non-nationals according to an LC Chairman in Kampala’s Rubaga Division, “… their life is like that. They have a lot of money because their country is getting a lot of money and they have rich relatives. They can (afford to) rent bungalows and hire special taxis. They have no problem paying the fees, buying food, uniform and other things” (LC I Chairman, Kabowa, Focus Group Discussion). It would therefore seem that the refugees are comfortable in urban settlement. In any case they would not be able to live in the rural setting since they cannot own property and there are no provisions for rented accommodation. But in the urban setting, the children have been made to repeat grades, their performance having been found below expectation.

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five The challenge of overage registration manifests as an educational management issue with overage children, both nationals and non-nationals, failing to participate in school and eventually dropping out in spite of the efforts of organizations and schools to support their integration. Parents and guardians are therefore anxious to find a solution. But the solution would have to be based on an in-depth understanding of the nature of the problem, especially given the stigma that these children suffer. Uncomfortable about sitting in the same class with smaller children and being labelled “mother” or “grandfather”, older boys and girls decide to stay away from school although some confess that they wish to go to school. Some stay at school but do not participate actively and so lose out. The words of a Deputy Head teacher and a DOS in Central Division illustrate the stigma surrounding what are called “out-of-step pupils”; “One such pupil is… the 18 year old boy in P5 who should have been ready to go to university. He cannot stand up in class, or go for lunch. … There was another one – he left – a real man with a bearded face…. We weighed him and he was 100 kg. We called him “the living dead”. They really have a bad time at school… they are only kept in by the fence. Otherwise they would have run out if it were in a place like Nakivubo” (Deputy Head teacher, Central Division, Interview) In the Deputy Head teacher’s opinion, older boys find it difficult to socialize to the extent that they cannot share textbooks and other materials with other children and need to be given some to use alone. Some of the out-of-step pupils may survive in school, albeit with a lot of discomfort and timidity, but others fall by the way side and are attracted to alternatives. The DOS told the story below of a 19-year-old girl whose attendance was particularly irregular.

Case Study 1: Out-of-step girl married off in primary seven She was admitted through the normal procedure. Her mother is the one who brought her here. But she missed school a lot, even after registering for the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE). And I remember there was a time she was out of school for two weeks. Then when we investigated we discovered that her boyfriend is the one who was paying her school fees and it seems the mother and the man had some understanding for him to take her. She was staying in the man’s home. We found out that he is actually the one who signed her Form X – he disguised himself as a parent. She is now married and kept in the man’s home. She had a phone and sometimes we called to find out from her what was up, but these days she doesn’t answer her phone when I call. I think she now knows my number. So now we are careful not to give permission for anyone to leave school during school hours. These children can play tricks. (As told by the DOS of the school)


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five The story of the 19 year-old out-of-step girl illustrates the path that some older girls from poor families may be forced onto especially by parents in search of easier options such as marriage and the after-benefits that may accrue from it. It provides an example to back up the citation of early marriage that often comes up when leaders enumerate the factors that militate against girls’ education. According to the Inspector working with the DES Wakiso; “…the poor families in the urban location consider marriage a quick solution to the various problems which manifest in their identity as ‘needy families’, especially since ‘… it covers up the gap that is often seen by others as a lack of parental support…” Overage enrollment becomes a more complex issue considering the detail of non-nationals who drop out because of this stigma. These swells the numbers of marginalized children and yet are not bound to attract a quick solution. The marginalized Ugandan children seem to win some sympathy from the leaders in the system, their families being viewed as hearers of the message of UPE who have enrolled their children in school although they have ultimately fallen out. They are viewed as the responsibility of the Uganda Government who, unfortunately have not been completely catered for by the implementation of UPE and whose plight should be addressed by some alternative arrangement. On the other hand, the non-nationals who drop out due to overage stigma are not an urgent issue because they are not the subject of any national policy on education. In any case they are viewed as a burden because they stay on in school during holidays and, because they pay a lot of money to the schools and individual staff who look after them, their indiscipline is ignored. According to the SEO in Makindye, for example; “… at least Ugandans are someone’s concern because of the policy …. There is no policy to cover the non-nationals. So whose responsibility are they? If you had a problem, who would you address it to? It’s just because of monetary gains that the schools keep them. They are hoodwinked by the dollars.” The category of the marginalized overage non-nationals therefore raises a question about the universality of UPE in Uganda, that is, who should be included? Altogether the poor and overage children in Uganda’s urban setting are by no means different from the children of rural nomadic pastoralist and itinerant fishing communities in the same country or elsewhere in the Africa region who miss school in spite of the implementation of UPE. While all out-of-school children in the urban setting, nationals and non-nationals, are a significant part of the population, those who have dropped out after initial enrollment attract more attention. They constitute a group of hopefuls whose parents have enrolled them in school for them to benefit from UPE and, probably, also from Universal Secondary Education (USE). This is a new government program whose implementation began in 2007 designed to cater for the surge in numbers of children completing the primary cycle and require a secondary education.

5.5.2. Quality Quality is another issue in urban education that begs for attention. Whereas it is bound to come up in any close study of rural education too, this aspect presents particularly interesting dimensions in the urban setting, perhaps because the quality of education in urban

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five locations is taken for granted. For instance, it is a common myth that urban schools are an exclusive service for the affluent. Yet, as already seen in the previous section on access and as this section will show presently, the processes in these schools and the narratives of the UPE program implementers and beneficiaries provide evidence to the contrary. The following sub-sections present details on the provisions made for teaching and learning and attempt some statements on the effectiveness of learning in some urban localities.

Facilities As already noted, UPE has led to increased access to primary schools and in urban areas, the rural to urban population movement has meant that the schools fill beyond capacity. Although the exploitation of the SFG has enabled the construction of classroom structures and latrines, the large populations of urban schools cannot always be accommodated within the facilities. Classrooms are crowded and it is not uncommon to encounter four or more pupils occupying a two-seater desk. The result is poor sitting posture and its unlimited consequences on handwriting. The picture in the government-aided schools is complementary to that in some smaller, less known poorly funded private schools where some parents have run to in consideration of lower charges and promises of subsidies which sometimes do not materialize and would not be necessary anyway, given the poor services provided. It is in contrast with that of the larger, popular, well-endowed private school Within the UPE provision, children are encouraged to attend the schools nearest to their homes. Therefore, ironically, the crowded schools are often the ideal for many children on grounds of proximity. Besides, it would be hoped that children would get a lot of support for schooling with their parents’ involvement in the affairs of their schools. As one City Education Officer put it, in some localities like Wabigalo, Kiswa, Naguru Katali and Kamwokya, the population is predominantly alien and children feel at home in their own context. They and their parents would be lost in any other context, where they would probably be less accepted and therefore wouldn’t do well at school. This comfort is in spite of the lack of resources experienced by the schools such as inadequate classroom space and latrines, inadequate classroom furniture, lack of libraries and the lack of a school meal for the entire pupil population. Urban schools use electricity and water in kitchens and modern toilets. Often the school administration and SMC find it necessary to employ a school nurse, a handyman, cooks, cleaners and other staff. Since these needs are not catered for by the UPE grants, the school has to devise means of raising revenue to meet the costs thereof, usually by implementing a few projects. Yet, although the guidelines on implementation of UPE encourage parents to support schools, it is difficult to persuade some parents of government-aided schools to make a contribution in this regard. Those who will not heed the plea of schools for parents’ contribution are poverty ridden, some in spite of huge efforts to work and some because of their responsibility of raising large extended families. Others are persuaded by politicians that the government has paid for all the children’s school needs and parents need not make any contribution. Thus, some large government-aided urban schools are barely able to maintain a service while many smaller ones simply compromise quality.


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five Instruction Instruction is one of the factors that contribute to quality and Government has made efforts to ensure quality not only by supplying trained teachers, especially to reduce the number of unqualified teachers but also by training the former to upgrade their skills in classroom delivery. However, there is evidence that deployment of qualified teachers in urban schools is not adequate for ensuring quality of instruction. Kampala City Council, the supervising authority for Kampala schools, notes that this is still an area of difficulty, especially since teaching in Kampala is perceived as a means to an end and many teachers are not committed to their job unlike their counterparts in rural schools. The Council is dissatisfied with the performance of teachers who are deployed to Kampala schools after failing elsewhere and who make a bad situation worse. These often being the spouses of officials in government and non-government organizations and politicians, they have the blessing of highly placed officials but are only marking time in Kampala schools and are often absent from their station and do not teach to their best. It seems then that urban schools are perceived as a convenient base for teachers who want to do other things. There are also observations of inadequate facilitation of the monitoring and supervision functions of the Council, resulting in delayed procedures and a lack of follow up on deployed teachers, so that the damage on quality is great by the time it is discovered. Inside the classroom evidence abounds of inappropriate delivery modes and inadequate learning support, which are potential factors of ineffectiveness. Teachers deliver lesson content by the lecture mode and write formulaic statements on the blackboard which pupils chant in chorus, and most depend almost solely on the class exercise for learning activity. There are usually no textbooks in class although a school may be endowed with some. Although many (National Curriculum Development Center) NCDC generated charts that are available in the schools or even displayed in the classrooms are relevant to the curriculum, they might as well have not been a part of the learning environment, for teachers do not use them. This makes questionable (Ministry of Education and Sports) MOES’s citation of achievement in the area of teacher training and deployment of qualified teachers. It is possible that many teachers have been trained and deployed before they are quite qualified to teach, lacking the prerequisite competences for classroom delivery in the present day primary classroom, including the confidence that underlies professionalism. it is also possible that many trained and qualified persons have been deployed alongside unqualified ones, or the curriculum that qualifies teachers is not aligned to the demands of the real classroom that they are deployed to. Pointing to the question of what exactly is meant by teacher qualification or what qualification MOES recognizes, the teachers’ performance makes significant Verspoor’s observation, cited by Govender (2004) that “almost everywhere, large numbers of teachers have been recruited without professional training, lacking the skills necessary for good quality instruction. On their part teachers attribute their poor performance to the working conditions – a poor salary, large classes, lack of supervision from head teachers and lack of support from parents, among others. While the official teacher: pupil ratio is 1:55, classes in urban schools are often much larger, sometimes at 90 and above. The schools in Kampala’s Central Division, Lira Municipality and urban Wakiso are, on average, 70 and above. As one teacher put it, they give the children “a small dose, just like the one we are given, no less, no more”, suggesting that the teachers would teach better if they worked for better terms under better

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five conditions. That they can do better implies that the teachers have the capacity to deliver to expectation but withhold from pupils as much as they think they are not receiving from Government and their supervisors. It easily endorses the opinion that teachers in urban schools are using their deployment as a stepping-stone to better things.

Curriculum Besides teachers’ performance, the relevance of the primary curriculum to the urban dweller is an issue. The children, who drop out of urban schools, though they are not the only ones joining the streets of the city, the towns and townships, add a significant number to the workers in the informal sector. They become petty traders in markets, vendors of various merchandise, casual laborers on construction sites, on the streets and on trucks, and cyclists and touts in the transportation industry. However, they cannot depend entirely on these engagements for their livelihoods, especially as many marry early and have families to support. Yet, they do not have the appropriate skills for taking on more worthwhile employment or to delight in a sustainable assurance about the future. Besides the lack of skills that could qualify them for formal employment, the drop outs lack mastery of the school academic curriculum and are too young to be desired by the sector. The content they have learnt at school cannot be an input into the demands for day-to-day survival or, indeed, for success in business undertakings. While the primary curriculum review has ushered in subjects like Integrated Production Skills and Creative Arts and Physical Education (CAPE), these are still not the practical teaching areas that they are supposed to be. The emphasis on literacy, numeracy, life skills and lifelong learning skills is still not yielding the products of primary school that it promises, to the extent that observers often comment on some primary leavers’ inability to read and write. Education leaders in Kampala feel that the young school leavers are a misfit in the urban context because, unlike their counterparts in the rural schools, they have no skills to match their environment. Without productive skills the urban school leavers and dropouts cannot survive in the work force. Their statistics therefore cannot count towards the national goal of self and national development. As one Education Officer in Makindye Division put it, if the young are not taught respect for work at family and community level, if they are not taught production skills alongside academic knowledge, we shall soon have many more boda boda cyclists than passengers. And once they have no work, what development of the economy shall we have to discuss any more?

5.5.3. Governance and Parental Involvement Education leaders acknowledge governance as a factor of quality and argue that the better schools in the city and towns are such because of good leaders and support by parents. At the City Education Office in Kampala, an officer summarized the situation in the following descriptive detail. There are low calibre schools in upcoming suburbs, which are failing to attract the immediate community. The affluent residents are unwilling to join the School Management Committees (SMCs) and take their children to other schools in the city where, serving on the SMCs, they are custodians of quality. There is a cycle of interdependence


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five in the latter urban schools where the good school leaders are supported by affluent parents who ensure a supportive learning environment and watch the standards. On the other hand the poor schools make do with the houseboys who enroll their children there, and their SMCs draw largely from a body of parents without any education. In spite of the government’s encouragement for parents’ contribution, and in contrary to the belief that all parents in urban locations understand the value of education, there are still parents in Kampala, Wakiso and Lira who do not provide such basics as scholastic materials for their children. These parents misunderstood the government’s declaration of UPE for free education and shift their responsibility wholly to schools. A primary two boy in Lira who could hardly write a class exercise during a lesson because he had no pencil and no exercise book explained that he had reminded his father several times of his need but received no response. The boy had no hope of getting these materials since his mother did not work and his father had four wives who all had children to fend for. Two older girls in Kampala’s Central Division pointed out the difficulties of schooling including lack of support from their parents. Citing a drunkard abusive father, a helpless mother and a large number of siblings, one of them explained how she depended on the kindness of classmates to cope at school, while she tried very hard throughout the interview to conceal the worn patches on her school uniform over her bosom, under the arms and around the neckline. The previous case is an example of what an officer in Makindye Division queried when he argued that in towns “the average family is young and large because of the many young people who have confused the age for adult suffrage with the age for raising families”. The latter exemplifies the category of people who are attracted to the city and stay in it in spite of the poverty and degradation that urban life reduces them to.

5.5.4. Interventions for the Urban Poor In response to the educational needs of children not reached by the formal primary education arrangement, Government and development partners have instituted non-formal programs. These programs have taken on slightly different outlooks depending on the specific locations and needs of the target populations. They have had different names that reflect their specific contexts or concerns: ABEK (Alternative Basic Education for Karamoja) supported by Save the Children, CHANCE (Alternative Non-formal Complementary Education) by Save the Children US in Nakasongola, COPE (Complementary Opportunities for Primary Education) by UNICEF and BEUPA (Basic Education for Urban Poor Areas) by GTZ. A case study of BEUPA is presented here to illustrate how intervention could align provision to UPE objectives (See summary description in Appendix 2). The discussion that follows it is an attempt to judge how far the intervention has captured the challenges of providing education in the urban context where, as shown by the evaluations of teachers and education officers, overage, children’s need to work, relevance of curriculum and community participation are critical issues. It illustrates also the constraints on education that occur largely because of location and population type. A discussion of the case follows to highlight the inequalities that are still observable in spite of BEUPA being an intervention designed to reach a section of children unreached by formal education provision.

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five 5.6. Focus on Inequality BEUPA must be lauded for reaching many children who, condemned by poverty and uncertainty, would not have had a primary education. The intervention broadens access in the urban context where some children drop out of school and have to fend for themselves, or come to the city to look for work believing that conditions are better than in the rural context, or try to survive by supplementing the income of their parents or guardians. This is especially since the beneficiaries are not charged any fees. With the urban poor thus catered for, the intervention might be described as an attempt to make provision more equitable than it might have been. In teaching Basic English and Maths as well as Basic Business Skills, it offers relevance in this context. However, some of the details in the KCC report exemplify some of the inequalities in the education system, which affect especially the urban poor. These are reflected in aspects of geographical coverage, infrastructure, instruction and instructors’ remuneration among others. Some of these inequalities are outlined in this brief section. The fact that the Government did not implement the intended expansion of BEUPA to Lira and Fort Portal which are the two urban areas known to have high dropout rates, is an instance of inequality. While disadvantaged children in Kampala have an opportunity to access an education, whether as an initial experience or as a re-entry, whatever limitations may be recognized in it, there are children in other urban areas who lack the opportunity. This renders the country’s celebration of access rather premature since the actual goal of UPE is to enable all children of school-going age access primary education. Yet, even in Kampala where the uncoded BEUPA centers are rejected owing to the lack of agreements between the program and the owners of the properties on which they are, their threatened closure becomes a push out factor. Thus, a section of target beneficiaries, some of them in the most heavily populated areas, lose the opportunity for an education after initial enrollment. The case of education in Uganda’s urban centers therefore becomes a clear candidate for contributing to the maintenance or increase of the numbers that keep the country in the zone of exclusion where she has been placed in Lewin’s (2009) account. Another instance of inequality is in the inadequate infrastructural provisions such as latrines and classrooms. While these inadequacies are reported in other schools across the country, the impact of the shortages must be felt much more acutely in the urban centers given the population pressures here. Although urban schools usually charge what is seen as extras, to relieve the burden of needs occasioned by the urban setting, BEUPA cannot charge even the amounts levied by Government because the intervention is a response particularly to the urban poor’s inability to pay and their need to work and earn an income. Even if there is any money that could be spent on infrastructure, classrooms and latrines cannot be built on privately-held and owned property. Further inequality is exemplified by the long delays in the payment of instructors’ salaries in spite of their commitment, while some teachers in the formal system who reportedly lack commitment and are marking time in Kampala schools receive their salaries without such delays. These anomalies are bound to reduce the motivation of the instructors and therefore threaten compromise in the quality of instruction which some critics already find questionable.


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five The foregoing exposition has made known the nature of a range of education inequalities in the urban context in as far as they are exemplified by Uganda. These have been explored in relation to the aspects of provision that constitute the goals of UPE: access, equity, quality and relevance. Even where the authorities have tried to make provision equitable by designing intervention specifically targeting the poor, the system has exhibited sharp inequalities, thus demonstrating the huge challenges of implementing UPE. The next section presents some recommendations for mitigating these inequalities towards making primary education more universal than it currently is.

5.7. Current Research Gaps The findings in the foregoing section illustrate not only some significant hardships for UPE beneficiaries, based on the socio-economic realities of urban life, particularly poverty, but also some gaps in the current knowledge of Uganda’s achievement in UPE. Key among these gaps are the lack of specific indications on access in urban and rural contexts, the lack of explanation for parents’ rejection of UPE and preference of private schools, and the lack of description of the quality of teaching and learning. While the statistics of Uganda’s implementation of UPE quickly suggest increased enrollment and near gender parity, they provide only a summarized picture of the country’s performance. The enrollment figures and the percentage shares for girls and boys show no disaggregation between the urban and rural context. Besides such quantitative indications, there is need for some qualitative statements that explain the quantities. The latter are important in light of the recognition that the urban-rural divide is a reality in the provision of education, given the evidence of concentrated poverty in urban localities and the social deprivations that come with it, including the limited opportunities for educational access and participation (Raley, 1999; Baharoglu & Kessides, 2004; Wilson, 1987). This renders very significant the poverty in which Uganda’s urban population lives. As some of the data demonstrates, and as Tomasevski’s compilation asserts, there is a close correlation between the poverty experienced by families, communities and whole countries and low educational levels among children. The absence of statistics on any differences between access by urban and rural target beneficiaries of UPE makes difficult any claim of full knowledge of trends in access. Research is necessary therefore to identify and describe the educational levels of parents and guardians and children in the urban locations. Such data is required in profiling the urban population during the economic planning process. Particularly, research should establish the educational learning needs of those who are excluded from primary school. The findings would form useful insights into specific issues in urban education, which may support educational interventions targeting the urban poor. Without these details, it may be too early for Uganda to celebrate UPE success. It is not clear either why, in spite of the offer of UPE, some parents choose private schools for their children. The findings indicate that mobility between schools, particularly between government schools (commonly referred to as UPE schools) and private schools is sometimes due to avoidance of fees. But private schools too charge fees, some lower and others higher than the fees charged by government schools. In addition, some of these schools are farther away from the family homes than the UPE schools that the children would have

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five attended, which imply either longer walks or fares to and from school. There is need for research to establish the real reasons for parents’ and guardians’ seeming rejection of more affordable education options and why they pay the fees in some schools and not in others, especially if the fees are higher in the former case. Related to the gap in the data of UPE access in Uganda is the lack of a detailed description of the quality of teaching and learning in urban schools and the educational outcomes of the UPE program. Knowing how effective teaching and learning are, and what children are achieving against any learning established goals would be useful not only for telling us the educational value of UPE but also for suggesting why some eligible children are out of school. Such inquiry should aim to establish, for instance, the real learning needs of children, the perceived value of the curriculum content and the modes of its delivery, the knowledge and skills competences of teachers and the management and leadership competences of the head teachers.

5.8. Lessons Learned Beyond the findings detailed above, we can make the following assertions on primary education in the urban context. In this brief section the assertions are separated into statements on universalization in general, affordability, under-age labor and parents’ involvement. Although each of these statements constitutes a lesson, the lessons are related and all of them work to contribute to the picture of educational inequality. 1.

An overall major lesson for APHRC to note is that the average urban target beneficiaries of UPE are part of a very disadvantaged section of the population, much as the geographical location where they dwell is usually taken for granted as it is purported to be for the affluent. This reality renders errant the assumptions on which the UPE implementation guidelines were based, with the tuition fees being set higher than those charged in rural schools and parents being encouraged to provide children with lunch and contribute to the school programs in other ways for the success of UPE.

2.

Educational inequalities are pronounced in the urban areas because of poverty and the social limitations that attend it, with the urban poor being excluded while the rich in the same areas and others from the suburbs enjoy advantages. These inequalities show that universalization of primary education is not easy to achieve simply by policy declarations and efforts to restrict the fees charged by schools, especially since schools find a way around the restrictions and charge more, thus making education out of reach for the poor. They also form a basis for exclusion of the poor from participation in development processes since they will lack a voice and the skills requisite for high paying jobs. To ensure inclusion and the extension of educational opportunities and livelihoods, the central and local governments needs to make education free for the end user.

3.

In spite of any employment and other economic and social opportunities there may be in the cities and towns, primary education remains unaffordable for many parents and guardians in the urban poor population. The limitation is not only monetary


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five but also attitudinal, tied to the people’s perceptions of their needs and the value of education. While children’s failure to complete the primary cycle may be caused by a multiplicity of factors, their parents’ and guardians’ capability to pay the school dues is a significant factor. 4.

While parental participation is an acknowledged factor of success, and is demanded by schools and Government, parents and guardians in the urban areas are too busy working at means of survival to attend to the educational needs of children. This absence is bound to affect the quality of education that the children of poor families receive, especially since the adults do not participate in the school programs although they may work very hard to maintain their children and struggle to pay school fees. On the other hand, it gives further advantage to the richer families who not only can afford to pay for education but also follow up their money by participating in educational activities and make the decisions that impact schools.

5.

The economic challenges of urban life are so great that it is not enough for the adults in poor urban families to work and they have to involve the children, in spite of legislation against child labor and other forms of exploitation. Among the urban beneficiaries of primary education who struggle to stay in school children who are bound to be older specifically because of the need for them to work and supplement the family income. This keeps them out of step with the requirements of schooling and forces some to quit.

5.9. Recommendations for Further Intervention 5.9.1. Supply More Schools and Expand Facilities It seems that throughout the 13 years of UPE implementation in Uganda a lot of attention has been focused on efforts for supplying perceived needs and no account has been taken of the beneficiaries’ real demands. Although the inability of some urban families to pay school dues is directly related to poverty, there is evidence that the supply of government-aided primary schools is inadequate for the population of potential beneficiaries. Owing to this inadequacy the available schools are overwhelmed by the pressure of need and to support those who enroll, the school administrations charge extras fees in order to meet the cost of amenities and services. If Government provided more schools releasing the pressure on individual schools, there would be more places for the target beneficiaries who would then be better able to stay in school at lower costs. Besides increasing the number of schools, Government should provide for expansion of classrooms and latrines in those schools which are known to be most heavily populated or to be located in the most heavily populated centers. The stipulated teacher: pupil ratio of 1:45 could be used as a guide for the provision of classrooms to ensure enough classrooms in each school. Likewise, the stipulated sanitary facility-pupil ratio should be observed in the provision of latrines.

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five 5.9.2. Establish Community Schools Taking a leaf from programs like BEUPA in Kampala and the counterpart CHANCE and COPE in rural settings, urban communities should respond to the pressure for expanded provision by establishing schools at this level. This should increase not only the number of schools available and thereby opportunities for enrollment, but also parental involvement and participation. Increased availability of schools through this channel of provision, implies a move closer to the intent of EFA Goal 2, that is; free and compulsory primary education since it is much easier to exclude fees burdens in this mode while ensuring enrollment of children. Establishment of community schools can lead to reduced costs of attendance since these will release the pressure on schools to support extra populations. By their very location nearer the children’s homes, and their non-formal character, community schools are bound to exclude fees burdens like the charges for uniform and lunch. Since the children can eat at home, and may even stay shorter periods in school if the parents so wish. With parents and community leaders taking on an active management role in their position of ownership, they should have a greater say in the education of their children The communities should mobilize the required resources including teachers and their salaries, instructional materials, furniture and others through networks with the government-aided schools, opinion leaders, local leadership, faith groups, civil service organisations and government. These networks should provide support for the training of the SMC’s, head teachers and teachers, development of school infrastructure and supervision of school programs including the delivery of the curriculum. A key readily available resource that the networks should exploit is the large number of qualified trained teachers who have not been recruited into the teaching service because of the government ban on recruitment. Another resource is parents’ faith in government’s (the president’s) offer of EFA. This faith begs guidance to be harnessed into a commitment to the value of education and their full participation by providing children with the moral encouragement and material support that they need in order to attend school and participate in educational programs. Besides, it needs to be guided towards acceptance of parents’ responsibility for their children’s education, which should be demonstrated partly through material contribution towards school programs and support for teachers besides active participation in school management roles.

5.9.3. Promote Education as a Human Right Government has invested in building partnerships for education delivery and these should be exploited fully. One such partnership is with CSOs (Civil Service Organisations). CSOs should promote the human rights approach to education and raise the awareness of parents and community about the need to enroll their children in school and support them to complete the cycle. It is necessary for CSOs to work with communities to advocate the release of children from domestic chores, including the preparation of family meals, caring for siblings and sick relatives and others, and paid work in order for them to enjoy the right to basic education.


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five They should train SMCs, parents, teachers and district officials especially to clarify their roles in ensuring that all children are reached with basic education and that they enroll and participate in the school programs. Exposing the parents, school staffs and management committees to school systems elsewhere and their successes and challenges, the CSOs should train the stakeholders in advocacy skills so that they can lobby Government and other parties for support. CSOs should train the SMCs especially to align the school vision and mission with the overall national aims and objectives of education. They should equip the parents and SMCs with the specific advocacy skills that they need in order to pressurize Government to offer an all-inclusive provision of basic education that benefits the poor child, the overage child, the out-of-step child and others.

5.9.4. Provide for Alternative Modes of Attendance for the Excluded Alongside the supply of more schools, Government should make provisions for overage children in urban families and others who are excluded because of other stigmas besides those who need to work. These groups should be supported to attend school by an alternative mode, such as accelerated or catch-up classes. Such arrangement includes afternoon sessions during which the groups should use the classrooms that are occupied by primary one and two in the morning. The classrooms are empty in the afternoon, rendering them an idle resource at that time considering how precious resources are becoming in UPE schools. The double session (shift) arrangement has been effected in the USE program and, although it comes with administrative challenges of a shorter school day for each session, it allows more beneficiaries to attend school. By a similar arrangement of exploiting idle resources BEUPA too should be expanded in Kampala and the fast growing towns, with primary one and two classrooms of the regular schools converting into BEUPA classrooms in the afternoon. This should cater for the operation of more BEUPA centers and allow more working children to attend school.

5.9.5. Revise and Supervise UPE Grants to Schools It will not be enough to supply more schools to meet the demand for increased opportunity for education and schooling. This must be done alongside ensuring uniformity of and quality in services. Since the UPE grants were determined 13 years ago, and market prices have gone up several times over the period, Government should effect realistic revisions in the grants to schools to reflect the times and the needs and make a meaningful input into education. This provision, in addition to released pressure on individual schools, is bound to make unnecessary any requests that schools would have made for special permission for them to charge extra fees. Government should include within the revised fees structure a provision for a mid-day school meal. This should establish some uniformity in the quality of service across schools

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five as well as reduce the number of children who cannot cope with schooling on account of the lack of nourishment. In addition to revising the UPE grants, Government should step up the inspection and supervision functions of the Directorate of Education Standards to enforce UPE regulations through strict monitoring of grant disbursements and the actual services rendered in return for the grants. Since UPE grants are disbursed in accordance with enrollment figures, supervision teams should ensure equitable delivery of services at school level so that no school is allowed to fall below a specified standard and so that the current large differences between schools diminish. Monitoring teams should go beyond reading the accountability for UPE funds that is often displayed in head teachers’ offices and take physical accounts of concrete tangible evidence of delivery of services.

5.9.6. Popularize Education Using Civic Channels The local leadership has a critical role to play in implementing UPE. Yet, so far the contribution of Local Council (LC) III is not quite visible, which weakens the system. Sometimes this is made worse by the adverse participation of LC officers who politicize issues especially misleading parents who would have contributed materially to their children’s education by telling them that the president pays for all their children’s schooling needs. LC III executives should exploit the power vested in them by Government to enact by-laws focused especially on UPE implementation to ensure that the program is successful. For instance, enactment of by-laws to make primary education compulsory is overdue although it would go a long way to change the statistics of enrollment and participation. The LCs should also have full authority to enforce the laws to ensure that all children of school-going age stay in school and complete the cycle. This should see a reduction in the number of out-of-school children and a rise in the number of children who work but do not really have to. MOES and partners such as CSOs should train and empower both LC IIIs and SMCs to raise parents’ awareness of the value of education, their children’s right to education, and of the roles of stakeholders in its provision. The area LC III should monitor parents’ participation in their children’s schooling to strengthen education support networks. They should be charged with the responsibility of following up beneficiaries’ participation and providing the school administration and SMC with feedback on the quality.

5.9.7. Train Teachers in Counselling Skills Given the nature of challenges to education that are experienced in the urban context, it is necessary to equip teachers with skills that are clearly additional to those required for classroom delivery. Among these, professional school counselling skills are crucial. While it would be necessary that professional school counsellors are hired to support school populations to cope with the demands of urban schooling, it is evident that there will not be enough funds for a separate arrangement, thus the need for MOES and CSOs to train teachers so that they assume this role. Such training may form part of the continuous professional development training programs that are evidently more needful today. While teachers in the rural


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five context may need training in certain aspects specific to that context, those in urban schools certainly need training in counselling for survival in this hostile fast growing and changing environment. Counselling skills are necessary, first of all, to enable teachers understand the socio-cultural and economic conditions of children and their families in the urban setting and shed any stigma that they are bound to hold against any social groups among the children they teach, such as the overage and poor. This will be a first step towards empowering teachers to effect change and support others to be partners in the desired change process. These skills are necessary for teachers to monitor children’s attendance and participation in school and to persuade them and their parents about staying in school in spite of hardship. Teachers should counsel children to empower them to support their peers, families and communities to participate fully in education and contribute to the decisions that affect schooling. They should discourage stigmatization of older and other socially challenged children and enable other stakeholders do the same as a means of making schooling a happy and worthwhile experience for all children. The teachers need counselling skills to support learning by children who may be challenged by the curriculum content and the means of its delivery and may end up being pushed out of school. This includes children who do not recognize the relevance of the curriculum content to their immediate intellectual and material needs. It includes the anxious and/or habitually irregular attendees whose social circumstances are not catered for by the delivery modes: for instance those who need to work and those who need to support siblings or older relatives in other ways. While the teachers may find it beyond their mandate to change the curriculum, they need confidence to identify these groups of children and the different approaches to providing the advice and encouragement that individuals need to cope with the demands of attending schooling and of learning the school subjects.

5.9.8. Provide Policy Guidelines on Responding to the Influx of Non-Nationals The influx of non-nationals is a huge challenge that schools have had to cope with often with some compromise on requirements. Schools need guidance on how to respond to this development, especially given the political climate of the region which implies the continuation of instability into at least the near future. The challenge is felt in Kampala because refugees tend to flow into schools in the capital and its suburbs rather than into the rural setting. Government should come up with guidelines on how to integrate the children of non-national families living in the urban centers into the school system. While this challenge may be partly met by the alternative mode of attendance to cater for the overage children in this social group, the embedded issues of responsibility for this group are more of a political detail that Government should concern itself with. Besides, their indiscipline, which is apparently associated with their exposure to large sums of money, needs to be curbed by more universal regulation than individual schools or district education offices can design.

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five References Baharoglu, D., & Kessides, C. (2004). Urban poverty. In PRSP sourcebook, Washington, DC: World Bank Gallay, L.S., & Flanagan, C.A. (2000). The well-being of children in a changing economy: Time for a new social contract in America. In Taylor, R.D., & Wang, M.C. (Eds.), Resilience across contexts: Work, family, culture, and community. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Govender. (2004). The tragedy of education in Africa. In Govender, P., & Gruzd, S. (Eds.) Back to the blackboard. Looking beyond Universal Primary Education in Africa. (NEPAD Policy Focus Series). The South African Institute of International Affairs. Grogan, L. (2009). Universal Primary Education and school entry in Uganda. Journal of African Economies, 18(2), 183-211. Kampala City Council. Summary sheet for school monthly returns. Lewin, K.M. (2009). Access to education in sub-Saharan Africa: patterns, problems and possibilities. Comparative Education, 45(2), 151-174. Lwasa, S., & Nyakaana, J.B. (2004). Urban expansion processes of Kampala in Uganda: Perspective on contrasts with cities of developed countries. Makindye Division Conference Newsletter 2010, Vol. 6. MFPED. (2007). Planned urbanization for Uganda’s growing population. State of Uganda population report. Kampala: Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, MFPED. Ministry of Education and Sports. (1998). Guidelines on policy, roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in the implementation of Universal Primary Education (UPE). Ministry of Education and Sports. (2004). Education sector strategic plan 2004- 2015. Mukwaya, P.I., Sengendo, H., & Lwasa, S. (2010). Urban development transitions and their implications for poverty reduction and policy planning in Uganda. (Working Paper). United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research, UNU-WIDER (No. 2010/45). Nairobi Regional Project, VREF Center of Excellence/Rockefeller Foundation. Retrieved from: http://csud.ei.columbia.edu/?id=projects _Nairobi Nyakaana, J.B., Sengendo, H. et al. (2004). Urban development, population and the environment in Uganda. The case of Kampala city and its environs. Kampala. Nsibambi, A.R. (2006). Implementation of Universal Primary Education in Uganda. Makerere University Research Journal, 1(2).


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five Obanya, P., & Binn, F. (2009). UPE and UBE in a federal system: What happened in Nigeria. In L. Bown (Ed.) Maintaining Universal Primary Education, lessons from commonwealth Africa, London: Commonwealth Secretariat. Olson, L., & Jerald, C.D. (1998). Quality counts ’98: The urban picture. Pearson Longman (2006). Longman dictionary of contemporary English. Raley, G. (1999). No good Choices, teen childbearing, concentrated poverty, and welfare reform. In Coontz (Ed.) American families, New York, New York: Routledge. Republic of Uganda, Ministry of Education and Sports. (2010). The Education and Sports Annual Performance Report (ESAPR) for financial year 2008/09). Republic of Uganda, Ministry of Education and Sports. (1987). Education for national integration and development. Education policy review commission report. Republic of Uganda. (2008). State of environment report for Uganda 2008, (NEMA). Tomasevski, K. (2004). Manual on rights-based education: Global human rights requirements made simple, Bangkok: UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education. Uganda Bureau of Statistics. (2008). Statistical abstracts, Kampala: Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS). Uganda Bureau of Statistics. (2006). 2002 Uganda population and housing census. Analytical report, abridged version. United Nations. (2009). Progress chart, United Nations , Education and Sports Annual Performance Report 2009. Wegner, M. (2001). New spatial planning models. JAG, 3(3), 224-237 Williams, PP. (2009). Sustaining UPE in Tanzania against the odds. In L. Bown (Ed.) Maintaining Universal Primary Education, London: Commonwealth Secretariat. Wilson, W. J. (1987). The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass and public policy, Chicago: Chicago University Press.

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Chapter

six

Coming to Grips with Urban Education in Tanzania Hillary A. Dachi


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six 6.1. Background

O Both anecdotal and empirical evidence suggest that increased urbanization has both positive and adverse effects on education.

ne of the legacies of globalization is rapid urbanization characterized mainly by an explosion of urban population growth (Sanderson, 2002). Documentary evidence indicates that a very significant proportion of the developing world’s population lives in urban areas and the majority lives in informal settlements. Nonetheless, it is estimated that 900 million urban dwellers or one in three of the urban population in the developing world reside in slums (UNESCO, 2010). Sahn and Stifel (2003) have argued that rural–urban gaps in living standards are declining as urban inequality is growing, ‘problems such as urban malnutrition and food insecurity are often overlooked and unlike similar conditions in rural areas, are not recognized or addressed by policy makers’ (pp. 565). Paradoxically, whilst poverty is one of the pervasive sources of deprivation and marginalization, its magnitude and impact on access to basic infrastructure and services in the urban areas is also relatively ignored by politicians, policymakers, practitioners and researchers (UN-HABITAT, 2003). This has reinforced the urban bias theory which conflates poverty with living in rural areas and wealth with the advantages of living in urban areas (Lipton, 1977), and that in urban areas access to health, education, and other social and cultural services is also much more readily available (The World Bank, 2010). It is axiomatic that urbanization considerations have been confined to the domain of city planning and housing (Zetter & White, 2002) and neglecting the whole notion of ‘urban crisis’ which to the government is reflected in its inability (at national, municipal and local levels) to provide adequate services and supportive infrastructure including transportation, water, shelter, schools and hospitals (Shayo, 1996). To the poor, urban crisis entails their marginality to access opportunities and resources available in the urban areas. This marginality is manifested in the form of lack of formal and informal sector employment, inadequate access to basic facilities including health, education, water, energy, transportation, recreation, housing and safe environment (Nondo & Coetzee, 2002).

Both anecdotal and empirical evidence suggest that increased urbanization has both positive and adverse effects on education. That public urban schools are serving the majority of children coming from urban-poor households need not be over-emphasized. Suffice it to say that despite a large volume of studies on education in Tanzania, literature focusing on urban education is still rather limited, reflecting the paucity of empirical studies and limited theoretical work done in this area. Very little detailed work has been done for instance on the education disparity, deprivation and marginalization in the urban areas. Little if any attention has been given to urban education in terms of access, quality and financing. Educational policy focuses on rural areas; arguably they have least educational facilities and are disadvantaged. In developing countries like Tanzania, one of the strategic groups that have been ignored in urban policy formulation is children, but the children of the poor are the most vulnerable because they come from families whose income

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six is below poverty line (Stren, Bhatt & Bourne et al., 1992). Consequently, there are neither coherent policies on tackling urban education problems nor adequate data and information on the educational services reaching the urban poor households and the marginalized and deprived children. Urban education from both epistemological standpoint and technical point of view is that which is offered to pupils from within an urban setting (Krantzler & Terman, 1997). A detailed work, revealing in a richer, more informative way the dynamics of Tanzania urban education is needed in order that its problems, challenges and opportunities can be better understood. Our aim in this chapter is an attempt to narrow this gap. In so doing the chapter reviews, albeit briefly, education development in Tanzania and attempts to locate urban education within key education interventions, on-going reforms and broad policies that have influenced and shaped the development of education in Tanzania. These include the UPE drive, the Education Sector Development Program and the Tanzania Education and Training Policy (TETP). It also examines the phenomenon of urbanization in Tanzania and its implications to education, and focuses on issues that need further attention for improving schooling, learning opportunities and outcomes for children in urban Tanzania.

6.2. The UPE Drive Upon gaining independence in 1961 and in the first decade thereafter, Tanzania Mainland adopted development policies and strategies that put an emphasis on human capital development in all its forms. The Arusha Declaration (AD) and its subsequent ideology of Socialism and Self-reliance stressed egalitarianism as the philosophy to guide economic and social development (Nyerere, 1967). Therefore, public provision and financing of basic and specialized social services of education and health became an incontestable social obligation of the state (Galabawa, 2001). In 1974 through one of the Musoma resolutions the state committed itself to the universalization of ‘user fees’ Free3 Primary Education and declared it to have been achieved in 1977 instead of 1989, the year for which it was originally projected in the national manpower plan. The argument behind the Musoma resolution on UPE was that: “….In as much as education was a right to each and every citizen, but more, that a government committed to the development of egalitarian socialist society cannot disaggregate and discriminate in the provision of education, especially at the basic level…” (Galabawa, 2001, pp. 17). Parents took advantage of the UPE policy; enrollment grew in absolute terms from less than one million in 1971 to 3.5 million in 1983. The GER grew from 35 percent in the 1960s to around 95 percent in the 1980s. In the period the government allocation to the education budget averaged around 17 percent; additional 6,014 primary schools were constructed by 1983 with community efforts compared to 4,133 that were available in 1971 2 In November 1974, the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) National Executive Committee (NEC), made several resolutions which instigated education policy initiatives and a number of strategies to implement educational change in Tanzania. The resolutions were made at the Lake Victoria town of Musoma. 3 Primary education fees were abolished in 1971 in Masai land and in 1973 for the whole of Tanzania Mainland (Mosha, 1995). It is arguable that primary school fees deterred pupils from less able to pay households thus confined primary schooling to the rural and urban elite, the unequal access to primary schooling led to unequal access to secondary education (Mbilinyi, 1979).


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six (United Republic of Tanzania, URT), 1984). However, the focus was more on ‘rural’ than urban education development. By 1979, every village in Tanzania had at least one primary school. Within a period of 1974-1979 about 40,000 primary school teachers were trained through the distance education mode under the Village Based Teacher Training Program (Malekela, 1984). From these figures, it is stark clear that the Tanzania state attempted to make primary education accessible to the majority of Tanzanians in rural districts, notwithstanding the argument that quantitative expansion did not necessarily go hand in hand with qualitative expansion. In a dramatic twist of events, from the year 1970 Tanzania began to experience the impact of a global economic crunch. The over-expansion of budgetary resources to maintain social services recurrent expenditure and capital investments far outstripped the Tanzania’s sluggish economic growth (Mongula, 1994). By the year 1975 it became apparent that the egalitarian expansionary redistributive policies spelled out in political and ideological promulgations were fiscally unsustainable. The economic downturn reduced the government capacity to finance the provision of public social services. As a percentage share of government recurrent expenditure, education dropped from 19 percent in 1975 to an abysmally low 12 percent in 1985 at the peak of UPE drive (URT, 1986).4 Fiscal austerity ostensibly contributed to the tightening of the flow of resources to the social services and being among the largest public budget items, education was susceptible to budget cuts. By 1985 public urban and rural schools were rundown with leaky roofs, cracked floors, out-dated and insufficient resources including textbooks, teacher guides, exercise books, chalks and even chalkboards (URT, 1993). User-fees and compulsory charges were re-introduced in the 1985 budget (URT, 1986) in an attempt to plug the financing gap and resuscitate the ailing public education system. The catchall political promulgation of ‘UPE’ could no longer be sustained. The cost sharing policy undermined it since many parents could not afford the school fees to send their children to school no matter how small the amount appeared to be. Although the official policy was that children should not be barred from school for not paying fees, some schools excluded and discriminated those students who could not pay (Campbell, 1990).

6.3. The Education Sector Development Programme (ESDP) Given the process of economic liberalization from 1985, the basis for implementation of egalitarianism slowly withered away; in effect the gains that had accrued from UPE policy were gradually reversed. GER was estimated at 95 percent in 1982 (URT, 1984) dropped to around 76 percent in 1998 and NER to 53 percent from 68 percent (URT, 1999a; WB, 1999). As the disjunction between the rhetoric of egalitarianism and reality of inequities and deteriorating quality of education became apparent, the government of URT intro4 But not defence! Campbell (1990) observed that, ‘…whereas in 1970/71, 13.68% of government expenditure went towards education and 7.05% to the military, in 1986/87, 6.45% went to education with 14.5% going to the military… (pp. 20).

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six duced the ESDP (URT, 1999b; 2008a). This is a comprehensive program aimed at a total transformation of the education sector into an efficient, effective and outcome based system. The Primary Education Development Plan (PEDP) (URT, 2001a) was the first outcome of the ESDPP. It focused on expanding access, quality improvement, management and capacity building in the period of 2002-2006. Now the government is implementing PEDP-II (2007-2011) (URT, 2006a) to consolidate the gains achieved in PEDP-I.

Table 17: Overall Primary Education Enrollment Trend 2006 - 2010 Year

School Age Population (7-13)

Enrollment of 7-13 (Std 1-VII)

Total Enrollment (Std 1-VII)

NER

GER 112.7

2006

7,063,362

6,788,531

7,959,884

96.1

2007

7,271,198

7,075,899

8,316,925

97.3 114.4

2008

7,490,693

7,284,331

8,410,094

97.2 112.3

2009

7,637,813

7,324,848

8,441,553

95.9 110.5

2010

7,911,584

7,547,806

8,419,305

95.4 106.4

NER- Net Enrollment Rate GER- Gross Enrollment Rate5; Source: Basic Education Statistics in Tanzania (URT, 2010).

6.3.1. Access and Quality In terms of access, the implementation of PEDPII has been extended to cover pre-primary education of two years, and it is a requirement for each primary school to have a pre-school wing on the understanding that the first few years are the most formative in the mental and intellectual development of a child. Available statistics show that there are more than 850,000 children attending pre-primary education in Tanzania mainland and it is envisaged that 2,043,983 children will be enrolled in pre-primary education by 2011 (URT, 2009a). User fees and compulsory charges for primary education were abolished thus enrollments surged. Data on Table 17 show that, 8.4 million children were enrolled in primary schools in 2010 compared to 7.9 million in 2006. The NER and GER are 95.4 and 106.4 percent respectively. The MKUKUTA6 target for NER is 99 percent by 2010 (URT, 2009b). This target is attainable; however, the challenge is reaching the children not enrolled and the hardest to reach who include the Most Vulnerable Children (MVC), a significant number of whom are in urban districts. Available data show that almost one in five pupils is not attending school at any one time ‘which challenges any complacency based on positive enrollment data’ (URT, 2009b, pp. 42). The survival rate is estimated at 81.4 percent suggesting that internal efficiency need improvement by achieving lower repetition

5 NER = Std 1- VII pupils aged 7-13 years enrolled in schools x 100 Total population 7-13 years old children GER = Total Std 1- VII pupils enrolled in schools x 100 Total population 7-13 years old children 6 MKUKUTA = Mkakati wa Kukuza Uchumi na Kupunguza Umaskini Tanzania. This is an official Kiswahili acronym of National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty in Tanzania (NSGRP).


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six and dropout rates (URT, 2010). Children most at risk of not being enrolled, not attending regularly and/or dropping out of school again will include orphans and other MVC - the disabled, urban street children, those leaving in hard to reach areas and extremely poor households for which the opportunity cost of attending school is high. The percentage of pupils passing Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) has shown a decline for three consecutive years (2007-2009); poor performance in mathematics, science and languages and disproportionately girls performing poorer than boys (URT, ibid). Annual Education Sector Reviews have expressed serious concerns about acute shortage of teachers and high pupil/textbook ratio with large variations across regions and districts; urban and rural areas and the negative impact these have on learning outcomes (URT, 2006b; 2008 b). The challenge to the government is how to improve the quality of primary education so as to enhance learning achievements and learning outcomes.

6.3.2. Financing The Education Sector Budget has generally been increasing over the last five years from 15.1 percent of total budget in 2004/05 to 18.3 percent in 2009/10. At the same time the education sector budget as a percentage of GDP has shown an increasing trend from 3.6 percent of GDP in 2004/05 to 6.2 percent in 2009/10 (URT, 2009c). In percentage terms, the picture that emerges is that the government has consistently managed to accord a high priority to the education sector despite the pressure on the budgetary resources exerted by other priority sectors. Budgetary allocation by education levels shows that in 2010/11, primary education, non-formal and supporting services have the largest share of the budget (62.2 percent) (URT, 2010). In order to achieve the MKUKUTA targets of enhancing quality and equity through financial allocations, the government of URT has had instituted a capitation grant equivalent to US$10 per enrolled primary pupil and disbursed to schools through Local Government Authorities (LGAs) to acquire textbooks (US$4) and other teaching and learning materials and meet school operating expenses (US$6) such as stationery, examinations and minor repairs (URT, 2001a). The government is also supposed to provide a matching development grant for construction of classrooms, teacher houses, toilets and other infrastructure and facilities (2006b). This is a graduated grant system, which equitably matches local materials and labor provided by the communities and not contributions in cash only. Available data suggests a significant correlation between indicators of quality and financial allocations. Districts with the highest budgets have low pupil: teacher ratio and high PSLE pass rate and the opposite is indicated for districts with lowest budgets (URT, 2009b). A considerable body of evidence suggests that fiscal decentralization can have the negative side effect of widening the gap between the quality of education in rich and poor districts (Galabawa, 1994). Improvements in access and quality financing of primary education through the foundation program and equity financing by a formula that equalizes fiscal powers across LGAs in Tanzania have not been realized.

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six 6.3.3. The Tanzania Education and Training Policy (TETP) The ESDP is implemented within the framework of the Education and Training Policy (TETP) (URT, 1995a), an official blueprint that guides the provision of education in mainland Tanzania. Among the ETP broad policies are to enhance access to education with foci on equity and equality of opportunity. Whilst access to education refers to the equality of opportunities available to the people to participate in education and gain from the returns of investments in education (Alexander, 1982; Berne, 1988), equity refers to fairness in the distribution and allocation of educational resources to various groups of people in the society, regardless of the location where they reside, cultural, ethnic or socio-economic backgrounds (Benson, 1991; Tikly & Dachi, 2009). The ETP identifies groups of individuals and communities that have not had access to the basic right to education by virtue of their marginalization. In this regard it recognizes the basic right to education even of marginalized urban children who live in informal, unplanned and poorly serviced settlements. According to Kabore and Pilon (2003) urban districts are by virtue of their geographical locations considered by policy makers as having better educational facilities therefore ignoring the possibility that disparities and inequalities might be sharper in the urban areas than rural areas. Some of the problems and challenges are unique and specific to the urban districts and schools and require interventions that are specific to urban contexts. For instance, urban school enrollments are made up of high percentage of pupils who are low income and are likely to enroll pupils who have higher rates of mobility, absenteeism and poor health (Krantzler & Terman, 1997). Therefore, interventions for improvement of access, equity and quality in Tanzania should not necessarily be the same for urban and rural districts notwithstanding the fact that public education delivery is guided by the system wide policies, objectives and strategies. The phenomenon of urbanization and its implications on education development cannot be ignored if the government of URT is to scale up efforts to achieve MKUKUTA, international goals and targets of basic education. It is within this understanding that the next section focuses on urbanization in Tanzania and what it entails for educational access and quality.

6.4. Urbanization in Tanzania Urbanization characterized by an increased share of urban population as a proportion of national population; expanded urban economic activities, infrastructure, social services and public utilities is a global phenomenon, arguably irreversible (Lupala, 2002). Tanzania is one of the East African countries experiencing high rates of urbanization. The urban population was projected to increase from 29 percent in 2000 to 36 percent by the year 2010 (Burra, 2004). The Minister recently noted it for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development that the number of Tanzanians living in urban areas has reached 12 million which is equivalent to 30 percent of the population (Saiboko, 2010). The greatest part of urban development and densification process is taking place in congested unplanned settlements beyond the control of the formal planning system. This has culminated in to what had been termed as ‘parallel’ or ‘informal cities’ (Lugalla, 1995), characterized by lack of basic infrastructure, urban basic services and utilities. The ever increasing poverty means that many residents in the ‘informal cities’ do not have the ability to pay for urban


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six services and the capacity of the public sector to maintain basic infrastructure and services in the expanding informal settlements of Tanzania’s major towns and cities is very low (World Bank, 2002). According to UNESCO (2010), there is often reluctance to regularize informal settlements and provide basic infrastructure and services to such areas because rural to urban migrants are in official terms often regarded as temporary urban residents. Families living in urban slums and overcrowded un-planned suburbs are therefore among the poorest and most vulnerable because the locations in which they dwell have limited basic services (Tsujita, 2009). Dar es Salaam, the Tanzania commercial hub and major port for import and export trade is a case in point. According to the 2002 national population census, the population of Dar es Salaam was 3.4 million and was growing at a rate of 7 percent per annum. It also accounts for 30 percent of the urban population in Tanzania (World Bank, 2002). In physical terms the city sprawls horizontally at a rate of 8 percent annually because of the proliferation of informal settlements, which provide shelter to over 70 percent of the total city population. Other key cities that have attracted urban population concentration include Mwanza, Mbeya, Tanga and Arusha, in which informal housing settlements provide shelter to approximately 60 percent of the cities’ population, the majority of which are poor (Kironde, 2010). Nevertheless, it is not quite appropriate to assume that in Tanzania ‘informal settlements’ are synonymous with ‘slums’ such as Kibera and Mathare in Nairobi, Kenya or ‘shanty towns’ as defined by the UN-HABITAT (2003). They are essentially squatter settlements whose property rights are not officially recognized by the state. The common feature of these settlements is that they are occupied by the majority of urban-poor, who have less formal education and are heavily engaged in the non-wage informal sector of the urban economy. They are characterized by unplanned housing densification and spatial disorderliness that inhibit provision of basic infrastructure, public services and utilities. The emergence and growth of these settlements is fuelled by informal urban land markets and acquisition instigated by cumbersome and expensive bureaucratic procedures of processing of formal land titles and right of occupancy (Lupala, 2002). Some of the informal settlements are located in environmentally hazardous and flood prone areas such as Msimbazi Valley in Dar es Salaam. In addition, dwellers in these informal settlements are not a homogenous group composed of only the urban poor. Many of these settlements do also accommodate people from middle and high-income groups. Dar es Salaam city for instance has more than 42 such settlements (World Bank, 2002). The World Bank report presents the profile of the low-income people residing in the informal settlements as follows: “…Up to 75 percent of the residents of these areas are unemployed or under-employed. The main source of income for the latter group is through informal activities and micro-enterprise. Life expectancy is low, between 44-46 years, and infant mortality is high at about 97 deaths per 1000 live births….” (World Bank, 2002, pp. 8). A number of informal settlements are also typical residential areas of middle and high-income groups but like any other informal settlements are largely lacking key infrastructure and inadequately serviced by the Municipal Councils. Such settlements include for instance Makongo Juu, Changanyikeni, Survey-Mlalakuwa and Golani-Msewe in Kinondoni district, Dar es Salaam. Residents in these settlements have formed Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to mobilize resources from dwellers and philanthropists for the provision of lacking municipal facilities and services. The best examples of these CBOs include Makon-

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six go Juu Development Association and Golani-Msewe Development Association in Kinondoni Municipality Dar es Salaam. They were able to upgrade deficient infrastructure such as water supply and access roads through community self-help initiatives (Bura, 2004; World Bank, 2002). Apparently, urban poverty is increasingly migrating beyond the urban suburbs and transforming the outskirts into spatial segregation on the basis of income. According to Lugalla (1995) poverty forces the urban poor to squat while to the well-off the economic advantages of squatter areas play a dominant role. It has been shown that as a city expands the cost per unit of services provided falls and ‘at least up to a point, new services becomes feasible’ (Stren, Bhatt & Bourne et al., pp.6). Investments in various socio-economic and political infrastructures together with economies of agglomeration are behind urban concentrations in the cities and major towns in Tanzania. Another effective factor is the well documented conventional process of rural-urban migration which is a resultant of a spectrum of economic and social ‘pull’ and ‘push’ factors (Gugler, 1992), compounded by intra-urban movements from the inner cities and major towns to the outskirts (Potts, 1995). According to Banyikwa (2009) about 70 percent of the urban population are rural migrants primarily motivated by economic factors. Lugalla (1995) while commenting on the rapid growth of urban population in Tanzania argued that: “…With urban wages and purchasing power continuing to rise faster than those in rural areas, and the urban- rural gap in terms of access to education, health and water continuing to widen, rising rural-urban migration has been inevitable…” ( pp. 23). To the extent that no adequate service provisions are made for new urban migrants, they have been placing increasing strain on existing services (Lerise & Ngware, 1996). To the above factors the following must be added: First, through the policy of Socialism and Rural Development7 (Nyerere, 1967) the government embarked on the villagization program to establish, ‘self-sufficient’ modernized socialist villages which were to, through communal production, productivity and distribution reverse the unequal development between the urban and rural areas (Meredith, 2006). However, the villagization program in the long term turned out to be disastrous. Institutional changes enforced communalized farming and the dis-organization of agricultural production and marketing, undermined the emergence of middle-level commercial farmers (Shivji, 1975). Peasants sank back into the security of economies of affection and subsistence, food production fell drastically and rural poverty rekindled (Hartman, 1994). The epitome was the youth rural-urban migration, the exodus of which swelled the ranks of the ‘urban jobless’ (Ishumi, 1984). There were very minimal waged employments in the rural and urban private sectors of the economy because ‘Ujamaa’ (Socialism) had suppressed the development of middle class merchants and entrepreneurs. The centrally controlled economy coupled by one party state bureaucracy meant that there were no independent means of economic reproduction other than the state. Another factor was the Public Service Reform Program (PSRP) which redefined the role of the state through ‘hiving off ’, ‘divesting’ or ‘outsourcing’ non-core functions of the state bureaucracy to Local Government Authorities (LGAs), Executive Agencies (EAs), Autonomics Management Boards (AMBs) and the private sector (Dachi, 2007). This was acUjamaa na Maendeleo Vijijini

7


105

six companied by streamlining and downsizing of government structures, in the process more than 150,000 public servants were made redundant, retrenched and offered ‘compensation’ packages, the decision which was based on the ‘false’ premise that they will go back to their home villages. Conversely, the vast majority remained and settled in the urban areas, ultimately joining the informal sector of the economy. Over time a significant number of them have metamorphosed into the urban poor. Third, the state-owned enterprises that were established after the Arusha Declaration on Socialism and Self Reliance had faced under capitalization were outmoded and uncompetitive in the liberalized economy. The state’s Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC) released more than 300 from the state control under the divestiture program incepted in 1993/94 fiscal year (Shayo, 1996). The divestment involved not only small and medium sized enterprises but also giant firms in the infrastructure and utility sectors, which had a high employment rate of thousands, conglomerate operations and a number of big capital investments. Again the language, excruciatingly, was the same, ‘layoffs’ (Dachi, 2000). A very large number of those who were retrenched, by default settled in the informal settlements in the outskirts of cities and major towns. One has to include also the effects of education. According to Lugalla (1995) whilst education is an important qualification in the urban labor market, the majority of labor force is made up of primary school leavers. Current statistics shows that only 49 percent of those who complete the primary education are selected to join secondary education (URT, 2010), around 500,000 are leaving primary schools to face the world of work, un-employment and under-employment. Many from the rural areas are drifting to the urban areas. This phenomenon is also supported by Banyikwa (2009) who observed for instance that the group with primary level of education accounted for 64 percent of all the migrants at the point of entry in Mbeya, Mwanza, Tanga (Cities) and Morogoro Municipality. Economic liberalization amidst poverty has also prompted an influx to urban areas from rural areas of a vast number of petty traders and street hawkers; mainly youth aged 15-20s. The Poverty and Human Development Report (URT, 2007) estimated that 92 percent of these have primary education but no formal skills training. The impact of this influx on infrastructure and services is exacerbated by Trafficking in Persons (TIP) of boys and girls to work as domestic workers in the urban areas.

6.4.1. Effects of Increased Urbanization on Primary Education The efforts by the Government of URT meeting MKUKUTA and international targets of EFA and the MDGs, in quantitative terms to say the least have been dramatic and impressive. Nevertheless, we can argue conversely, that investment in primary education in terms of the number of schools, classrooms, desks and teaching and learning resources has not been commensurate with the demands of an increasing urban population. With increased urbanization, there has been enhanced demand for it, which has increased because of the expanding population in urban areas. Consequently, urban primary education is facing a number of problems though they are not the same for all schools and are contextually defined. In this section we are examining education-related problems and issues that are somehow a result of urbanization in Tanzania and have had an influence on access to, and quality of education offered in urban schools.

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six Overcrowding in Schools and What it Entails One of the pervasive problems faced by urban schools in Tanzania is overcrowding. Whilst a typical primary school is supposed to have a minimum size of 630 pupils in 14 streams with an average class size of 45 pupils, most public primary schools in urban areas have enrollments of between 1,500 to 2,000 pupils, the information in Case Study 1 below allude to this.

Case Study 2 Ward is highly populated; 67,000 people; 32,613 females and 34,389 males occupying 5,000 households. Although the area is mixed socio-economically, there is high rate of unemployment and crime. There is no public dispensary or public hospital. The school is one of the four primary schools located in the ward. There are 6690 primary school children enrollled in these four schools…1856 pupils enrolled at Ukombozi and 43 teachers (a shortfall of 8) Source: The Center for Commonwealth Education: Pedagogy and Leadership Project, 2010.

Another related story is told by Sengumya (2010) who recently visited one of the schools in Dar es Salaam: “…Have you ever visited a school and you get this feeling you are in a market place? That’s the situation I recently found when I visited Kombo Primary School in Ilala Municipality…When you enter the school it is difficult to know who is a teacher, visitor or a local…Houses of local people form the wall that separates them from the school. The ‘Mama Ntilie’ (female food vendors) are all over the place…Passer-by’s would occasionally ridicule teachers as they taught in the classrooms… by shouting that they (teachers) should stop lying to pupils … (Walimu acheni kudanganya watoto!!) “(pp. 9).

High PCR, PDR and PLHR Note that the Pupil Classroom Ratio (PCR) does not necessarily provide information on class size as several classes may share the same classroom; however, a large PCR is an index of crowding in the school. The general picture that emerges from Table 18 is that urban schools have inadequate classrooms for the number of pupils enrolled. Instead of the normal figure of one classroom for every 45 children, most of the urban schools have a class size with staggering numbers of around 80 to 120 and above, thus making effective teaching very difficult particularly the adoption of the constructivist learner-centered approaches. A large Pupil Desks Ratio (PDR) index is an indication that many pupils in urban schools sit on the floor because of lack of enough desks to cater for an expanded number of pupils. The Guardian newspaper reported recently that Kinondoni Municipality in Dar es Salaam city was faced with a deficit of 27,000 desks. One of the schools for instance was reported to have a total of 720 pupils (67 percent) out of 1,080 who are enduring the pain of squatting on the floor for about eight hours of learning daily (Agola, 2010).


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six Table 18: Selected Typical Urban Schools in Mwanza City Schools

Indicators of Primary Education Status PTR PDR PCR PPLHR

Girls Boys A

47

7

B

46

4 89 96 105

120 141 130

C

46

8

126 109 156

D

42

4

128 124 134

E

47

10 158 146 154

F

58

5 95 139 114

G

52

6

131 67 64

H

56

3

128 118 106

I

48

6 96 96 95

Where; PTR= Pupil Teacher Ratio; PDR= Pupils Desk Ratio; PCR=Pupils Classroom Ratio; PPLHR=Pupils Pit Latrine Hole Ratio. Source: Dachi, Alphonce & Kahangwa et al. (2010) pp. 56-57

The ESDP envisages teachers using ‘appropriate pedagogical skills that are academically sound, child-friendly and gender-sensitive (URT, 2001a, pp. 9). One of the indicators of a learner-friendly school is availability of essential water and sanitation services for all children to have access and benefit from safe, clean water supplies as well as safe, hygienic and adequate sanitation facilities. The MKUKUTA target for school sanitation is one pit latrine hole for every 20 girls and one for every 25 boys (URT, 2009b). Table 18 suggests that the majority of the urban schools do not meet these standards. The worst scenes are those of schools that have more than 300 pupils sharing a pit latrine hole. This was reported in a recent study done in Mwanza city that: “…3600 pupils from a cluster of four schools are sharing 10 pit latrine holes; five are used by boys and five by girls. On average this is 360 pupils per pit latrine hole. The situation is so bad that the schools are using the toilets by shifts under strict supervision of class teachers and teachers on duty...” (Mapunda, 2010, pp. 72). It is well documented that lack of access to suitable sanitation facilities and lack of privacy are critical problems particularly for girls. It is a cause for poor attendance, and some girls drop out of school altogether (Sommer, 2010).

High PTR Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) is often seen as an important proxy of quality and manageable class sizes can create a synergy for improving the quality of education. The desired PTR is 40:1, at national level it stands at 53:1, the MKUKUTA target is 45:1 by the end of 2010 (URT, 2009a). Comparatively, many public urban schools have a higher PTR than the na-

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six tional bench mark of 45:1 thus adversely impacting on teacher workload and the quality of education offered. The availability of teachers with relevant qualifications also varies from one urban school to the other within the same ward and district. Teachers are expected to teach all primary education subjects confidently, competently and professionally. Nevertheless, this is based on the false premise that teachers did very well in all subjects in the national form four examinations. It is well known among the cycles of teachers and stakeholders that in urban schools English, Mathematics, Science and languages are poorly taught and pupils’ performance in those subjects is abysmally low. Therefore, one of the problems of teacher supply in urban areas is shortage of teachers who can well teach Mathematics, Natural Sciences and English language (URT, 2008b). There is a considerable debate among policy makers and researchers on the need of having teachers of both sexes, and the effect of these on participation, performance and learning outcomes of pupils. It is arguable that large gender disparities appear to have an impact on educational quality and the demand for education, particularly among girls (UNESCO, 2000). A recent study by Dachi (2010) indicates that the majority of teachers in the urban schools are females. It suggests a ratio of eight female teachers to two male teachers. This defeats the over-orchestrated case that rural girls do lack role models and psychosocial support because rural schools are devoid of female teachers (UNESCO, 2003). The same is true for boys in the urban schools, yet the Gender Parity Index8 is 1:1 (URT, 2010) suggesting that girls and boys are equally enrolled in primary schools and the regions are on track to eliminate gender disparity.

Poor Quality Infrastructure and Lack of Sports and Recreational Facilities The expectations of parents and other stakeholders was that PEDPI and PEDPII are going to bring universal gains yet Table 19 suggests that a number of urban schools’ existing infrastructure is in a poor state because of overuse and has deteriorated due to lack of maintenance. It is possible to argue that urban schools have not really overcome their basic handicaps of lack of adequate and good quality buildings. Also, the majority of the schools in the urban areas have limited recreational, games and sports facilities. Most of the games that girls play are locally designed and flexible enough to be played in restricted spaces. The boys rarely use small open spaces; they prefer football. Stacey (2010) explained the gravity of this situation in this way: “…For the national young with few prospects, what should be on offer that does not require much effort or state funding? The answer should have been open spaces that can be impromptu sports or entertainment grounds. But over the years these much needed amenities have become nearly non- existent…” (pp. 7). Lack of playgrounds causes the pupils to miss opportunity to develop other life skills, even more importantly, games and sports promote attendance and reduce truancy.

8 GPI = Ratio of female to male values of a given indicator. In this context it measures the extent of gender equality between girls and boys enrollment in primary schools.


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six Table 19: Selected Urban Schools’ Facilities and Their Respective Conditions Pseudonym

Class Conditions

Other Facilities

PGRS

PBRTs

ALF FBF NBF

AZM

X

√

X

√

X

CHN

√

X

X

X

√

JTG

X

√

X

X

X

KLM

√

X

X

√

√

KTP

X

√

X

X

X

MMP

√

X

X

√

X

MSW

X

√

X

√

X

Where; PGRS = Permanent building with good repair and size; PBRTs = Permanents building with bad repair and too small; ALF = Availability of Library Facility; FBF = Football facility; NBF = Netball Facility; X = NO; √ = Yes Source: Dachi (2010)

Schools for Sons and Daughters of Urban Hunters and Gatherers Situations discussed in the above sections face most of the schools in the cities and major towns in Tanzania. Nevertheless, there are a number of schools, which cater for the children of affluent social groups. Such schools are located in the business districts and planned city suburbs. Olympio, Bunge, Mtendeni, Jamhuri, Muhimbili, Oysterbay and Msasani public primary schools in Dar es Salaam city are a case in point. Such schools are not in a desperate need of repair; they have enough qualified teachers and resources that are up to date. On the contrary, the children of urban poor are what Lugalla (1995) termed as ‘sons and daughters of the urban hunters and gatherers’ (pp. 101)9; who like their parents, suffer from the consequences of urban crisis and poverty. The schools in which they enroll and attend, again using the example of Dar es Salaam city are located in low income unplanned densely populated areas such as Mbagala, Manzese, Tandale, Kigogo, Mburahati, Buguruni, Kiwalani and Gongo la Mboto. These areas lack safe and reliable water sources, drainage and sewerage, and sanitation management systems.

Lack of Land to Construct Schools The Land Act No 4. of 1999 provides for the right of occupancy and issuance of land titles to the schools and other educational institutions located in the planned and unplanned urban settlements10 . However, one of the critical problems that Local Government Authorities (LGAs) in the planned urban areas have been facing is lack of land for construction of more schools. Land grabbers who have replaced open spaces planned for schools and other public services with commercial and residential buildings exacerbate this situation. This sentiment was echoed by the Tanzania Education and Training Policy (URT, 1995b) that: 9 Urban poverty in Tanzania is clearly evident in households with low and unreliable incomes, the unemployed and urban vulnerable group. They survive by hunting a ‘shilling’ and gathering to ‘feed mouths’.

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six “…Individuals, public and private organizations and the community, in general have tended to encroach on land earmarked, allocated and demarcated for education and training institutions.” (pp. 27). A recent survey commissioned by the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner revealed that ‘more than 80 percent of all reserved open spaces in the city have been illegally reallocated for other uses by relevant land allocating authority’ (The Citizen, 2010). This illegality is pervasive in almost all urban areas in Tanzania and land that belongs to the schools is not spared. The Guardian, a daily newspaper reported recently that: “…The famous and one of the oldest schools in the country Pugu Secondary School in Dar es Salaam is being invaded by land grabbers, which has made the headmaster to ask for government intervention….” (2010, pp. 7). According to Stren, Bhatt and Bourne et al. (1992) urban land has become an increasing focus of social and political conflict characterized by drifts from inner cities to the outskirts, invasion of open space and encroachment on the land that belong to public institutions. It is in the same way that Stacey (2010) argues that the word land in cities and major towns in Tanzania is synonymous with corruption. Open land is especially vulnerable even if marked on municipal plans, as it can be easily erased for future theft by those in the know.

Emphasis on Passing Examinations and Private Tutoring The Education and Training Policy (URT, 1995) mentions tests as instruments for assessing the level of pupils’ learning achievements in primary education and assessing academic progress at each end of the school term; the national standard IV examination which is used to assess pupils’ learning achievement prior to their promotion to standard V; and national standard VII examinations which are both Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) and promotional to secondary education for those who pass them. The EFA goals are skewed in favour of quantitative aspects of educational achievements, which are relatively easier to achieve, assess and compute than quality related aspects of schooling outcomes (UNESCO, 2000a). Therefore, for teachers, parents and pupils the easiest and most plausible definition of quality teaching and learning invariably include examination results as an indicator of learning achievements and proxy of pupils learning outcomes. Therefore, the majority of urban schools put heavy emphasis on content coverage and preparation for examinations, which actually entail cramming of model questions and answers. The resultant practice typical of urban education is quick tests, which are usually done in the morning before the first period; weekend tests done on Saturdays, and tuition classes that are conducted in the evenings after the normal school hours and during long vacations. This practice is what Bray (1999) termed as a ‘shadow education system’ of supplementary tutoring because pupils receive school fees ‘free’ public education and then receive supplementary private tutoring in exchange for fees in the same subjects and in most cases by the same teachers who teach them in the normal hours of schooling paid by the state.

10

Land in Tanzania is not a free hold land but it can be granted as a right of occupancy.


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six Table 20: Comparative PSLE Scores: Selected Urban Schools Tanga Region, 2009 School Location A B C D F B G B G B G B G B G A

- - 9 1 42 33 20 58 - 1 TC

B - 1 1 7 7 10 - 2 - - TC C

1 - 9 2 21 17 8 15 - - TC

D

- - - 4 27 26 19 8 - - TC

E

- - 3 4 26 24 39 25 - - KTC

F

- - - - 24 11 12 26 - - KTC

Total 1 1 22 18 147 121 100 134 - %

1

0.4 7.3 49.2 42.9 0.2

Where TC = Tanga city; KTC = Korogwe Town Council Source: EdQual (2010)

According to Mukyanuzi (2005) private tutoring is ‘an addiction’ in Dar es Salaam and other major urban centers since ‘everyone feels they must do it’. One of its negative dimensions is that it is a service for those who are able to pay. To the extent that education market forces regulate it; it maintains inequalities between urban poor children and wealthy urban children by setting a wedge between education as a ‘quasi public good’ and education as a ‘commodity’ (Levin, 1987). However, the correlation between an emphasis on examinations in urban schools and the learning achievement represented by scores in the national examinations is blurred. While not too robust to claim to be statistically significant or representative of all urban schools the data in Table 20 tells it all! It virtually negates the scores’ normal distribution curve. The largest majority out of 545 pupils scored an average of ‘C’ (49.2 percent) and ‘D’ (42.9 percent) whereas only two scored an average of ‘A’ despite pupils attending private tutoring and doing ‘quick tests’ and ‘weekend tests’.

Pupils Grappling More with Urban Life than to Learn There is diversity among the Tanzania’s urban children population in terms of socio-economic background, motivation, expectations and readiness to learn; attitudinal, behavioural and academic problems. Urban schools in Tanzania are at a disadvantage because they are more likely to enroll pupils whose first priority is grappling with urban life than learning. Apparently urban pupils are faced with a lot of extraneous issues that need concerted efforts to mitigate their impact on their schooling. A significant number of public schools in which urban children attend are located in low-income densely populated informal settlements such as Manzese, Buguruni and Vingunguti in Dar es Salaam. These areas are breeding grounds for various forms of criminality and social problems such as drug abuse, alcoholism and commercial sex. It is possible to categorize the majority of urban pupils who dwell in such areas as pupils with special psychosocial needs. The Child Development Policy (URT, 1996) points out plainly that:

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six “…Although problems facing children are largely similar, they differ from rural to urban environments. In urban areas where there is overcrowding and diversity of traditions and customs, children are faced by problems of early employment, lack of moral direction and communal upbringing, living on the streets, temptations to participate in illegal businesses…drug abuse…”(pp. 4). Another problem facing urban schools therefore is shortage of specialized teachers who consider themselves more as urban educators and caring professionals than mere school teachers (Worthy, 2005). These are teachers who can identify and give psycho-social support to pupils in the areas of emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD); and anti-social behaviour typical of urban schools such as bullying, fighting and sexual harassment or psycho-social problems that they encounter at home or in their communities (including physical, sexual and emotional occurrences). What EdQual had gathered (Dachi, Alphonce & Kahangwa et al., 2010) is that a pupil will draw the attention of the class teacher, only if he/she belongs to the quintile of higher performers and then gradually or rapidly drops in academic performance or demonstrates irregularities for instance in attendance and submission of homework but not otherwise.

6.4.2. How is the Government of URT Responding to Urban Primary Education Issues? Review of the literature suggests that the Government of URT has not devised responses to deal with problems and issues that are specific to urban education; however, the responses are implicit in a number of legal frameworks, policies and reforms. These are discussed below.

Legal Frameworks The first of the legal frameworks is the Local Government Act of 198211, which re-established Town, Municipal, and City Councils (representing small, medium and large urban areas) as Local Government Authorities (LGAs) after their abolition in 1973. The Councils have the overall responsibility for local government finance, administration, organization and service delivery including education. LGAs have discretionary powers to mobilize financial resources and levy taxes for the provision of primary and secondary schools infrastructure. 12The Central Government through the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has the obligation of providing conditional subventions and other forms of grants for education and other social services. 13Communities through their respective LGAs defray capital investment costs of education by contributing money, materials and labor. The functions of LGAs draw from acts and legislations which include the Education Act No. 25 of 1978 (URT, 1978) and its amendments in Education Act No. 10 of 1995 (URT, 1995b) and various government circulars. Through relevant clauses, LGAs are legislated to manage primary schools in their areas of jurisdiction and implement the UPE policy by enforcing compulsory enrollment and attendance of school age children residing in the planned areas and informal settlements. Variations in the levels of investments in public education could be partly explained by the extent to which LGAs have been able to use their discretionary powers to mobilize resources.


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six According to Nondo and Coetzee (2002) urban populations are heterogeneous making it much more difficult to strengthen community level organizations to identify needs and priorities than rural areas. Nevertheless, urban LGAs have been able to construct schools to meet the demands of an expanding urban primary and secondary education system. One of the best examples is that of Mbagala Primary School in Dar es Salaam city located in the unplanned Mbagala area in Temeke Municipality 15 kilometres away from the city business district. In 2002/03 after the inception of the PEDP program it had an enrollment of more than 6,000 pupils and 120 teachers. It turned out to be the largest (in terms of enrollment) and most overcrowded primary school in Tanzania. It was invariably reported, that pupils were fainting in the classrooms because of lack of space and fresh air. The National Land Policy of 1995 provides for a land dispensation system, which is cognizant of the need to provide services to the urban poor living in the informal and poorly serviced settlements (World Bank, 2002). The LGA capitalized on this policy. Using the Municipal Council resources and local community contributions it was able to construct seven primary schools consecutively in different parts of Mbagala ward (Mbagala Annex, Kizinga, Kinguge, Kizuiani, Kibonde Maji, Juhudi and Kiburugwa Primary Schools) to accommodate school age children from the ward and lessen the burden that was facing Mbagala Primary School (a feeder school).

The Local Government Reform Program From the mid-1990s the Government of the URT formulated and embarked on a broad public sector reform agenda to support the poverty reduction strategy with a number of systemic reforms including the Local Government Reform Program (LGRP) which envisioned making LGAs efficient and effective in the delivery of social services. The LGRP is implemented within the policy framework of Decentralization by Devolution (D by D) (URT, 1998). One of the precepts of D by D is administrative decentralization in which LGAs have powers to recruit, train, hire and fire their own personnel in a way decided by their respective councils. This has had a big influence on teacher supply in urban schools. The LGAs have been able to recruit and deploy grade ‘A’ teachers (grade ‘A’ is a typical professional qualification for primary school teachers).

Quality Financing The second precept of ‘D by D’ is fiscal decentralization.14 This implies a greater access to national resources by LGAs and increased powers to mobilize and use financial resources for meeting local services demand vested with them (URT, 2006c). Fiscal decentralization The legislation includes the Local Government Finances Act and Local Government Services Act (See Local Government Laws: Principal Legislation (Revised Edition), 2000.

11

LGAs are supposed to contribute not less than 10% of the recurrent and development budgets from their own fiscal resources.

12

The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) is vested with the function of policy making, capacity building, setting standards and quality assurance. The Prime Minister’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO-RALG) is mandated to oversee and coordinate the delivery of social services by LGAs.

13

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six in this regard is based on a definition of the principle of financial discretionary powers of local councils to levy taxes and the obligation of central government to transfer to the LGAs additional grants for sensitive sectors including education (URT, 2004). It also instituted a development grant for improving the quantity and quality of infrastructure and cover costs of sanitary facilities and teacher houses. Therefore urban schools have been able through the decentralization of the procurement process to purchase teaching and learning materials and school furniture. They have also been able, with the support of local councils and community to construct additional classrooms, teachers’ houses, toilet facilities and general rehabilitation of some of the school buildings (URT, 2006a).

Tackling the Problem of Inadequate Classrooms and Schools A number of LGAs have been able to overcome the problem of lack of land to construct new schools by putting up wings or using available open space within the school boundaries to construct buildings with enough classrooms and teacher offices to form an ‘off-shoot’ school. An example of the following primary schools is instructive15; Makorora (Azimio), Sahare (Mnazi Mmoja) Mikanjuni (Ukombozi), Masiwani (Chuda), Changa A (Changa B) in Tanga cty as well as Ukombozi (Manzese), Tandale Magharibi (Tandale Hekima), Muhimbili (Umoja wa Mataifa), Rutihinda (Mapinduzi), Kawawa (Amani), Karume (Dr. Omari), Manzese Uzuri (Kilimani) and Ndugumbi (Mwalimu Nyerere) in Kinondoni Municipality, Dar es Salaam city. LGAs are the legal owners of the school infrastructure, there is one caveat that we have already seen in the previous sections that, these schools have no enough space left for recreation, games and sports.

6.5. Urban Education Issues that Need Further Attention What has emerged from our discussion is that urbanization is inseparable from the country’s education progress. We have discussed the most daunting problems that confront urban education in Tanzania. Responses by the Government to tackle those problems are rather implicit than being designed by the Government specifically for urban education and solving the problems of education among the urban disadvantages because of the sector-wide approach that has been adopted by the Government of URT to guide education development. Notwithstanding this fact, those responses have in a way mitigated the impact of those problems on access, equity and quality of education. In this section, we are examining a number of emerging issues that need further attention of policy makers and their implications for further research in urban education.

The re-assignment of revenue-raising and expenditure responsibilities from the central to subnational governments.

14

Those in brackets are ‘off-shoots’.

15


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six 6.5.1. Urban Education Access and Equity From our discussions one of the issues that are emerging is, whilst Education Sector and Development Program seeks to address access and equity issues vehemently, its successes in urban areas are still a subject of open controversy especially that ‘urbanization brings higher enrollment but also more inequality between the richest and the poorest’ (Kabore & Pilon, 2003, pp.15). Poor households face the greatest difficulties in meeting the costs of urban schooling ‘given the unpredictability and seasonal nature of income, their large numbers of dependants and vulnerability to ill health which makes heavy demands on out-of-pocket payments’ (The Coalition for Health and Education Rights, 2002 pp.7). The ancillary costs of urban schooling such as stationery; transport and tuck are variable but constitute the largest cost item to the urban households. A heavy burden by default is shifted to the poor urban households who can barely afford non-subsidized food, attire, energy and transport as well as health services (URT, 2009b), all of which are incidental to urban schooling. This is compounded by the fact that inequality in income is higher in urban areas than in rural areas (URT (2009a) and coping mechanisms of households in the event of economic shocks are less among urban poor households because of poor social capital that traditional safety nets of extended families have invariably faded away (Bosu, Dachi, Oduro & Fertig, 2010). The Government through the Tanzania Education and Training Policy (TETP) (URT, 1995a) and the Education Act No. 10 of 1995 (URT,1995b) liberalized the establishment and management of schools as well provision of education at all levels. It is within these policy and legal frameworks that Tanzania witnessed the resurgence and mushrooming of private primary and secondary schools under the ‘banners’ of ‘English Medium Schools’, ‘International Schools’ and ‘Academies’. A majority of these schools is located in the wealthy suburbs; and are so costly that the urban poor cannot afford to pay for education offered in these schools. The Household Budget Survey (URT, 2009b) indicates that education expenses average 6 percent of household per capita monthly consumption expenditure in Dar es Salaam and less than 4 percent in other urban areas. These levels are critically insufficient to meet the costs of quality urban private schooling for those in the lowest quintile of household income, more so when food accounts for more than 50% of urban household per capita monthly expenditure (ibid). It is axiomatic that the urban poor children are left with the public system while the ‘wealthy’ go private. Nevertheless, anecdotal evidence shows that in Tanzania, insufficient supply of public school places is not the current overriding reason for the proliferation of non-government pre-primary and primary schools. In this chapter we have clearly shown that primary education is near universal with 106.4 and 95.4 GER and NER respectively. The major concern is the perceived low quality of available public school places by parents. This perception extends even to the poor urban parents. Therefore it is not surprising that a significant number of low income parents are sending their children to low cost albeit low quality private schools that have sprung up in the underserved low income informal settlements. According to Dachi (2010b) a significant number of these schools are not officially recognized by the Government because they do not meet conditions required for official registration. The question that needs answers in that regard is, how are poor households coping with rising costs of public and private urban schooling? It follows in corollary that the poorest urban households’ inability to afford education costs is among the major reasons why the

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six majority of their children are not in school by not being enrolled in the first place or for dropping out (Kattan & Burnett, 2004). High PCR essentially suggest that the number of school places does not meet overall potential demand and the available are unequally apportioned with unplanned informal settlements getting fewer. Most public schools are concentrated in the city centers, business districts and wealthy suburbs which means children in the outlying outskirts and informal settlements have to grapple with hurdles which impede easy access to schools such as construction sites, major roads, highways, railway lines, overcrowded access roads and open drainage systems. They are also exposed to hazards such as floods, motor accidents and injury, which is compounded by lack of an efficient and cheap public transport system to and from schools. How are poor school children coping? Another issue therefore that needs interrogation is how the impact of these hurdles can be mitigated so that the schooling of urban children is not compromised.

6.5.2. Urban Schools and Education Quality The Government of URT has adopted the sector wide approach to education development, however, there are inter and intra-urban differences in the availability of both public and private education services (URT, 2001b). Urban wards have a differentiated pattern of schools and public education quality closely reflecting geographical localities, namely, planned well-serviced areas; planned poor serviced areas and informal settlements. Glaringly, the quality of infrastructure and substantially quality of teaching and learning (T-L) materials is poorer in the informal settlements than that of schools located in the business districts and planned well-serviced areas. Differences in the quality of infrastructure and instructional resources is partly determined by the economic wealth of the urban area in which the school is located; differentials in the prices of key inputs determined by the geographical location of the school; and availability of instructional resources (Reyes & Rodriguez, 2004). The challenge to urban education is how intra-district differences related to differentials in the prices of educational resources and their availability can be minimized or mitigated so much so that pupils can equitably access public education of acceptable quality. There is a need for knowledge about inter-urban and intra-urban district disparities in the quality of education offered by public schools in terms of availability and quality of facilities as well as the T-L resources.

6.5.3. Urban Teacher Supply The average Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) is very deceptive as it masks unevenness across the schools in the urban districts in terms of teachers with relevant qualifications and it is possible to have both a low PTR and teacher shortage. Arguably, urban schools in the city core may have low PTR while schools in the suburbs may have high ratios and vice versa (URT, 2001b). The issue here is the stereotyping of urban-rural differentiation in teacher supply. One idea is that there is an imbalance in the recruitment and deployment of teachers such that of the total teaching force the large majority is in the urban areas (TTU & AAITZ, 2006). Another idea is that this urban-rural differentiation in the recruitment of teachers has to be controlled by advantaging the rural schools through ‘rationalization’ of allocation and redeployment of urban teachers to remote and hard to reach rural areas (URT, 2008b).


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six The impact of such policies on urban teacher supply and workloads needs further interrogation. There is diversity among the Tanzania’s urban children population in terms of socio-economic background, motivation, expectations and readiness to learn; attitudinal, behavioural and academic problems. One question is to what extent are teachers prepared to adequately satisfy the learning and psychosocial needs of urban pupils? One of the key findings of the study by Bennel and Mukyanuzi (2005) is that urban teachers tend, if anything, to have lower levels of job satisfaction than they are for rural areas. This difference can be attributed to the much higher living costs and other demands of urban schooling that they have to deal with. In a recent study by Mapunda (2010) one of the teachers had this to say when was asked to comment about class management in urban schools: “…I have a very big problem with some pupils, especially older boys, they do not respect female teachers and in most cases they bully the female pupils in the class. I am tired of dealing with such pupils…” (pp. 61). In most cases the pre-service teacher education curriculum and in-service professional development of teachers do not provide for issues related to teaching in the urban schools and meeting the educational, emotional and psychological needs of a diverse population of pupils in the urban schools (Leland & Harste, 2005). Urban teacher supply therefore has to move beyond the numerical aspects of teacher supply and look at the qualitative aspects of it (Worthy, 2005). Teachers need to receive adequate preparations and continuous professional support so that they are able to satisfy the needs of urban children (Moir & Gless, 2001; Farber & Ascher, 1991).

6.5.4. Urban School Financing Public funds have to provide for pupils’ needs regardless of their socio-economic status (Windham, 1992). One of the issues is that investment and capitation grants to schools are allocated on per capita basis and thus have no inbuilt mechanisms for compensatory funding to poor quality urban schools. Another related issue is that the grants per capita allocation is driven by pupils enrollment and not school needs as explained by PTR; PCR; Pupil Book Ratio (PBR), performance in Primary School Leaving Examination and transition rates to secondary education (Galabawa, 2001). In per capita terms, available resources are spread thinly because enrollments in urban schools are increasing in absolute terms and have not translated into improvements in education access, quality and efficiency indicators (URT, 2001a). These schools also show a significant variance with respect to the prices they encounter for purchasing educational resources and utilities, again determined by the location of the school. Prices of educational materials are higher in the outskirts compared to the urban core. Notwithstanding low unit costs because of overcrowding, in this chapter we have shown that urban schools have problems of non-availability or excessive shortage of instructional materials and facilities. It follows from this discussion that what is not clear, is how the urban education system can have sufficient financial resources to maintain standard levels of internal efficiency and effectiveness.

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six 6.5.5. Urban School Governance We have argued elsewhere in this chapter that the Education Act No. 25 of 1978 (URT, 1978) and its amendments in the Education Act No. 10 of 1995 (URT, 1995b) legislates urban Local Government Authorities (LGAs) (Town, Municipal and City Councils) to manage public schools in their areas of jurisdiction. The two Acts also provide for the establishment of a school committee and a school board in each urban primary and secondary school respectively to manage day- to-day operations of the schools. The managerial roles of school committees and boards have been enhanced by the Tanzania Education and Training Policy (URT, 1995a) and the Education Sector Development Program (URT, 2008a) strategic objectives of decentralizing school management to the lower organs and communities. It is arguable however that many urban school committees are enmeshed in a complex web of micro-political influences of urban political elite so much that they are ineffective in demanding accountability and responsiveness from teachers, parents and LGAs (Galabawa, 2001). The report by Bennell and Mukyanuzi (2005) noted that School Committees are mainly “…concerned with improvements to school facilities and know very little about the teaching and learning process, and social capital is often quite limited, especially in very poor and depressed urban locations…” (pp. 25). Having School Committees or Boards managing the schools does not mean responsiveness to urban parents’ concerns about quality of public education unless ingenuity translates propinquity into tangible results. Efforts by the School Committees and Boards to improve educational opportunities and quality education for urban poor children will entail mobilization of additional resources form non-state sources including communities (Galabawa, 1994). Shifting the burden of costs of access to, and quality of urban education to the poor urban communities and households could be looked at in the same way as what Smyth (1993) described as, “…a complete abdication of responsibility by the state…A deliberate process of subterfuge, distortion, concealment and wilful neglect as the state seeks to retreat in a rather undignified manner from its historical responsibility of providing quality public education…”(Whitty, Power & Halpin, 1998, pp. 45). Or, “…a selective withdrawal from areas in which it has difficulty in succeeding such as equality of opportunity…” (Power, Halpin & Whitty, 1997, pp. 358). As the responsibility of managing public schools is in the hands of School Committees and Boards, the inputs and general educational resources for urban primary and secondary schools will widely differ because of variances in the mobilization capabilities of School Committees and Boards. Therefore, any determination of quality and equity in urban public schools must be based on facts about how the School Committees and Boards are able to mobilize, allocate and manage the resources.


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six 6.6. Concluding Remarks In this contribution, urbanization and issues in urban education in Tanzania have been examined. We have argued that the ambitious Education Sector and Development Program (ESDP) and the Tanzania Education and Training Policy (TETP) have paid little attention to an increased urbanization and its influence on access, quality and financing of urban education. The conventional urban-rural dichotomization has stereotypically advantaged the rural school system basing on the false premise that urban schools tend to attract more resources and have less poverty concentrations than rural schools. Another notion is about homogeneity in the provision of education which is embodied in the Sector Wide Approach to education development that was adopted by the ESDP, yet, urbanization makes education problems more conspicuous and in most cases allows for contextually designed cost-effective ways of tackling some of the problems because of economies of agglomeration (Stren, Bhatt & Bourne et al., 1992). Tanzania cities and major towns have the highest enrollments but this phenomenon and what it entails in terms of access, equity, quality and learning outcomes has not attracted attention of politicians, policy makers and researchers. There is need for knowledge about inter and intra-urban district disparities in the quality of facilities, human resources and demand for urban schooling. There is also need to go beyond the findings of Al-Samarrai and Reilly (2000) and Burke and Beegle (2004) on the determinants of attendance and identify additional factors influencing enrollment and retention of urban children in public primary schools particularly those coming from unplanned, under-serviced and informal settlements. Recent statistics show that there is an increase in the urban Tanzania population growth at a rate of 4.3 percent annually (Saiboko, 2010) in tandem with geographical expansion of cities and major towns mainly through rural-urban migration and intra-urban movements. This expansion signifies the need for urban education services to expand outwardly and migrate to the outskirts and outlying districts, where the largest number and percentage of poor school children are residing. High PCR suggests that the number of school places does not meet the overall demand of urban public education. Large concentrations of public schools in business districts and wealthy suburbs imply that public education places are unequally apportioned with outskirts getting fewer of these places (Kabore & Pilon). There is need of quantifying the spatial distribution of public school places and identify geographical imbalances relative to the urban school children in order to apportion these places equitably. In spite of the ESDP transformations, inequalities in urban education are still pervasive, exacerbated by abject poverty among households; the imbalances in teacher supply; overcrowded schools and classrooms; inadequate teaching and learning materials and lack of adequate water and sanitation services (URT, 2008b). Urban pupils suffer more from school and home-related problems that impact on their cognitive outcomes than what is conventionally portrayed by policy makers (Delisio, 2005). Support is required for initiatives that give priority to disadvantaged over-crowded areas such as informal settlements. This essentially entails fiscal decentralization by devolving powers to mobilize resources for education to LGAs and allocating government subven-

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six tions basing on an equalization formula (Galabawa, 2001), that will take into account urban districts’ education needs and ability of the urban districts to meet educational needs from own fiscal resources. Indicators of classroom interactions (PTR, PCR and PDR) do not necessarily guarantee that every child attending an urban school receives basic education of acceptable quality. Urban schools have unique characteristics that put them at risk for funding inequalities (Reyes & Rodriguez, 2004). They are located in major cities and towns where the cost of living is higher than rural areas. Similarly, because of their extreme diversity, urban pupils have many needs that must be dealt with such as poverty, limited language and mathematics competencies, mobility and health (Krantzler & Terman, 1997). The question therefore, is funding for education adequately providing for urban pupils’ learning needs? They have a right to learning in appropriate, safe, attractive school environments and receiving an equal education as pupils in other areas that command attention of politicians and policy makers. In the final analysis however, the designing of strategies to tackle urban education problems and issues, and the implementation of those strategies hinges crucially on the political will, level of the premium attached to urban education by urban stakeholders and the attitude and beliefs of politicians, policy makers, educational planners and practitioners, on how quality and equitable urban education should be provided, financed and managed.

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six Worthy, J. (2005). ‘It didn’t have to be so hard’: The first years of teaching in an urban school. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 18(3), 379-398. Zetter, R. and White, R. (2002) (Eds.). Planning in cities: Sustainability and growth in the developing world, London: ITDG Publishing. 80 percent of open space grabbed, say report. (2010, Wednesday July14th). The Citizen.

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Chapter

seven

Education in a Changing Urban Context: The Case of Burundi Hermenegilde Rwantabagu


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seven 7.1. Introduction

T

his chapter presents a discussion and in-depth analysis of the current trends and issues arising in primary education in the urban context of Burundi, particularly in Bujumbura city, which enjoys a defined administrative status with a Provincial Directorate of Education. The other towns namely Gitega, Ngozi and Rumonge with a population of 53,000, 35,000 and 20,000 respectively (ISTEEBU, 2009) will only be referred to. The three urban centers have however experienced a steady growth and expanding school networks, but have no delineated municipal entities with a specific administrative status-they are simply part of the surrounding rural communes (ISTEEBU, 2009).

The April 1994 decision by the government to create preschool sections in selected public primary schools across the country is a major step in the right direction,

At the conceptual level, the study attempts to follow Brian Holmes’ “Problem-Solving approach” (Holmes, 1965). The “problem solving” approach is based on the principle of asynchronous change according to which some aspects of the social context like demography change more rapidly than others (e.g. the resources, employment opportunities) to cater for and cope with the rapid population increase. This creates a lag, which is per se problematic. The study dwells on the analysis of the discrepancies between the rising learning needs and the availability of educational facilities and of human and material resources to respond to the rising demand as far as quality education for all is concerned in urban Burundi. This chapter also outlines some specific orientations for further research while the most appropriate policy options are spelled out with a view to addressing the current educational crisis through integrated planning and the equitable allocation of resources. The objective is to highlight the issues pertinent to urban education in Burundi and to reorient the debate from rural versus urban discussions to one that also pays closer attention to urban education challenges, and in line with the scope of research at African Population and Health Research Center through which this chapter was commissioned. The chapter is organised in two parts. The first part discusses the educational trends in Burundi as a whole. The second part dwells on the emerging issues related to education in an expanding urban context, particularly Bujumbura, with special emphasis on the adopted policy of ensuring access to primary education for all including the handicapped and other vulnerable categories. This part attempts to highlight major issues such as access, efficiency, and quality, with the outline of a research agenda for access and quality enhancement. The study ends with a conclusion with some recommendations.

7.2. The Burundian Education System: Trends and Challenges Primary Education for All (EFA) is a commitment that many countries have signed through the global MDGs agreements. Several other related fora have also focused

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seven attention on the benefits and need to achieve EFA commitment. In particular, for over twenty years attention has been focused on working with and helping the Least Developed Countries to attain UPE. The 1990 Jomtien Conference on Education for All adopted the World Declaration on Education for All which in essence advocated for the provision of elementary education to all to respond to their Basic Education Needs. (Inter-Institution Commission, 1990:45). In the light of the shortcomings observed in the implementation of the Jomtien objectives, the 2000 World Forum on Education for All was held in Dakar, Senegal. The Dakar World Forum set the target of elementary education for all by the year 2015 (UNESCO, 2000a:7). The Government of Burundi, having participated at both the Jomtien and Dakar conferences, has subscribed to the goals and principles adopted, which are in line with Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (United Nations, 1988:14). Indeed, since the 1990s, different education sector policy documents in Burundi have indicated the government’s commitment to the realization of Universal Primary Education for the relevant age group. The 2006 Policy Paper on Education in line with the Dakar 2000 goals has put quality education for all high on the agenda, with universal admission by 2012 and full completion by 2016 (Ministry of Education, 2006:2). To this effect, the Burundi government has adopted measures aimed at enabling all school-aged children to enroll, namely the waiving of fees in all public primary schools, and mobilizing and supporting local communities in the building of schools and classrooms, so as to enhance accessibility. Schooling in Burundi starts at the preschool level for children aged between 3 and 6 years of age. Traditionally, Christian churches and private organizations, in towns and cities, have organized preschool education making it accessible to a very small proportion of children,. The April 1994 decision by the government to create preschool sections in selected public primary schools across the country is a major step in the right direction, but it has not substantially raised the preschool attendance rate in the country, which still represents less than 5 percent of an estimated 1 million children concerned (Ministry of Education, 2009b:12). The primary education level extends over six years, which are divided into three stages of two years each. The average age of admission is 6 years. Primary enrollments have been steadily rising over the last ten years with 706,642 pupils in 2000 and 1,772,879 pupils in 2010 (Ministry of Education, 2010:14). The national enrollment rate stands at 89 percent with almost equal participation by boys and girls. Indeed, like in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, the expansion of primary education has gone hand in hand with gender parity (UNESCO, 2010:4). At the end of the primary cycle, all candidates have to sit for the National Examination that determines access to secondary education. The Examination bears on French, Mathematics, Kirundi and Environmental Studies. The rate of promotion to the secondary level has risen from 10 percent as it was traditionally the case, to 33.6 percent in 2009, with the creation of numerous communal high schools across the country (Ministry of Education, 2010:16). At the policy level, the government’s decision adopted in 2005 to waive school fees in all public primary schools has boosted enrollments in a remarkable way and constitutes a major step on the way to achieving UPE. The secondary level of education has been expanding rapidly (Mivuba, 2008:34), with 87,213 pupils in 2000 and 174,000 in 2008. It comprises two stages; that is the four- year junior high school with a common curriculum for all, and the senior secondary stage which consists of a three-year general senior high school, teacher training schools that offer a four-


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seven year training course for prospective primary teachers, as well a variety of technical schools offering two to four years of training in a wide range of disciplines. The secondary level of schooling has felt the impact of expansion upstream, the response being the encouragement, by the state, of local authorities to put in place “communal colleges” that have been growing at a steady rate since the early 1990s, thus widening access to secondary schooling. In this context, the role of the state has been to assist with pupils’ desks, textbooks and other school equipment as well as the provision and remuneration of teachers. With regard to vocational and technical education, recent data indicate that, although lagging behind general secondary education, enrollments have been regularly rising over the last twenty years. The observed diversification of courses in the technical sector has centered on the teaching of business studies and related fields. At the end of the junior and the senior secondary stages, all candidates have to write a national test and a state examination, respectively. Successful senior secondary leavers are awarded a state certificate which enables them to access higher education. The success rate for 2009 was 25.90 percent (Ministry of Education, 2010). The following table shows the evolution of secondary enrollments since 1989. Table 21: Gross Schooling Rates for General Secondary Education, 1989 2004 School Year

School-Attending Population

Gross Enrollment Rate (%)

1989-1990 718,009

School-Aged Population

34,230

4.8

1990-1991 715,375

41,101

5.8

1991-1992 741,584

43,512

5.9

1992-1993 791,033

43,511

5.6

1993-1994 805,029

44,904

5.6

1994-1995 841,413

49,822

5.6

1995-1996 881,892

55,331

6.3

1996-1997 925,327

60,951

6.6

1997-1998 935,986

62,213

6.7

1998-1999 964,065

71,117

7.4

1999-2000 992,986

87,213

8.8

2000-2001 1,033,775

109,376

10.6

2001-2002 1,069,958

111,603

10.4

2002-2003 1,084,061

125,277

11.6

2003-2004 1,116,583

147,146

13.2

Source: Ntamatungiro & Mukene, (2007)

Higher education is made of the University of Burundi with its 13 faculties and institutes, 10 private universities, seven of which are located in Bujumbura, a state higher teachers college, as well as seven private and public higher specialized institutes. On average, a university undergraduate course lasts four years, a secondary teacher-training course extends over five years, whereas higher specialized institutes offer three to four-year degree and diploma courses, respectively. The enrollments rates in higher education have been rising remarkably over the last 10 years, with 6,586 students in 2,000 and close to 20,000 in 2008 (Ministry of Higher Education: 2008:11). By and large, higher education is the “engine” that drives the

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seven education system as a whole in many ways, and its quality has a wide impact on the quality and efficiency of the entire school system. The table below shows the evolution of higher education enrollments from 2000 to 2004. Table 22: Gross Enrollment Rates for Higher Education, 2004 - 2004 Year %

Higher-Education

Aged Population

Enrolled Population

2000 435668 6586 1.5% 2001 461875 7881 1.7% 2002 487909 9057 1.8% 2003

525482 12137 2.3%

2004

541246 14079 2.6%

Source: University of Burundi (2005)

By 2009, Higher Education enrollments were just above 20,000. But, despite the fast growing enrollments rates, it is noted that the gross enrollment rate which stands today at 2.6 percent, is one of the lowest in Africa (World Bank, 2007:31).

7.3. Primary Education for All 7.3.1. The International Context The World Declaration on Education for All adopted at the 1990 Jomtien Conference as well as the 2000 Dakar Forum Declaration reminded the world about the imperious necessity to mobilize all available resources so as to ensure that Education as a Human Right became a reality for all. At the Jomtien Conference as well as at the Dakar World Forum, much emphasis was put on quality education and on equity in access to education for all: boys and girls, rich and poor, handicapped and healthy children (UNESCO, 2000b). Among the objectives formulated at the 2000 World Forum on Education in Dakar, the following stands out: “Ensuring that by 2015, all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality” (UNESCO, 2000b:15). The forum put particular emphasis on the quality and relevance of school instruction. In the same perspective, with regard to education, the MDGs highlighted the need to ensure primary education for all by the year 2015, while all children, boys and girls, all over the world, should be enabled to complete the entire primary cycle. The document lays particular emphasis on gender equality (IBE, 2004:2). Within this framework, education for all has been perceived as a strategic “tool” for enhancing sustainable and equitable development and the eradication of poverty in its various manifestations as well as the fight against such debilitating factors as the HIV/AIDS pandemic (UNDP, 2005:24).


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seven The New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) has set Education for All as one of the key components of the African Strategy for Sustainable Development in the 21st century (NEPAD, 2001:1). On this, Thabo Mbeki (1991:1) stressed: “…If the next century is going to be characterized as a truly African century, the century of durable peace and sustained development in Africa, then the success of this project is dependent on the success of our education systems. For nowhere in the world has sustained development been attained without a well-functioning system of education, universal and sound primary education, without equality of educational opportunity.” According to UNESCO (2009:1), in terms of achievements towards Education for All, sub-Saharan countries have, on average, raised their primary schooling rates from 54 percent in 1999 to about 70 percent in 2006. The following table shows the current GER for selected sub-Saharan African countries. Table 23: The GER for Selected African Countries Country

Male Female

Country

Male Female

Angola

141 114

Liberia

96 86

Benin

125 108

Mali

100 83

Botswana 111 109

Mozambique 111 107

Burundi

139 132

Namibia

113 112

Burkina Faso

79

Niger

65 51

Cameroon 119 102

Rwanda

150 152

D.R.Congo 99 82

Sierra Leone

168

Ethiopia

103 92

Somalia

42 23

Gabon

135 134

South Africa

106

Ghana

106 105

Chad

97 68

Gambia

84 89

Uganda

120 121

Guinea

97 83

Zambia

120 118

Kenya

113 110

68

148 103

Source: UNFPA (2010:94-98)

The challenges for the realization of EFA in Africa are as follows (UNESCO, 2010:9-11): The first challenge concerns the financial constraint that limits the capacity of education systems to attain the set targets. In this respect, it is believed that “sub-Saharan Africa accounts for two-thirds of the global financial gap” (UNESCO, 2010:8). Other challenges concern access by children from pastoral and minority communities, children living with disabilities and those infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. According to UNESCO (2010:9) “Gender, poverty, language and culture often combine to produce a heightened risk of being left behind”. The relevant policies to address those challenges are (UNESCO, 2010:9-11): poverty reduction, equity and access to education by vulnerable children and those from marginal or minority communities, the reduction or suppression of indirect school fees, the transparent utilization of funds from international donors, the training and deployment of teachers and universal access to preschool education. According to UNESCO (2010:11), “adopted policies need to address underlying causes, of poverty, inequality, as well as gender, ethnic and language disadvantages”.

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seven 7.3.2. The Move to Achieve Education for All in Burundi Long before the 1990 Jomtien Conference, the Government of Burundi had set a target of Universal Primary Schooling by the year 1988. To back up this policy, specific measures were adopted namely: the double shift system, “collective promotion”, and the building of school infrastructures with parents’ participation. This explains how between 1980 and 1991 the Gross Enrollment Rate rose from 28 percent to 71 percent, that is a 43 percent increase within 10 years (Ministry of Education, 1980-1991). The socio-political crisis characterized by an armed conflict, which lasted for over a decade since 1993 has destabilized the school system in many ways and compromised whatever gains had been achieved. Hence, the Gross Enrollment Rate plummeted from about 71 percent in 1990 to 41 percent by 1997. Indeed, all along the civil war period, the government has concentrated its resources on Defence rather than on Education, devoting 43 percent of the state budget on the former and 13 percent on the latter, during the 20022003 period. At the same time, the international donors have focused their interventions on humanitarian assistance and conflict resolution activities, neglecting education altogether (World Bank, 2007:xxxvii). The restoration of stability in the country since 2005 has improved the situation as far as budgetary allocation to education is concerned. Hence, whereas in 2010 the Defence sector was allocated 12 percent of the state budget, Education received 23.8 percent, Public Health 9 percent, Gender and Repatriation of Refugees 3 percent. (Government of Burundi, 2009:12). The excessive destruction of school facilities and equipment at the height of internal conflict, the loss and flight of many teachers, and the deplorable conditions in which internally displaced parents and children lived have forced the latter to abandon their schooling; Hence the dismal state of the national education system by 2005 (Ministry of Education, 2005:27). The implementation of the peace process from the period 2004-2005 has created favourable conditions for the steady reconstruction of the educational edifice and the massive “return” to school, reaching a GER of 130 percent by 2009. The latter was enhanced by the improvement of the security situation nationwide and the governmental determination to rehabilitate the national education system. By 2006, an inter-ministerial committee elaborated a policy document: Strategic Framework for Economic Growth and the Fight Against Poverty (2006:27-33). The document highlighted the necessity for Burundi to enhance its human resources as a condition for the achievement of the MDGs. To this end, the government adopted a policy aimed at restoring the pre-conflict level of performance for the school system. The objectives of that policy may be summarized as: raising the rates of enrollment at all levels, promoting girls’ access to education, suppression of regional disparities and elimination of illiteracy (Republic of Burundi, 2006:62). At the elementary level, the government has resolved to attain UPE by 2015 while improving quality at that level. To realize this objective, the decision was taken in 2005 to provide tuition-free primary education in all public schools. The backup measures to the above policy have been the building and rehabilitation of school infrastructure with particular


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seven emphasis on disadvantaged areas, the provision of books and other teaching materials, the training and retraining of an adequate body of teachers, the encouragement of private education as well as the streamlining of the education planning and management structures for better efficiency of delivery, while a national task force has been set up to coordinate the program (Mivuba, 2008:25). The mobilization of resources for the EFA objective has been both internal and external. On the one hand, local populations have been encouraged to contribute in different ways to the construction and equipment of their own schools with assistance from the government (Rwantabagu, 2009b:6). On the other hand, foreign bilateral and multilateral donors have given a hand by pooling their contributions within a Common Fund for the Promotion of Education in Burundi (Memorandum of Understanding, March 2008). It is through such measures that the enrollment rates have been rising: from 260,000 in the 2004-2005 school year to 500,000 in 2005-2006 (Mivuba, 2008:26). UNESCO (2010:166) has noted similar trends in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The table below shows the evolution of primary schooling rates in Burundi between 1980 and 2009. Table 24: Evolution of Primary Education enrollment Rates in Burundi, 1980 - 2009 Year

Gross Enrollment Rate

Net Enrollment Rate

1980-81 28

18

1982-83 41

32

1988-89 71

53

1995-96 41

22

1999-00 63

44

2002-03 77

56

2005-06 101

72

2008-09 130

89

Source: Ministry of Education, Planning Department (1980-2009).

The above table shows that over the recent years, the country has experienced a steady rise in primary education enrollments, which were boosted by the suppression of school fees, from the 2005-2006 school year. Concerning the gender balance in the EFA process, convergent sources indicate that the gap between boys and girls with regard to primary schooling has been narrowing over time. By 2006, the net enrollment rate stood at 72%, boys and girls accounting for 76 percent and 73 percent, respectively (UNESCO, 2009: 325). The sensitization programs targeting parents as well as such motivating factors as the World Food Program supported school feeding initiative have contributed to this remarkable increase in girls’ school attendance. In 2009, the primary enrollment rate is estimated to be 89 percent, girls accounting for 87.7 percent (Ministry of Education, 2010:21). At the qualitative level, the existing curriculum has been supplemented with new elements such as Peace and Civic Education, Moral and Social Education, Environmental Education, and Health Education with special emphasis on HIV/AIDS prevention (Ministry of Education, 1999). In addition, with a view to the country’s integration into the East African Community, new languages: English and Kiswahili have been added as school subjects.

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seven These innovations do however entail new requirements in terms of books and teaching materials as well as the initial and in-service training of teachers (Rwantabagu, 2009b:7).

7.3.3. Challenges and Constraining Conditions Regional Disparities The UNESCO Follow-Up Report on EFA for 2008 has highlighted the fact that the progress achieved in education in the wake of the Dakar Forum is rarely uniform across all the administrative regions of each country (UNESCO, 2008:48). Burundi being no exception to this reality, one can observe that by 2005-2006, there was a 67 percent gap between the Gross Enrollment Rates of the most schooled and the least schooled provinces in the country: 141 percent against 74 percent. (Ndayisaba, 2008:11). The same disparities prevail between rural and urban environments, as the Ministry of Education indicates (2009a:2440). The same document reveals the existence of substantial intra-urban disparities that is between privileged and disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods. In the same perspective, the completion rates in 2009, vary from 67 percent in Bururi province to 25 percent in Muyinga province, while the PTR varies from 32 in Bujumbura city to 72 in Muyinga province (Ndayisaba, 2008:12).

Hidden Gender Imbalances If the schooling rates for girls have steadily improved in Burundi over this decade, the national averages would tend to hide regional and rural-urban differences. On the other hand, due to a number of socio-cultural and economic factors, the completion rates tend to be lower for girls (43.3 percent) than for boys (46 percent) (Ministry of Education, 2009a:13). Significant gender gaps continue to prevail at the secondary and tertiary levels. Hence, only 29 percent of all high school final year students are girls whereas they represent 25percent of university students (Ndayisaba, 2008:12). On the whole, deeply embedded parental attitudes towards girls’ education still constitute a major obstacle to overcome, particularly among rural populations as well as within underprivileged urban communities (Municipal Directorate of Education, 2010:4).

Vulnerable Groups and Communities In Burundi, as in other countries, a number of endogenous and exogenous factors tend to hamper the enjoyment of the right to education by specific social categories as well as some cultural minorities.

a) Orphans and Street Children

The AIDS pandemic as well as the protracted period of violent civil strife in Burundi have generated a large number of orphans, numbering about 700,000 in 2008 (Ndayisaba, 2008:24). Despite the adoption of the Free Primary Education measure, orphans


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seven and children from destitute families are still disadvantaged with regard to school attendance given the side costs that many cannot afford and the appalling conditions in which they live. The same reality prevails for street children, the majority of whom are homeless orphans. Despite the assistance provided by charitable organizations, the rate of participation in the EFA process by those two categories of children remains marginal (Ndayisaba, 2008:20). On the whole, poverty, homelessness and malnutrition constitute a major obstacle to the achievement of EFA.

b) The Handicapped

According to a UNICEF study conducted in 2008, some 10,558 handicapped children aged between 5 and 18 were recorded in Burundi. They comprised motor handicapped children (60 percent), audiolly and visually handicapped children (23 percent) and mentally handicapped children (17 percent). (Ndayisaba, 2008:14). Only 23 percent of such children were enrolled in formal institutions of learning while 1,421 were attending special institutions. The majority of special education centers in the country being in the hands of religious organizations, the state shows no signs of commitment to a substantial development of education for the handicapped children by the year 2015. This is evidenced by the lack of a specific policy aimed at improving the education of handicapped children while there is no clear resource allocation for this sub-sector. Indeed, as UNESCO has emphasized, it is only through the real commitment by policy makers that the right to education for the handicapped children can be fully implemented (UNESCO, 2009:90).

c) Child Soldiers

A recent survey in Burundi (Ndayisaba, 2008:19) has revealed the existence of 14,000 child soldiers previously affiliated to rebel movements and to the national army. The process of demobilization that began in 2004 has reunited such children with their respective families while few have enrolled as overage candidates in primary schools. The most obvious need for such youth is to undergo moral and psychological rehabilitation programs together with vocational training for better socio-economic integration.

d) The Batwa Community

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The Batwa community in Burundi forms part of the wider population of Batwa living in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa. While no census has been taken, it is currently estimated that between 80,000 and 100,000 Batwa live in Burundi. They represent approximately 1.25 percent of the total population (Rwantabagu, 2009a:111). Having lost their ancestral forests decades ago due to clearing land for agricultural uses, the majority of the Burundian Batwa are landless and they have become laborers, potters while some practice small-scale agriculture. Within Burundian society, they have been traditionally subjected to political, economic and socio-cultural discrimination, but the 2005 Constitution provides for three Batwa representatives in both Senate and the National Assembly.


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As a socio-cultural category, the Batwa community has always been marginalized as far as school attendance is concerned. According to a recent study (Rwantabagu, 2009a:116), the rate of schooling among the Batwa Community remains very low: 12.5 percent and 0.3 percent, on average, respectively for primary and secondary education. As far as higher education is concerned, the representation of Batwa youth is almost non-existent. According to Nditije (2002:50), the little gains achieved are unevenly distributed in favour of some regions where Christian churches and NGOs have been active in improving housing and education in their favour, to the extent of creating exclusive Batwa elementary schools. Hence, the official policy to waive elementary school fees for all children, will not have improved the situation, as sending children to school and keeping them there requires further expenses and living conditions, which the Batwa fail to fulfil.

The Challenge of Quality The rapid expansion of enrollments within a context of limited material and human resources and with inadequate infrastructure has generated a serious problem of quality of learning which compromises the whole concept of education as a human right. Data from the Ministry of Education (2009b:50) indicate that between 2006 and 2009, there has been a steady rise in primary enrollments without a concomitant increase in classrooms. The same document explains that in those provinces like Bururi, Cankuzo and Makamba where special effort has been made in school construction, the pupil/classroom ratio falls below 60 and the quality of learning has been enhanced as opposed to those provinces like Kirundo or Muyinga where the ratio remains close to 80 and above. According to the Ministry of Education (2009b: 59-76), quality indicators for Burundi primary education tend to be weak with high-grade repeating rates (36 percent) and dropout rates (47 percent). Not only are textbooks and other learning tools in short supply (one textbook for four pupils), but also a large proportion of teachers are non-qualified (15 percent) while those who are professionally trained are unevenly distributed across the country. In addition, teachers are today facing the huge task of teaching overcrowded classes, overage children, repatriated youth unfamiliar with the local media of instruction, and a curriculum with new, unfamiliar subjects such as English and Kiswahili languages. The material conditions that prevail in the country with an average of four pupils per desk (11 in some communes), a national average of 81 pupils per classroom, are not conducive to quality learning. Hence, as Horicubonye et al. (2009:9) have noted, unfavorable learning conditions lead to lower success rates. One example is the average success rate at the sixth grade of primary school in Bujumbura city, which has dropped from over 75 percent during the 1980s to 57.4 percent in 2009.

7.3.4. The Way Ahead Following the gradual cessation of hostilities and the democratic elections of 2005, peaceful conditions prevail all over the country. EFA in all its dimensions should be a precious tool for the consolidation of stability through justice and equality of opportunities for all.


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seven To achieve the target of universal schooling for all with a 100 percent admission rate by 2012 and a 100 percent completion rate by 2016, all the educational stakeholders, the state being the major player in the process, should deploy concerted efforts. The existing community mobilization efforts and school construction and equipment program should be even more intensified, particularly in favour of disadvantaged regions and urban communes so as to reduce the observed disparities. Specific actions should be targeted at the promotion of gender balance in terms of durable schooling and in favour of vulnerable social categories and communities such as the Batwa. Above all, the provision of quality education is paramount namely through the supply of adequate teaching materials and the training and re-training of a body of motivated teachers. Among the outstanding issues that need to be addressed by researchers to enlighten policy makers are the following. First is the issue of quality in the face of the massification of primary enrollments. Second, the impact of the adopted strategies for the reconstruction of the school system in a post-conflict context needs to be assessed. Third, there is a need to study the effect of the adoption of such new disciplines as Moral, Civic and Health Education, on the real behaviour of pupils. Finally, the learning outcomes of the introduction of English and Kiswahili as new languages in the primary curriculum and its implications for teacher education need to be thoroughly investigated. The next section examines the dynamics of education in the urban context of Bujumbura.

7.4. The Dynamics of Urbanization and Schooling in Burundi: The Case of Bujumbura The Less Developed Countries of the World, Africa in particular, are characterized not only by a rapid population growth but also by rapid urbanization. According to UNESCO (2010:175), close to 3.3 billion people, that is half of the world’s population, live in cities and “urban growth is highest in the developing world”. The same report indicates that it is the Less Developed Countries that are bearing the brunt of this rapid growth with most of it emanating from urban slums (UNESCO, 2010:175). This process is unfolding within a context where governments and their local partners have limited resources to cope adequately with soaring needs in terms of housing, sanitation, health care, unemployment, widespread poverty and educational opportunities. Burundi has been no exception to this general trend as the combined effects of rural unemployment, poverty, landlessness and particularly insecurity due to the protracted period of civil strife, have driven thousands of internally displaced people from rural villages to the periphery of major towns, particularly the capital city, Bujumbura. Hence, with no more than 2,000 people at the beginning of the last century, the city houses no less than 700,000 inhabitants today (ISTEEBU, 2009), the majority of whom live in high density, low income neighbourhoods, usually referred to as slums. According to ISTEEBU (2008), 519,867 out of the city’s 700,000 inhabitants, that is, 74 percent live in underprivileged communes. Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi is a cosmopolitan and medium sized city on the Northeast shores of Lake Tanganyika. It is a city of geo-political importance in the heart of the continent. The growth of Bujumbura as a major town in Central Africa is due its role,

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seven between 1922 and 1962, as the provincial capital of Ruanda-Urundi, which was counted as one of the provinces of the Belgian Congo. As such, Bujumbura has all along enjoyed the privileges afforded to the major towns of the vast and rich colony with regard to infrastructure, sizeable investments in industrial and service activities (Ndayirukiye, 1997:48). Since independence in 1962, Bujumbura has been steadily expanding with the creation of suburban residential neighbourhoods in the North and South of the city. It is made of 11 local administration entities known as “communes”, 7 of which are low income, high-density areas. With an average growth rate of 6.7 percent per annum, Bujumbura has a youthful population where, 60percent of inhabitants are below 25 years of age. (Ndayirukiye, 2002:33-34). This situation has vast implications with regard to schooling and the provision of employment. Indeed, the rapid demographic expansion is due, inter alia, to migration from the countryside to the city by young people between 15 and 24 years of age in search of schooling and employment opportunities (ISTEEBU, 2008:23). The level of education within the urban population is generally higher than that recorded in the rural countryside. Hence, 14.4 percent of the inhabitants of Bujumbura aged 10 and above have not attended school, 83 percent are literate in Kirundi, the national language, while 59.2% are literate in French (ISTEEBU, 2008:2). These figures reflect the steady rise in school enrollments over the last 30 years as well as the selective nature of immigrants from the rural countryside to the city. In terms of employment, while 54.9 percent of the employed population work in the service sector, 20.7 percent are in commercial activities, 12.5 percent are engaged in the industrial sector, and 11.90 percent are active in the primary sector of the economy (ISTEEBU, 2006:5). The above figures may not reveal the low rate of employment among the urban population, which stands at 58.6 percent, with disparities between men (65.5 percent) and women (51 percent) (ISTEEBU, 2008:3). Besides, the phenomenon of graduate unemployment is affecting an increasing number of young people. It has a negative effect on motivation and on the quality of learning among students. The following section focuses on the issue of access to primary education in the different communes of the city.

7.4.1. Access to Education Achieving UPE as a human right and as a catalyst for development is one of the objectives adopted by international community at the Dakar World Forum on Education for All, as well as a major target within the MDGs. In this perspective, the Government of Burundi has set out to meet that major challenge by the year 2015. But, as UNESCO has noted, adverse factors such as poverty and malnutrition may constitute an obstacle to the enjoyment of the right to education by children from disadvantaged families (UNESCO, 2009:27). As indicated earlier, the city of Bujumbura is made of 11 communes that differ in terms of the socio-economic opportunities of their inhabitants. By and large, these inequalities are reflected in the observed differences in access to education as well as in other major indicators, such as the rate of completion and parity between boys and girls. Hence, data from the Ministry of Education (2009a:25) indicate that the primary enrollment rate for such upper class communes as Rohero and Kinindo are 100 percent and 81 percent, while the rates for


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seven disadvantaged communes like Kamenge and Buterere drop to 27 percent and 50 percent, respectively (Ministry of Education, 2009a:25). These divergent rates of schooling may be explained by a number of factors. The inhabitants of the cited high income communes are company executives, senior civil servants, or professionals who, generally enjoy high levels of schooling for both, fathers and increasingly mothers, and hence provide a model for children to follow and emulate, besides direct encouragement and assistance by parents. From the socio-economic viewpoint, despite the official measure of waiving primary school fees adopted in 2005, parents still need to meet a number of obligations like buying school uniforms, textbooks and other basic equipment as well as other side expenses imposed by different schools such as the school night watchman’s salary or cleaning equipment. Such supplementary costs constitute a considerable burden for low-income parents, as artisans, petty traders and junior employees in the public and the private sectors. The same differences appear when one compares the gross rates of admission between various communes and taking into consideration the gender factor. Hence, the rates for the latter indicator are above 100 percent for boys and girls in wealthy Rohero commune and 79 percent (83 percent for boys and 74 percent for girls) in less privileged Nyakabiga commune (Ministry of Education, 2009a:25).

7.4.2. Efficiency The internal efficiency of a school system is measured through a number of indicators such as the rate of promotion, grade repetition, and success at school based or national tests and examinations. By and large, the socio-economic and cultural environment in which schools operate determines, to a large extent, their efficiency. Indeed, as a study conducted by Njiji (2010:11) in the Eastern Commune of Cendajuru in Burundi has revealed, it is within communities where parents are well educated and committed to the successful operation of their schools that pupils’ achievement is high. Concerning grade repetition, while the Ministry of Education (2009a: 42-56) indicates a national average of 36 percent at the primary level, the rate for the Bujumbura urban area stands at 23 percent. This difference may be due to the fact that the capital is more privileged in terms of relatively easy access to school textbooks. On the other hand, the city is also favored with regard to teachers’ qualifications, although they are not equally distributed across the various urban communes. Some communes are, according to the Municipal Inspectorate of Schools (2010:5) better provided for than others. In this perspective, a close analysis of grade repetition rates within the 11 urban communes reveals inequalities that reflect the general socio-economic and cultural backgrounds of pupils. Hence, for high income communes such as Rohero, Ngagara and Gihosha, the rate stands at 20 percent, 19 percent and 15 percent, respectively whereas underprivileged areas like Buterere, Kanyosha and Kamenge record 29 percent, 30 percent and 28 percent respectively (Ministry of Education, 2009a:43). Gender parity is maintained in all communes with girls faring slightly better than boys, in some areas. As for the Primary Leaving Examination, the performance for Bujumbura candidates, with a success rate of 48 percent, is

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seven definitely higher than the national average of 28 percent, the lowest among rural provinces being Cibitoke with a 19 percent success rate (Ministry of Education, 2009a:32-48). Intra-city differences, however, show some unusual variations. Indeed while socio-economically privileged districts like Rohero (55 percent), Gihosha (70 percent) and Kinindo (78 percent) show an expected high success level, low-income areas like Kinama (82 percent) and Bwiza (53 percent) fared well in 2009. This high rate of success in such environments may be explained by the initiatives taken by the area school inspectors and headmasters to give a thorough preparation to their candidates for this crucial examination. Buterere on the other hand, a destitute area on the periphery of the city has only managed a success rate of 7 percent (Ministry of Education, 2009a:43). According to the Ministry of Education Report (2009), access indicators show that those for the low-income urban communes in Bujumbura compare with average rural provinces. In terms of access, high achieving rural provinces such as Bururi compare positively with average urban communes such as Nyakabiga (Ministry of Education, 2009a:25).

7.4.3. Quality of Education Input indicators show the level at which learning enhancing resources such as trained teachers, pupils’ textbooks, classroom size and basic equipment are accessible to the learners. With regard to pupil/teacher ratio, the figure for the Bujumbura municipal area is 39 as compared to the national average which is 56, the highest being 60, and the lowest 26 at municipal level. The table below indicates the situation in the various communes of Bujumbura as well as the percentage of qualified teachers.

Table 25: Distribution of PTR and Proportion of Qualified Teachers in Bujumbura City Commune

Pupil/Teacher Ratio

Buterere

48 88

% of Qualified Teachers

Buyenzi

43 87

Bwiza

29 94

Cibitoke

48 91

Gihosha

38 94

Kamenge

56 85

Kanyosha

49 95

Kinama

60 94

Kinindo

26 89

Musaga

30 95

Ngagara

33 95

Nyakabiga

32 94

Rohero

30 98

Total

39 93

Source: Ministry of Education, (2009a)


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seven Intra-urban variations reveal that the privileged communes such as Rohero (30), Ngagara (33), Kinindo (26) have low PTR while underprivileged communes like Kinama (60), Kamenge (56) and Kanyosha (49) have high ratios, with the exception of Bwiza with a ratio of 29 (Ministry of Education, 2009a:61). As J. Delors et al. (1996: 164) point out, the qualification of teachers is a crucial indicator of educational quality as it determines the professionalism and ability of teachers to adopt and implement the most efficient teaching strategies. The creation of numerous teachers’ colleges from the 1980s as well as in-service programs initiated by the government with assistance from donors, particularly UNICEF, has considerably reduced the percentage of unqualified teachers. Despite a national average of above 80 percent and none of the provinces falling below that mark, there are intra-provincial variations in the deployment of qualified teachers. For the Bujumbura municipal area, advantaged communes such as Rohero (98 percent) and Ngagara (95 percent) record a higher percentage of qualified teachers than the underprivileged areas like Kamenge (85 percent). However, with an urban average of 93 percent, Bujumbura remains the most favored province nationwide. The rapid growth of enrollments at the primary level over the last 25 years has put a strain on the available resources including the sitting space in the classroom. Indeed, on the whole, one observes that at the national level, four pupils share one classroom desk. The average for Bujumbura city is four pupils per desk, Rohero commune recording two pupils and Kinama showing 11 pupils per desk. This situation constitutes a formidable handicap to quality learning as it affects concentration and activity among the young learners (Ministry of Education, 2009a:61). In the same perspective, there is the issue concerning the number of pupils per classroom. The national average of pupils in one classroom is 83, which is excessive for one teacher to manage pedagogically. With an average of 72 pupils per classroom, Bujumbura would seem to be relatively privileged but intercommunal variations exist as between Rohero (49), on the one hand, and Kamenge and Kinama, on the other hand, with both 104 pupils per classroom, on average. As the above situation shows, the sharp rise in enrollment without a concomitant increase in material resources is not conducive to the achievement of quality education for all. The pupil/textbook ratio is yet another major quality indicator in any education system. The acute shortage of basic textbooks is one of the major challenges facing the Burundi school system. Bujumbura city being no exception, one observes, a very low pupil/textbook ratio particularly in the main subjects namely Kirundi, the national language (1/4), French (1/4), that is one book for four pupils, and Mathematics (1/2). Inter-communal differences for French range from 1/2 in Kinama to 1/5 in Rohero and from 1/2 in Buyenzi to 1/6 in Ngagara (Ministry of Education, 2009a). By and large, the learning outcomes are directly related to the quality and availability of the printed materials. As the World Bank (2007:90) has emphasized, the quality of education is not evaluated merely according to the resources invested in schools and the prevailing learning conditions, but also through the learning outcomes as measured by national tests and examinations. From this angle, it appears that primary education is experiencing some problems in terms of pupils’ achievement. Indeed, the national average success rate at the end of the primary

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seven level is 53 percent (World Bank, 2007:91) which is low by any standards. The same trend is observed within the Bujumbura urban area where 5 out of the 11 communes of the city fall below the 50 percent success rate, these being mostly low income communes such as Buterere (41 percent), Kinama (45.3 percent), Kanyosha (37.2 percent) and Buyenzi (44.5%). On the other hand, candidates from prosperous residential communes like, Ngagara (70.6 percent), Rohero (75 percent) and Kinindo (83 percent) register outstanding levels of achievement. Bwiza commune as a poor neighbourhood has recorded a high achievement rate (65 percent) because pupils from this commune attend two old, well established and equipped primary schools, in the city center. (Bujumbura Municipal Inspectorate Report, 2010). The same report indicates high-grade repetition and dropout rates, along the same socio-economic categories, the dropout rates being higher for girls than for boys, during the final years of the primary level. One undocumented factor of quality education is the size and the geographical location of schools. A survey of Bujumbura city schools shows that with the exception of a few old public schools and new wealthy private schools, the majority function within restricted spaces and noisy environments, which are not conducive to the optimal physical and intellectual development of pupils. Indeed, sport, physical education and recreational activities can hardly be envisaged in a context where hundreds of children are crowded in a converted residential compound, as it is the case for many private schools in Bujumbura. Indeed, according to UNESCO (2010:7), “a poor school environment, badly ventilated classrooms, inadequate sanitation and lack of materials represent a significant barrier to effective learning”. The schools for the handicapped are still very few, with limited capacity and resources, concentrated in urban centers mostly Gitega and Bujumbura. While a large proportion of schools cater for the physically impaired, there are three establishments for the blind, two for the deaf and two for mentally handicapped children. (Handicap International, Burundi, 2010:2). The same report by Handicap International (2010) indicates that the majority of schools provide basic literacy and numeracy with vocational skills wherever possible. The rate of access to mainstream schooling remains limited to some exceptional cases. While the report admits the lack of data on the population of handicapped youth in the country, by category, their rate of access to any form of education remains very low. On the positive side, the report indicates that the gender gap is not as wide as may be expected. The proportion between the sexes is reasonably close for various institutions, but still in favour of boys. On the whole, it appears that the socio-economic and cultural forces that shape the urban environment have a direct impact on education and on the quality of its provision. An analysis of data from the various communes in the Bujumbura Municipal area shows distinct differences in terms of access, efficiency and quality of learning. These differences reflect diversity within the city population in terms of parental income, level of education, housing and living conditions generally. However, the observed inter-communal differences should not hide obvious disparities in terms of education access and completion rates within the urban neighbourhoods, not only those that are gender based, but also between specific affluent and destitute areas.


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seven Indeed, as Mlozi quoted by Stromquist (1994:1) has pointed out, “…the rapid expansion of urban areas is bringing rural features to the city, thereby creating vague boundaries between city and rural practices in the African context…” The enlargement of the territorial boundaries of Bujumbura has brought into the city’s fold rural communities which contrast sharply in income, education and attitudes with their neighbours in the communes in which they have been integrated. This is the case with Rohero, a high-class commune that has been extended by the absorption of rural underprivileged neighbourhoods. On the other side, the Batwa community within Buterere commune as well as the Sabe village within Ngagara commune where school attendance is close to zero due to extreme poverty do not show any sign of integration into the urban trend as far as education is concerned. Among the common trends that negatively affect the quality and outcome of education are the ubiquitous shortage of basic textbooks to varying degrees, and the limitation of space for school expansion and for the practice of physical and recreational activities. Finally, the government shows little sign of commitment to the fulfilment of the educational needs of vulnerable children in the urban environment such as the handicapped and the street children whose number has been steadily growing over the last twenty years. With no budgetary allocation to the education of these categories of children, their care and education has been left mostly to private organizations. The government’s response to the observed shortcomings in education has consisted of waiving primary education tuition fees, as for the rest of the country. This has somehow motivated parents to send their children to school, particularly girls who have always been sacrificed at the altar of “poverty and lack of resources”. In addition, the state has over the last ten years, along the national education sector policy, initiated a school building program with the participation of local communities. On the other hand, to alleviate the observed acute shortage of printed materials in primary schools, the government with the backing of UNESCO and the French Government, has launched a book printing and distribution program. Although this initiative has not matched the rising needs within an expanding school system, definite gains have been registered. Besides, it should be pointed out that the recent creation of autonomous communes in the city’s governance, within the general framework of decentralization, may go a long way in minimizing bureaucratic “red tapes” in the resolution of educational problems in local schools. In this perspective, a decision has been adopted by municipal authorities to keep aside substantial space for schools when planning the establishment of new residential estates (Provincial Directorate of Education, 2010:5). Finally, there are signs of the government’s commitment to the provision of basic education in the city with the establishment of 43 new nursery schools attached to public primary schools, in addition to 38 privately operated preschool institutions (Municipal Inspectorate, 2010:11). To summarize, education in Bujumbura has registered steady progress over the last twenty years, particularly with the creation of various institutions at all levels. The government’s decision to abolish school fees as well as the launching of the school building initiative particularly in underprivileged urban communes will go a long way in helping to achieve the education for all objectives in the coming years. But, as it was observed above, disparities

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seven persist between the high-income urban communes and the high density low income areas with regard to rates of access and in terms of efficiency and learning outcomes. Indeed, while Bujumbura is well provided for in terms of elementary teachers as compared to the rural provinces, the teachers are not evenly distributed among the different communes. On the other hand, the teacher/pupil ratio remains fair in the privileged urban districts while it is excessive in the poor neighbourhoods where classrooms are overcrowded and ill-equipped in terms of textbooks and other teaching materials. Ensuring quality education for all the city’s young learners remains therefore high on the agenda for the municipal authorities.

7.5. Research Agenda for Access and Quality Enhancement The issue of urbanization and education has attracted the interest of many scholars and agencies engaged in international development. But, while important studies have been conducted on urban conditions in the developed world, relatively few studies on education in Third World cities have appeared. APHRC is among the few that have paid attention to the education access and quality issues in urban areas, while James Tooley has focused his research on the issues of poverty and education in the cities of the developing nations. Indeed, it is in the latter group of countries that most educational problems are emerging in their complexity. As Nelly Stromquist (1994:1) explains: “…a key characteristic of the urbanization process in developing countries is that it is taking place in the absence of concomitant transformation in the job market and the urban infrastructure…” She goes on to underline that: “…urbanization in Latin America, a phenomenon repeated in African and Asian countries is not an expression of a process of modernization, but the manifestation, at the level of socio-spatial conditions, of the accentuation of the social contradictions inherent in its mode of development…” Like elsewhere in Africa, urbanization in Burundi is on the move and with it is emerging a complex range of problems of a socio-economic, cultural, environmental and educational nature. It is therefore of utmost importance to undertake studies on the major issues affecting educational provision in the changing urban context of Bujumbura and other principal towns in the country. The issue of access in a context marked by wide socio-economic inequality, cultural and religious diversity, gender disparities and environmental conditions deserves careful analysis. The factors that hamper access or completion of the primary level of schooling are worth assessing, taking into consideration the socio-economic and geographical background, the religious and cultural constraints as they prevail with regard to the schooling of girls in peri-urban areas and in the muslim neighbourhoods of Gitega, Rumonge and Bujumbura towns.


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seven The policy adopted in 2005 (April 20 Act) on decentralization within the capital city’s governance is worth assessing in terms of its impact on the improvement of the efficiency of educational services. Of interest is also an in-depth study on the factors behind the currently observed decline in achievement standards especially among Bujumbura Municipality pupils. In this perspective, the problematic issue of quality of teaching and learning in the rising number of congested and under-resourced public and private primary, and secondary schools in urban centers, particularly in low-income quarters should be thoroughly investigated. On the other hand, the alleged negative impact on learning and achievement by children from Kiswahili speaking urban communes having to study through Kirundi, the national language, is an interesting field of exploration. Finally, the educational needs of Handicapped and Street Children should be systematically evaluated and documented.

7.6. Conclusion The contemporary world, as Stromquist says (1994:1) is becoming increasingly urbanized. This unstoppable trend entails problems in terms of lags, inadequacies and unfulfilled expectations. In view of the current educational inadequacies that prevail in the urban environment in Burundi, particularly Bujumbura, the Government needs to articulate and implement a policy aimed at ensuring quality EFA as a human right. In this respect, the newly decentralized urban communes should be provided with sufficient resources to build, expand and equip their own schools. In any case, it is through the availability of a qualified and equitably allocated body of teachers that the quality of learning can be enhanced, particularly in the low-income urban communes. At the Municipal level, the planning unit in cooperation with the communal education services should anticipate future education needs by adopting a medium to long-term plan for the development of educational in the city. It is within this framework that in the creation of new urban settlements, ample space should be set aside for educational institutions. Preschool education, despite any progress that has been achieved in recent years, remains in its “infancy”, with an attendance of only 3,187 children in the Bujumbura Municipal area. The government should therefore design a clear policy for the expansion of this crucial stage of personality development, by building and equipping self-contained nursery schools, with properly trained teachers. Municipal authorities should, through the media and church channels, set out to sensitize city parents to send all their children to school with particular emphasis on girls. Indeed, data indicate that in some peripheral urban communes, dropout rates for girls are still high, despite the suppression of school fees (Provincial Directorate of Education, 2010:12). Finally, the lack of a clear policy for the education and training of handicapped and street children has left the responsibility of their care to NGOs. However, it is only through a clear government policy that this underprivileged category of children can enjoy their right to education as UNESCO (2010:183) has underlined it.

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seven References Bujumbura Municipal Inspectorate of Education (2010). April 2010 report. Delors, J. et al. (1996). Education, the treasure within. Paris: UNESCO-Odile Jacob. Government of Burundi (2009). The Financial Act for 2010. Bujumbura. Handicap International Burundi (2010). Report, April 2010. Bujumbura. Holmes, B. (1965). Problems in education : A Comparative approach. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Horicubonye, J. et al. (2009). The education system of Burundi. Bujumbura: Ministry of Education. Inter-Institution Commission (1990). World conference on Education for All. Jomtien, Thailand. New York: UNICEF. International Bureau of Education (IBE), (2004). Curricular innovation in Education For All in sub-Saharan Africa and the fight against poverty. Geneva: IBE. ISTEEBU (2006-2009). Annual reports. Bujumbura. Mbeki, T. (1999, December ). Opening Speech: Conference on education for African renaissance in the 21st Century. Johannesburg, . Mivuba, A. (2008). Evaluation of the Burundi education system. Bujumbura: Ministry of Education. Outcomes in primary schools in Burundi. Bujumbura: Action Aid. Ministry of Education, 1980-1991 reports. Bujumbura: Ministry of Education. Ministry of Education, Planning Department. Statistical yearbooks, 1980 -2009. Ministry of Education (BER) (1999). The primary school curriculum. Bujumbura: Ministry of Education. Ministry of Education (2005). 2005 report. Bujumbura: Ministry of Education. Ministry of Education (2009). 2009 report. Bujumbura: Ministry of Education. Ministry of Education. Planning Department (2009a). Primary education indicators per commune. Bujumbura : Ministry of Education. Ministry of Education, (Planning Department). (2009b). Indicators for education in Burundi. Bujumbura: Ministry of Education.


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seven Ministry of Education, (2010). 2010 report. Bujumbura. Ministry of Education (Provincial Directorate of Education) (2010). June 2010 report. Bujumbura: Ministry of Education. Ministry of Education, Municipal Inspectorate (2010). April 2010 report. Bujumbura: Ministry of Education. Ministry of Education (2006). Policy paper on education. Bujumbura: Ministry of Education. Ministry of Higher Education (2008). 2008 report. Bujumbura. Ndayirukiye, S. (1997). Bujumbura Centenary, 1897 – 1997. Paris: Harmattan. Ndayisaba, J. (2008). Evaluation des mécanismes de coordination de l’EPT: Cas du Burundi. Bujumbura: UNESCO. Nditije, C. (2002). A study on the situation of Batwa children. Bujumbura: UNICEF. NEPAD (2001). New Partnership for African Development. Abuja, Nigeria. Njiji, D. (2010). Facteurs d’abandon à l’enseignement primaire. (Dropout factors in primary education). Bujumbura: University of Burundi. Ntamatungiro, E. and Mukene, PP. (2007). The state of secondary education in Burundi. Bujumbura: Ministry of Education. Republic of Burundi (2006). Strategic framework for economic growth and the fight against poverty. Bujumbura: Ministry of Planning. Republic of Burundi, Ministry of Interior (2005). The April 20, 2005 Act on the organization of communal administration. Bujumbura. Rwantabagu, H. (2009a). Problems and prospects in the education of a marginal minority: The case of Batwa community in Burundi. Diaspora, Indigenous and Minority Education, 3(2), 110-117. Rwantabagu, H. (2009b). Providing primary education in a post-conflict context: The case of Burundi. Bujumbura: University of Burundi. Stromquist, N.P. (Ed.) (1994). Education in urban areas: Cross-national dimensions. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. UNDP (2005). World report on human development. Paris: UNDP-Economica. UNESCO (2000a). World forum on education. Final report. Dakar: UNESCO.

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seven UNESCO (2000b). The Dakar Framework of Action. Meeting our collective commitments. Dakar: UNESCO. UNESCO (2008). World follow-up report on EFA, 2008: Paris: UNESCO. UNESCO (2009). World follow-up report on EFA, 2009: Paris: UNESCO. UNESCO (2010). EFA Global Monitoring Report. Paris: UNESCO. UNFPA (2010). State of world population. New York: UNFPA. United Nations (1988). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. New York: United Nations. University of Burundi (2005). 2005 Report. Bujumbura: Academic Services. World Bank (2007). The education system of Burundi. Washington D.C: The World Bank.


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seven

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Chapter

eight

Education in Urban Areas in Rwanda Evode Mukama


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eight 8.1. Introduction

T The Rwanda Vision 2020 strongly recommends that the education sector should focus on promoting science and technology, teacher education and human resources for economic and social development of the country (GoR, 2001).

his study explores the situation of urban education in Rwanda in terms of quality, access and challenges. Both MININFRA (2008) and UNDP (2010) assert that urban centers should be well planned and have at their disposal tools for control and management of their dynamic growth as the basis of the country economic development. Thus it is argued that, if well managed and regulated, urban centers can allow people have access to the basic infrastructure and to the public services such as education. In this line of reasoning, if well organized and planned, education in urban areas can constitute a framework for a better quality of learning and teaching; prospects for the development of the country. However, as it will be shown in the literature, Rwanda does not yet have a policy of education in urban areas. The education sector has been dealt with under the same quality framework and follows the same ministerial guidelines be they in urban or rural schools. Nevertheless, this study recognizes that basic infrastructure and developmental activities that characterize urban schools may have significant impact on education delivery. Accordingly, this study tries to answer the following questions:

What are the major issues arising from education in urban schools?

What challenges does urban education have on access?

How do urban schools cope with challenges that they come across?

To what extent do pupils have access to quality education in Rwandan urban areas

In order to answer these questions, this study used secondary data analysis through a literature review. First, Government documents including policies, reports and strategic plans have been analyzed. Secondly, some research papers with relevance to the topic under study were critically examined. It is important to note that empirical evidence about urban education provision in Rwanda is weak (MININFRA, 2008). The fact that the Government of Rwanda did not develop particular policies and regulations exclusively for urban schools led us to focus on the secondary data analysis which would seem to be limitative in terms of providing critical evidence in the field of interest. This study could be supplemented by first data analysis such as surveys, interviews and observation. However, due to the limitation of resources, the literature review is primarily the major source of data utilized.

8.2. Overview of the Rwanda Education Policies The Rwandan education system experienced transformation depending on the political context of the moment. Hayman (2005) explains that before the gen-

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eight ocide of 1994, the system was discriminatory while the quality of education was poor, vocational training and technical education seriously weak. As reflected in the study on the Education Sector in Rwanda (MINEDUC, 1998), after 1994, education became a tool for unity and reconciliation. Since 1998, emphasis of the Rwanda’s development policy was put on poverty reduction, which attracted significant donor support with respect to a range of activities in the education sector. Thus, the nine-year fee-free basic education became a priority of the country. As a strategic framework related to urban and rural schools, the nine-year basic education aims to “address access, quality, facilities, teacher training, evaluation, and gender issues, as well as the transition from primary to lower secondary school” (Hayman, 2005, pp. 16). Hayman asserts that tensions exist between the need to increase access, and human, material and financial resources required for quality education. This study tried to critically analyze these tensions with a focus on urban primary education provision. The Rwanda Vision 2020 strongly recommends that the education sector should focus on promoting science and technology, teacher education and human resources for economic and social development of the country (GoR, 2001). The target was to increase the primary school enrollment to 100 percent by 2005 and raise secondary school admissions to 40 percent by 2005 (MINEDUC, 2005). The GoR believes that the implementation of science and technology in schools will be achieved through various activities such as the deployment of computers in primary and secondary schools; the development of science teaching and encouraging girl students to follow science streams and the promotion of science research. This statement shows how the GoR foresees that training of human capital is vital to the economic growth of the country. In 2009, the Rwanda education system was structured as follows:

1–3 years pre-primary (nursery schools)

6 years primary education

3 years lower secondary (as part of the nine year basic education) + 3 years upper secondary. Upper secondary contains four major streams: General Education; Teacher Training Centers (TTCs); Technical Education (e.g. mechanics, carpentry, electronics); and Professional Education (e.g. agro-veterinary, hotel and catering, secretariat)

2–6 years tertiary education

Vocational training, delivered by Youth Training Centers (YTC) covering a program of 6–12 months

The Education Sector Strategic Plan derives its mandate and guiding principles from the Vision 2020, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (GoR, 2002) and the Education Sector Policy (1998). The following are the guiding principles derived from there: a)

Education will be considered holistically as a sector and so a whole sector, or Sector Wide Approach (SWAp), will be developed to be used to assist the planning and management of the system;

b)

A Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) will be used as a tool to ensure that educational proposals are set within the national fiscal planning and management process in the short and medium term, with close monitoring and regular evaluation.


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eight c)

The government affirms the importance of partnerships between government, parents, communities, donors, the private sector, NGOs, CBOs and civil society. There will be regular participative consultations, negotiations and meetings coordinated by the Government. A horizontal co-ordination between different actors will be established, and, through decentralization processes, there will be effective vertical links between central government, local government and grass roots groups;

d)

There is a need to balance access, quality and relevance with a special emphasis on a curriculum that is outcome-oriented and offers the skills and values necessary for development;

e)

There shall be gender consideration especially in learning achievement for girls and access to education for women, especially in rural areas;

f)

ICT in education shall be considered as the heart of the education system.

According to the Rwanda Development Indicators’ Report (MINECOFIN, 2004), the country has tried to increase access to primary education for children of schooling-going age by providing free and compulsory primary EFA children. Thus, the number of primary schools increased from 2,203 in 2003 to 2,323 in 2006, an increase of 120 schools over a four-year period. In 2007, the number of classrooms was estimated at 30,433 compared to 28,822 in 2003. The number of primary school teachers increased from 27,319 to 37,500 over the same period; representing 11.4 percent increase over the four years. In 2003-2004, the qualification of personnel teachers still increased to 88.2 percent, that is 3 percent compared to 2002-2003. Women teachers were proportionally more qualified than them: 89.3 percent against 87.1 percent. This increase of qualified teachers could be explained partly by a considerable recruitment of qualified young graduate people from Teacher Training Centers (TTCs). This MINECOFIN (2004) report indicates that the qualification of primary school teachers were approximately 100 percent in the Northern province for women and men as well (99.5 percent and 99.6 percent respectively) in 2003-2004. However, the number of qualified teachers was still low in some parts of Eastern province (e.g. Umutara with 59.2 percent) and other parts of the Southern province (e.g. Butare, 62.8). The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR, 2007) reveals that primary school enrollment increased from 1,636,563 pupils in 2003 to 2,019,991 pupils in 2006. This is shows that primary school enrollment has improved more than 7 percent annually. The NER in primary education moved from 87 percent in 2003 to 95 percent in 2006, an increase of 8 percent over four-year period. Moreover, during school year 2002-2003, NISR indicates that the promotion rate was about 64.2 percent with a reduction of 2 percent compared to previous year. However, some NISR data shows that in 2002-2003 the repeat rate and dropout rates were still very high: 20.6 percent children repeated the year with an increase of 3.4 percent compared to the year 2001-2002 and a light reduction of dropout rate of 1.4 percent, meaning 15.2 percent in 2002-2003 compared to 16.6 percent in 20012002. In other words, dropout and repeat rates are a concern that needs to be addressed in order to ensure the quality of primary education system in that a high dropout rate can increase adult illiteracy rates.

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eight The general trends of Rwanda Development Indicators in the education sector show that the education system continues to improve and that the country is on track towards its MDGs. For example, the completion rate targeted by the Government of Rwanda was 42 percent for 2006. The completion rate is defined as the ratio between the population of newly registered pupils in the sixth year of primary school and the population of 12-year olds. This rate increased from 24.2 percent in 2001 to 51.7 percent in 2006, which is higher than the target set by the Government of Rwanda.

8.3. Urbanization in Rwanda One of the aims of the Rwanda Vision 2020 is to ensure that about 30 percent of the population lives in planned urban centers or cities with access to basic infrastructure (MINECOFIN, 2001). For this to happen, planned, well-directed, controlled and regulated urbanization is to be considered as a pre-condition for the country economic development. Thus, a National Urban Housing Policy was developed in 2008. It is stated amongst the guiding principles of this policy that spatial planning of urban areas defining clearly the location of residential, industrial, commercial and other private and public use of urban areas such as schools contributes to safeguarding environment and cultural heritage of the country (MININFRA, 2008). According to the Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA, 2008), the urban population increased at an average rate of 5.5 percent per annum in 1978 through 1991. UNDP (2010) states that Rwanda urbanization rose to 16.7 percent of the population between 1991 and 2001. According to the UNDP, this sharp increase can be partly explained by natural population growth, rural exodus and return of refugees from foreign countries in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. In 2007, the urban population rose by 9 percent. This annual growth of the urban population in Rwanda is higher than the average in Africa estimated at 4 percent. However, it is low compared to the world urbanization rate standing at 50%. In North America, urban population rises by 84 percent, in Latin America by 75 percent while in the Caribbean urban population increased at an average annual rate of 37 percent. In 2007, the urban demographic mass was concentrated in Kigali city with approximately 800,000 inhabitants, representing 44 percent of the urban population of Rwanda. MININFRA (2008) claims that this situation implies imbalance between the capital and other urban centers in terms of employment and services offered to the people. Most of economic activities and services sector are basically located in Kigali (e.g. in 2007, Kigali city accumulated more than 70 percent of industrial activity; about 50 percent of the wholesale businesses and 70 percent of the banking services). MININFRA explains that the situation linked to limited resources available for low income population in the city generated the practice of informal housing or rapid development of slums in unplanned areas. All these problems of unplanned urban development may have serious impact on schooling not only in relation to infrastructure facilities but also to the quality of education delivery. It is within this context that the present study is trying to analyze the situation of urban education in Rwanda.


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eight 8.4. Core Issues and Critical Analysis of Education Provision in Urban Primary Schools 8.4.1. Access to Schools and Students’ Satisfaction vis-à-vis Their Schooling Access to school facilities depends to a large extent on the distribution of the primary schools and on the location of the students’ households. According to the World Bank (2004) Report, it is important to balance accessibility and the cost spent on education provision. This is to say that students whose homes are closer to schools have easy access to school. The World Bank indicates that half of primary school beneficiaries can walk for more than 30 minutes to get to their nearest school. However, this same report claims that accessibility in urban areas is better where for example between 58 percent and 74 percent of households are located within a distance of 30 minutes to reach the nearest primary school. Accordingly, this accessibility is observed in Kigali city and other urban centers such as Butare (Southern province) and Ruhengeri (Northern province). The report underlines that the situation is rather bad in Gitarama (Southern province), Kibungo (Eastern province) and in Cyangungu (Western province) where only 45 percent of households are within 30 minutes to the nearest primary school. The World Bank (2004) suggests that the accessibility of primary schools is an issue that needs considerable attention for improvement. The World Bank (2004) Report highlights that half of primary school children surveyed affirm that they experience no problem at school. However, most of those who report that they face problems argue that the toughest hassle they come across is the lack of books and school supplies. According to the report, children from rural areas are much more satisfied compared to those from urban areas: 51 percent against 32 percent respectively. For example, in Kigali city alone, 63 percent of children report that they are not satisfied by the quality of the service they receive at school. On this issue, the World Bank Report concludes, “It might be expected that urban children and those in Kigali Ville would be more demanding in their expectations and less satisfied with the service they receive” (Work Bank, 2004, pp. 95).

8.4.2. Private Primary Schools in Urban Areas Primary education is mainly delivered by public schools and state-assisted institutions. The private schools, which cover 1 percent of delivery at the primary level, are mostly concentrated in the capital city Kigali and in other urban areas (World Bank, 2004, pp. 32). According to Hayman (2005), the private sector includes profit and not-for-profit organizations but these organizations are not clearly differentiated. In a study conducted in Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide about the educational reconstruction, Obura (2003) states that 70 percent of primary schools in Rwanda are owned by faith-based organizations and these schools are registered as state-assisted. The 2004 World Bank Report reveals that the private primary schools are better equipped compared to the public and state-supported schools with respect to both human and material resources. Moreover, the report claims

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eight that there is no major difference between public and state-assisted schools (World Bank, 2004). It is worth mentioning here that the Government of Rwanda (GoR) is determined to encourage the diversification of education provision by non-state sector be it at the primary, vocational, secondary and higher education level (Hayman, 2005). Private provision of education plays a prominent role at the nursery and secondary level in Rwanda (Hayman, 2005). According to MINEDUC (2003), most nursery schools are owned by the private organizations within urban areas. However, less than 1 percent of eligible children have access to the 257 nurseries of which only two are public. Though private provision of education has a reputation of good performance in national examinations at the primary level, there is a concern of poor performance in private secondary schools in comparison to public and state-supported schools (World Bank, 2004). Despite this situation, Hayman (2005) asserts that the proportion of girls registered in private secondary schools is higher than in public or state-supported institutions.

8.4.3. Computer Pilot Project in Urban Schools Rwanda Vision 2020 considers the implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as one of the top priorities of the country (MINECOFIN, 2001). A related integrated ICT-led socio-economic development policy and plan envisaged that at least 5 computers and 10 computers were to be deployed in each primary and secondary school respectively. However, our previous study reveals that this target was very ambitious given that most schools even those located in urban areas do not have electricity let alone telephone lines (Mukama & Andersson, 2008). As referred to above, urban primary schools seem to be better equipped in terms of human and material resources and infrastructure compared to other public schools especially from rural areas. This became much more visible when the GoR had to implement the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) pilot projects in primary schools. Most of schools selected were located in urban areas not necessary because they were there, but because they presented minimum requirements in terms of infrastructure (e.g. electricity) to implement the projects. Thus, in 2007 and 2008 the OLPC Corporation donated 10,000 computers to Rwanda and most of them were deployed in urban schools including Rwamagana located in Eastern province, Kagugu and Nonko situated in Kigali city (MINEDUC, 2009). Additionally, the GoR for their deployment all over the country ordered 100,000 OLPC. By the time of writing this report, the delivery of these laptops was in progress. The provision of computers in schools is meaningful in relation to improvement of access to education. In the MINEDUC report on the proceedings of OLPC planning retreat held in Rwanda in November 2009, it was argued that access to the laptops allows students to become active learners in that they have access to a range of information, expertise, and the fact that they can learn at their own pace and from anywhere. Furthermore, it was claimed that students can pursue and cultivate their interests, collaborate and communicate with the world and thereby develop a critical thinking that can foster and generate joint understanding and new knowledge. Thus it was shown that students who use the new technology can become creators and innovators and problem solvers with technology at hand (MINEDUC, 2009).


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eight These ideas stipulated in the MINEDUC (2009) proceedings on OLPC planning report are not accompanied by research evidence of what really happened when these new pedagogical tools were deployed in schools. They were formulated in terms of wishes and advertisement of the products. This is not to argue that OLPC cannot make a difference in the ways students and teachers handle school practice. Our previous findings indeed reveal that girls can use computers as boys do and that this means that the new technology can challenge traditional hierarchies between girls and boys discrimination (Mukama & Andersson, 2008). However, this same study states that teachers do not seem to be adequately prepared and skilled to use computers for teaching because the schools never developed ICT-related curricula and appropriate pedagogies. The study concludes that the schools do not even know what is imbedded in ICT with respect to the content of teaching with this new technology and how. The question to use the computer as a tool for transforming school practice in order to improve education quality and access is not only linked to infrastructure available in urban institutions, but also to the culture conveyed. Mukama and Andersson report that some innovative and creative teachers who succeed to make change in their lives with ICT are not often encouraged in integrating their skills in changing the traditional classroom practice. Furthermore, Mukama and Andersson assume that school directors who centralize to some extent the use of computer labs tend to frustrate teachers and inhibit their initiative to bring about change in schools. However, it was demonstrated that school directors who decentralize the management of computer labs in the hands of the staff, tend to build a feeling of ownership of the tools and self-confidence in terms of creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving. In a different study conducted in a Rwandan ICT-learning environment, we realized that access to computers and other technological tools with appropriate instruction does not necessarily prompt learners to use them for their personal and societal fulfilment (Mukama, 2009). It was reported that the utilization of technology in schools can refer to three main categories of users: 1) Passive ICT-users, i.e. students who acquire technology with great interests but who do not consider it as their priority. This group of students seem to be submerged by other priorities such as the traditional library, assignments, exams and other duties.

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2)

Reluctant ICT-users, i.e. these students seem to be engaged during the training and show competence to use acquired ICT skills in their everyday lives but they do it rarely. When they experience challenges, they drop out with a risk of forgetting what was learned. As with the passive ICT-users, technology does not seem to be a priority for reluctant ICT-users.

3)

Active ICT-users, i.e. this is a group of students who forge new ways for integrating ICT in their everyday learning practice. They demonstrate capability to support and teach their colleagues in acquiring new ICT skills related to school practice. Despite institutional challenges such a cut of electricity, scarcity of computers in schools, and lack of appropriate curricula and pedagogy, this group of students tries to venture into uncertainty and takes risk in order to achieve success.


eight 8.4.4. Access to Quality Education The tables and charts referred to in this section reflect statistics collected in the Ministry of Education. These statistics are presented by province and Kigali city and by respective districts. In this study it was not easy to define a district as purely urban in that the administrative delimitation of districts encompasses urban areas while its major circumscription is located in rural areas. For example, Kigali city comprises three districts: Nyarugenge, Kicukiro and Gasabo. Each of these districts covers a large part of a rural circumscription. As the statistics combine the charts of what could be considered as pure urban and pure rural schools, we deliberately take Kigali city and its respective districts as urban. Other districts where the main towns of the country are located could not be considered as urban due to the fact that the majority of their administrative delimitation is in rural areas. Nevertheless, we take into consideration that these towns labelled as “urban centers” are located in the following districts:

Table 26: Kigali City and Location of the Major Towns in Rwanda

Districts With Major Towns Kigali City

Nyarugenge

Kicukiro Gasabo Southern Province

Huye

Nyamagabe Muhanga Northern Province

Gicumbi

Musanze Eastern Province

Nyagatare

Ngoma Western Province

Rusizi

Karongi Rubavu

It is important to note that at the primary level in the Rwanda education system, one teacher is usually responsible for one specific classroom and has to teach most or all subjects in that classroom. This means that the number of teachers in a given school generally corresponds to the number of classrooms. Hence the shortage of teachers goes hand in hand with the shortage of classrooms. In other words, in this chapter the Pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) is more or less equivalent to the average class size. However, we acknowledge that in some schools, one additional teacher can be hired to teach specific subjects such as English as a cross- cutting issue in all classrooms. We also argue that due to the nature of secondary data, we were not able to identify additional teachers with such responsibilities. In the following paragraphs, data from each region will be presented and analyzed.


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eight 8.5. Kigali City As mentioned above Kigali city is considered as urban in this study though some schools of the respective districts are relatively located in rural areas. Table 27: The Situation of Education in Kigali City 2008 - 2009 Kigali City

Students’ Enrollment (2008)

PTR (2008)

Students’ PTR Enrollment (2009) (2009)

Change in Enrollment 2008-2009

NYARUGENGE

42,039

59

43,686

53

4%

KICUKIRO

40,595

51

38,381

53

-6%

GASABO

67,316

55

70,325

51

4%

Figure 18: Comparison of Students’ Enrollments by District in Kigali City

The above chart shows that Gasabo district registered the highest number of primary school students in Kigali city (67,316 and 70,325 students in 2008 and 2009 respectively). The enrollment of students increased by 4% in both Nyarugenge and Gasabo districts between 2008 and 2009. Conversely, Kicukiro district registered a decrease in students’ enrollments (from 40,595 to 38,381), which implies a decline of 6% between 2008–2009. The chart below shows another picture of the three districts of Kigali city with regards to the PTR. Figure 19: PTR by District in Kigali City

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eight In 2008, The PTRs of Nyarugenge district were higher (59:1) compared to those in Kicukiro (51:1) and Gasabo (55:1). In 2009, the number of PTR slightly decreased in both Nyarugenge (53:1) and Gasabo (51:1) while it increased in Kicukiro district (53:1). Comparing the number of teachers and enrollment in each district, it is clear that Gasabo district had the highest enrollment in Kigali city and registered the lowest PTR. This seems that Gasabo district recruited more teachers compared to the other districts of Kigali city when the enrollment increased. This is significant in terms of quality improvement. From our experience, a teacher with a low number of students has a chance to respond to the needs of individual students than those working in large class.

8.5.1. Southern Province The statistics of the Southern province are depicted in Table 28 and Figure 20 and 21: Table 28: The Situation of Education in Southern Province 2008 - 2009 Districts



HUYE

60,916 63,317 65

59

NYAMAGABE 77,619 82,164 69

68

GISAGARA

58,348 64,186 75

75

MUHANGA

70,896 69,641 64

58

KAMONYI

70,753 73,709 68

59

NYANZA

59,397 63,162 72

59

NYARUGURU 70,879 73,007 82

59

RUHANGO

72

PTR (2008)

PTR (2009)

66,002 69,297 68

Figure 20: Comparison of Students’ Enrollments by District in the Southern Province

Drawing from Table 28 and Figure 20, Nyamagabe is the district with high students’ enrollment (82,164 in 2009). The lowest enrollment is identified in Nyanza district with 63,162 in 2009). School students’ enrollment may be a function to the size of each district - which


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eight often implies the size of the population - and to the local administration’s determination to achieve the EFA goals. In most eight districts of the Southern province, students’ enrollment increased during the period 2008 - 2009, except Muhanga where the charts decreased from 70,896 to 69,641. The reasons for this variation were not investigated due to the limitation of the secondary data source.

Figure 21: PTR by District in the Southern Province

The chart above shows that the PTR in Gisagara district is relatively high (75:1 over 2008 and 2009). As mentioned earlier, this may result from the fact that the GoR is striving to achieve the EFA goals. Muhanga has the lowest PTR of 58:1. It is clear that in the eight districts of the Southern province, PTRs are relatively high.

8.5.2. Eastern Province This province is not very different from the Southern province in terms of school enrollments as shown in Table 29 and Figure 22.

Table 29: The Situation of Education in Eastern Province 2008 - 2009 Districts

164


PTR (2009)

NGOMA 66,478

75

65,211

68

BUGESERA 70,171

71

72,918

66

GATSIBO 86,161

77

93,429

73

KAYONZA 64,403

76

68,251

74

KIREHE 67,400

77

73,921

74

NYAGATARE 86,397

78

92,126

71

RWAMAGANA 56,908

72

62,482

70


Students’ Enrollment (2008) PTR (2008)

eight Figure 22: Comparison of the Student Enrollments by District in Eastern Province 2008 - 2009

Figure 22 representing Eastern province, shows a large primary school enrollments in most of all districts. The average PTR is particularly high (75:1 and 71:1 in 2008 and 2009 respectively). It seems that this province suffers from the shortage of teachers, hence a high PTR as shown in Figure 23.

Figure 23: PTR by District in Eastern Province 2008 - 2009

The histogram above indicates high PTRs in 2008. Even though the PTR reduced by 0.4 percent in 2009, it remained high when compared with other provinces. More effort is yet needed to significantly reduce the PTR with the target to achieve quality education.


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eight 8.5.3. Northern Province This province contains five districts: Burera, Gicumbi, Musanze, Rulindo and Gakenke. The trends of the statistics are not very different from those found in Kigali city, the Southern and the Eastern province.

Table 30: The Situation of Education in the Northern Province 2008 - 2009 Districts

Students’ Enrollment (2009) PTR (2008)

PTR(2009)

BURERA 90,549


89,803

76

65

GICUMBI 79,230

101,339

57

72

MUSANZE 99,386

86,809

78

64

RULINDO 66,915

70,283

73

69

GAKENKE 79,230

78,945

69

62

Figure 24: Comparison of Student Enrollments by District in the Northern Province

In the five districts of the Northern province, Rulindo had the lowest students’ enrollment, i.e. 70,283 during the school year 2009. In 2008, Musanze had the highest enrollment (99,386), while in 2009, enrollment increased sharply in Gicumbi from 79,230 to 101,339, an increase of 22 percent. However, in Musanze, there was a decline of 14 percent in enrollment during the period 2008 - 2009. Unfortunately, secondary data do not provide any details about this change in charts.

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eight Figure 25: PTR by District in the Northern Province

According to the statistics for Gicumbi district, there was an increase in the PTR over the period 2008 - 2009 (from 57 to 72). This shows that the increase in students’ enrollment is not necessarily proportional to the recruitment of new teachers to take care of the new intake. This may present a matter of concern in terms of quality of education delivery. It seems that emphasis was placed upon increasing students’ enrollment and little was done in relation to enhance the quality of education. In other words, as reiterated above, the goodwill to achieve the MDG 2, i.e. UPE puts pressure on the quality of education provision. Other districts of the Northern province registered a decline in PTR between 2008 and 2009. The PTR in the Northern province are very high: 71:1 in 2008 and 66:1 in 2009. This implies a need for more efforts to improve quality of education inputs by increasing the number of qualified teachers and the classrooms.

8.5.4. Western Province The situation in schools in the Western province is illustrated in Table 31 and Figure 26.

Table 31: The Situation of Education in Western Province 2008 - 2009 Districts

Enrollment (2008)

Enrollment (2009)

PTR (2008)

RUSIZI

90,589

96,781

74 60

PTR (2009)

NYABIHU 82,186

81,339

74 66

RUBAVU 72,749

74,504

56 60

KARONGI 79,206

81,779

61 54

NGORORERO 79,318

82,892

76

61

NYAMASHEKE 101,645

100,076

83

65

RUTSIRO 78,012

80,705

72 69


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eight Figure 26: Comparison of Students’ Enrollment in the Western Province

In the Western province most districts register almost the same total enrollment that varies between 78,012 and 82,892. The highest enrollment is registered in Nyamasheke and Rusizi districts, presenting 100,076 and 96,781 students respectively in 2009.

Figure 27: PTR by District in the Western Province

Putting aside Rubavu district, which shows an increase of PTR for the period 2008 - 2009 (from 51 to 60), other districts indicate a decrease in student-teacher ratios during the same period. For example, Nyamasheke district registered a sharp decrease of 28 percent (from 83 to 65) . This may result from the recruitment of new teachers and the construction of new classrooms as this is included in the Ministry of Education’s policy on the nine-year basic education implementation strategies. Though this decrease is significant, the PTR is almost double of the ratio recommended by UNESCO (35) at the primary level.

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eight 8.5.5. Comparison Among Provinces and Kigali City This comparision will bring to the forefront the situation in Kigali city, considered as an urban area vis-à-vis the four provinces of the country. How does Kigali city differ from other provinces with regard to the quality of education provision?

Table 32: Comparison of Students’ Statistics in Provinces and Kigali City Provinces



Increase in Students’ Enrollments

Southern Province

534810

558483

4%

Eastern Province

497918

528338

6%

Western Province

583705

598076

2%

Northern Province

415310

427179

3%

Kigali City

149950

152392

2%

Figure 28: Comparison Among Provinces and Kigali City

In 2009, the Western province comprised the highest primary school enrollment (598,076) while the lowest enrollment was registered in Kigali city (152,392). These statistics do not reveal the reason of this difference. However, the difference may result from the administrative delimitation of each province and the exodus phenomenon from rural to urban areas. Kigali city is indeed the smallest in terms of administrative delimitation. Each province indicates an increase in enrollment during the period 2008-2009: Southern province (4 percent); Eastern province (6 percent); Western province (2 percent); Northern province (3 percent); Kigali city (2 percent).


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eight Table 33: Regional Comparisions of PTRs, 2008 - 2009 Provinces

PTR (2008)

PTR (2009)

Southern Province

70

63

Eastern Province

75

71

Western Province

71

62

Northern Province

70

66

Kigali City

55

52

Average

68.2 62.8

Table 33 shows a general decline in PTR at the regional level during the period 2008–2009. As mentioned above, this decline may be explained by the Government endeavor to implement the nine-year basic education program. Seemingly more classrooms have been built and consequently more teachers have been hired.

Figure 29: Pupil-Teacher Ratios by Provinces

The PTRs are different among provinces. Kigali city represents the lowest ratio (55:1 and 52:1 in 2008 and 2009 respectively). The highest ratios are registered in the Eastern province (75:1 and 71:1 in 2008 and 2009 respectively). The difference in primary school PTR between Kigali city and other provinces may be due to the concentration of private schools in urban areas. Private schools often have lower students’ enrollments and lower PTR due to the pressure from parents who own the schools. This is done in alignment with available teachers in private schools. Compared to the sub-Saharan Africa in 2007 (Encyclopedia of the Nations, 2011), Rwanda had the highest PTR of 69.29. East African countries whose data were available, except Kenya with a PTR estimated to 45.56, present also PTR relatively above the average of that one of sub-Saharan Africa (46.92) which excludes South Africa and Nigeria: Uganda and Burundi presented a PTR of 56.97 and 52 respectively. Mauritius and Seychelles’ PTRs in 2007 were the smallest in sub-Saharan Africa: 21.51 and 12.47 respectively (Table 34 and Figure 30).

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eight Table 34: PTR in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2007 Rank Country

PTR

1 Rwanda

69.29

2 Malawi

66.82

3 Uganda

56.97

4 Burundi

52

5

46.92

Sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa and Nigeria

6 Kenya

45.56

7 Africa

40.91

8

38.3

Democratic Republic of Congo

9 Mauritius

21.51

10 Seychelles

12.47

Figure 30: PTR in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2007

The Encyclopedia of the Nations (2011) indicates the Central African Republic (89.62) registered the highest PTR in sub-Saharan Africa followed by Rwanda (68.2) according to the statistics collected by the Ministry of Education in Rwanda. Tanzania (52.62) and Burkina Faso (48.92) PTRs were also relatively above that one of sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa and Nigeria for 2007 (46.92) while the PTRs of Djibouti (34.03), Ghana (32.16) and Liberia (23.83) were smaller (Table 35 and Figure 31). Table 35: PTR in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 Rank Country

PTR

1

89.62

Central African Republic

2 Rwanda

68.2

3 Tanzania

52.62

4

48.92

Burkina Faso

5 Djibouti

34.03

6 Ghana

32.16

7 Liberia

23.83


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eight Figure 31: PTR in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2008

In 2009, the number of qualified teachers in both urban (Kigali city) and rural areas was relatively good. For example, in the three districts of Kigali city, the percentage of qualified teachers was as follows: Nyarugenge (99 percent); Kicukiro (99 percent); Gasabo (100 percent). The average of qualified teachers in the four provinces of Rwanda was also good in 2009: Eastern province (98 percent); Southern province (99 percent); Western province (99 percent); Northern province (99 percent). These percentages regarding teacher qualification in primary schools are favourable indicators toward the provision of quality education. This means that the acquisition of qualified teachers is not a challenge to the Rwandan primary education provision. The number of primary school Teacher Training Colleges known as TTCs (11 TTCs spread all over the country) may have played a positive role in graduating a large number of qualified teachers over the last years.

8.6. Conclusion and Recommendations The purpose of this study is to critically analyze the situation of urban education in Rwanda in terms of access, quality of education provision and to examine related challenges. The key issues raised in this chapter can be summarized in the following paragraphs: The study itself raises a two-fold methodological concern: first, urban delimitations seem to be vague and not clearly defined in Rwanda. This is explained by the fact that Kigali city and other urban centers in Rwanda contain some rural areas. Secondly, given that schools located in urban areas can be identified, observed, and investigated, it would be limitative to pretend that literature would be enough to answer the research questions this study was trying to address. This failure raises a question of validity of the piece of the research work done. This question was partly addressed by utilizing a mixture of a variety of secondary data especially Government reports and other international literature. The study reveals that high PTRs in Rwandan urban primary schools (including rural schools) raise a concern of quality education provision. In fact, the government’s goodwill to implement the MDGs puts pressure on the quality of education. This chapter suggests linking students’ intake towards the achievement of the EFA goals and the improvement

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eight of quality education. Otherwise the country would risk accumulating huge enrollments but with little effort directed to enhance the quality of education. Large classes may have implications on education such as the tendency to foster teacher-centered approach instead of learner-centeredness, the use of lectures instead of active and participatory learning strategies, individual learners disappearing in the “crowd”, a problem to identify and attend to individual progress, focus on transmitting facts (knowledge exists out there) instead of supporting students to create and appropriate joint meaning for their personal and society fulfilment. These findings are in concordance with the results of a synthesis report on Ghana, India, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa stipulating that the quality of education especially in rural areas needs addressing (Palmer, Wedgwood, Hayman with King & Thin, 2007). Taking into consideration the PTR in each province and Kigali city, it is clear that the quality of education provision is relatively higher in urban than in rural areas. In theory, a low ratio in education provision is better because it facilitates teachers to deal with individual learners’ needs. This statement converges with Hayman’s (2005) findings according to which primary private schools in Rwanda perform better campared to the public and state-supported schools. Putting this differently, the higher the PTR, the more education becomes difficult to deliver, and the more students receive poor quality of education. Hence, we argue that the quality of education is sensitive to the number of students taught by one teacher in one classroom. In other words, the decrease of the concentration of PTR can contribute to improving teaching and learning practice. This chapter has demonstrated that ICT is predominately used in urban schools. This implies that urban schools have advantages over rural schools in that research highlights that ICT can support teachers and students to develop a sense of critical thinking, problem solving and inquiry (Mukama, 2008, 2010). Similarly, in their report, Palmer et al. (2007) claim that a strong bias towards children from urban areas exists in the developing world. Similar findings are reiterated in Pakistan where urban students seem to perform better than rural students in both Mathematics and Science (EdQual, 2007). Urban and rural schools are managed according to the same quality framework. However, as it was shown in the literature, urban areas evolve in a particular context, which deserves appropriate policies and strategies to ensure that quality education is equally available to all children in urban areas, and that qualified teachers are available and aligned to students’ enrollments.

Recommendations 1. The National Urban Housing Policy suggests setting up a better planning and rational management of land in urban areas. In this line of reasoning, the present study recommends that a policy regarding education and schooling in urban areas should be developed in a participatory manner involving all stakeholders from private and public sector in order to guide national educational objectives and priorities. This policy would contribute to achieving sustainable urbanization of the country taking into consideration the MDGs, poverty alleviation, planned settlements and environment protection.


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eight 2. This study recommends that urban infrastructure should be improved so as to implement ICTs. These new technologies can serve as a tool for improving quality education and access to schools in Rwanda. This requires that urban school teachers need to be ICT-literate in order to spread the use of technology to change the traditional practice of ‘chalk and talk’ towards a more dynamic learner-centeredness approach, access and retention of students, particularly of girls in schools. This is aligned to the Rwanda Vision 2020 aiming at developing the country into an ICT-based economy and society by 2020. 3. It is recommended that ICTs management should be decentralized to teachers for cultivating a culture of creative thinking, problem solving and innovation. This could enable involvement of active ICT-users as a cornerstone to raise ICT literacy in the country. We argue that students who use the new technology can become creators and innovators and problem solvers with technology at hand. 4. This study has shown that the PTR in urban schools is relatively high (though it is higher in rural areas). It is therefore recommended that the number of teachers and classrooms should be increased so as to reduce the PTR and class size, which can have positive implications on the quality of teaching and learning. Urban primary schools should aim to reach the PTR of 35:1 as recommended by UNESCO in order to improve the quality of education. 5. Though between 58 percent and 74 percent of households are located within 30 minutes to the nearest primary school in Rwandan urban areas, a lot needs to be done to achieve the MDGs and to improve students’ satisfaction in terms of services they receive at school. We suggest that the government puts in place mechanisms of controlled and planned educational settlements which should develop hand-in-hand with access to textbooks and other educational materials, and which can allow the promotion of participatory pedagogies and adequate learning content appropriate to the needs of the country.

References EdQual (2007). Mid-term review. Implementing curriculum change project. Literature review. Retrieved September 15, 2010 from: http://www.research4development.info/ PDF/Outputs/ImpQuality_RPC/icclitreview.pdf Encyclopedia of the Nations (2011). Pupil-teacher ratio, primary – Human development – Development outcomes – African development indicators. Retrieved February 2011, from: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/WorldStats/ADI-human-pupil-teacher-ratio-primary.html. GoR (2001). An integrated ICT-led socio-economic development policy and plan for Rwanda 2001– 2005. Kigali, ECA-CEA. GoR (2002). The Government of Rwanda poverty reduction strategic paper. Kigali: Republic of Rwanda.

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eight Hayman, R. (2005). The contribution of the Post-Basic Education and Training (PBET) to poverty reduction in Rwanda: balancing short-term goals and long-term visions in the face of capacity constraints. Post-basic education and training. (Working Paper No. 3). Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh. NISR (2007). Millennium Development Goals. Towards sustainable social economic growth. Country report 2007. Kigali: National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. MINECOFIN (2001). Rwanda development indicators 2001. Towards vision 2020. Exit underdevelopment and poverty. Kigali, Republic of Rwanda: MINECOFIN, Department of Statistics. MINECOFIN (2004). Rwanda development indicators. 7th Ed. Republic of Rwanda, MINECOFIN, Department of Statistics. MINEDUC (1998). Study of the education sector in Rwanda. Kigali: Ministry of Education. MINEDUC (2003). Education for All plan of action. Kigali: Ministry of Education. MINEDUC (2006). Education sector strategic plan, 2006 – 2010. Kigali: Ministry of Education. MINEDUC (2009). OLPC project implementation proposal. Summary proceedings of OLPC planning retreat, November 23– 24, 2009. Kigali, Gashora: La Palisse Club MINEDUC (2010). The situation of education in 2008 and 2009. Kigali: Ministry of Education. MININFRA (2008). National urban housing policy for Rwanda. Kigali Mukama, E. (2009). The interplay between learning and the use of ICT in Rwandan students’, teachers’ everyday practice. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 25(6), 539–548. Mukama, E., & Andersson, B.S. (2008). Coping with change in ICT-based learning environments: Newly qualified Rwandan teachers’ reflections. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 24(2), 156–166. Mukama, E. (2010). Strategizing computer-supported collaborative learning toward knowledge- building. International Journal of Educational Research, 49(1), 1– 9. Obura, A. (2003). Never again: Educational reconstruction in Rwanda. Paris: IIEPP. Palmer, R., Wedgwood., & Hayman, R. with King, K., & Thin, N. (2007). Education out of poverty? A synthesis report on Ghana, India, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa. Retrieved, September 15, 2010 from: http://www.research4development.info/ PDF/Outputs/PolicyStrategy/ResearchingtheIssuesNo70.pdf


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eight UNDP (2010). Support project to the Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA) informulation of urban development policy. Retrieved, September 13, 2010 from: http://www.undpp.org.rw/Energy_slu_Project6.html World Bank (2004). Education in Rwanda: rebalancing resources to accelerate post-conflict development and poverty reduction. Washington D.C: World Bank.

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Chapter

nine

Cross-National Differences and Changes in Education Effects on Child Health Across Sub-Saharan Africa Walter Rasugu Omariba


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nine 9.1. Introduction

I The overall goal is establish whether the relationship between maternal education and infant mortality varies across many countries when their experiences are considered jointly in a single model.

nfant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa standing at 80 per 1000 live births (Population Reference Bureau, 2010), is the highest of any world region and it is therefore an important public health concern. Not surprisingly, the reduction of child mortality is one objective of the MDGs. The objective is to reduce child mortality by two-thirds from the levels of 2000 when the goals were set (United Nations, 2009). Closely tied with the improvement of child health as a targeted goal, is parental education. In particular, parental education especially maternal education is one of the pathways to the reduction of childhood mortality. Recent trends in school enrollment indicate that sub-Saharan Africa still lags behind in the world. For instance, although the number of children of primary school age who were out of school dropped by 33 million since 1999, 72 million children worldwide were not in school in 2007. About 50 percent of these children were in sub-Saharan Africa and this dismal pattern is repeated throughout all stages of the education system with girls being the most affected (UNESCO, 2010). Given the close association between parental education and child health and education, the dismal statistics make it doubtful that MDGs such as reducing child mortality rates and malnutrition, and increasing school attendance and completion will be realized (United Nations, 2010).

The inverse relationship between education and infant mortality is well established in demographic literature (e.g. Caldwell, 1994; Desai & Alva, 1998). This relationship has been observed across several studies and in diverse cultural settings (e.g. Hobcraft et al.,1984; Forste, 1994; Sandiford, 1995; Marindo & Hill, 1997; Pandey, 1997; Uchudi, 2001). These studies show that relative to children of uneducated mothers; those of educated mothers are less likely to die. This evidence is mostly from single country studies; studies based on multiple countries are conspicuously missing. Another important issue that has largely been neglected is the change in the relationship between education and early life mortality across time resulting from differential improvements in educational opportunities. In particular, women growing in different periods are also likely to experience divergent educational outcomes because educational opportunities and access are not constant. This is the well-known “cohort effect” in demographic studies. In particular, education effects on infant mortality by maternal cohort reflect the historical periods and socioeconomic, cultural and political contexts in which groups of women grew and were nurtured. Consequently, although the experiences of individual women may vary, the prevailing conditions in the society in which they grow could lead them to similar life experiences. For example, women who reach school-going age at the time a country’s education system is undergoing substantial growth and development could ultimately have higher educational attainment than cohorts of a different period. There are several studies that have examined the effect of parental education on child health, but most are based on single country data. An extensive search of the literature yielded only one study that has examined this relationship for multiple countries (Desai & Alva, 1998). This study used Demographic and

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nine Health Survey data for 22 less developed countries including eight sub-Saharan countries. The authors demonstrated that although maternal education was associated with infant mortality, height for age and immunization, most of its effects were explained by paternal education, and access to piped water and toilet. The studies did not, however, examine whether this relationship varies between countries. Although the relationship between education and infant mortality within countries is well established, the cross-national variation in this relationship is largely unknown. Further, much less is known about how changes in education over time affect child health. The study examines the effect of differential educational attainment on infant mortality by maternal age cohorts. To establish whether there is cross-national variation in the relationship between maternal education and infant mortality and to increase generalizability of the results, this study uses Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data for 28 sub-Saharan Africa countries. Demographic and Health Surveys provide the potential to integrate both macro information (e.g. country level) and micro information (individual level) into a single analytical framework. This makes it possible to distinguish between population-level effects (factors that influence average levels of health in the population) and individual-level effects (factors that influence the distribution of health effects within populations). Furthermore, the use of multilevel modelling makes it possible to quantify the moderating influence of contexts (e.g. countries) on individual-level health. The study examines infant mortality because it is a good indicator of both overall population health and socioeconomic development of a country (Sen, 1995). The overall goal is to establish whether the relationship between maternal education and infant mortality varies across many countries when their experiences are considered jointly in a single model. Although female educational attainment is generally low in sub-Saharan Africa, there are wide variations both in levels of educational attainment. There are also differences between countries in levels of maternal educational attainment, in levels of infant mortality, as well as in indicators of economic, cultural, and socio-political conditions. It is therefore reasonable to assume that there would be cross-national differences in the relationship between education and infant mortality. Further, little is also known on how education impacts women of different cohorts in relation to infant mortality experiences among their children. It is also reasonable to argue that educational opportunities for women have been improving over time across the region. However, the availability of these opportunities varied across the years both within and between countries. Women’s educational attainment will therefore vary depending on the educational opportunities available to them when they reached school going age and as they moved through their school years. Using a cohort approach in DHS and UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) conducted between 1998 and 2007, a recent study found a large diversity in educational performance over time across sub-Saharan Africa. For instance, primary school completion rates for girls vary from a dismally low 8 percent in Niger to a high of 90 percent in South Africa. Further, there were large variations in changes over time in educational attainments comparing women of age 20-24 and 40-44. In the space of these two decades, eight of the 33 countries including South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Comoros, Uganda, and Lesotho witnessed gains of at least 20 percentage points in girls’ primary school completion rates. In another 11 countries the increase was between 10 percent and 18 percent, while in the remaining countries the increase was below 10


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nine percent (Lloyd & Hewett, 2009). It is therefore important to assess the differential impact of education across generations to understand the nature and pattern of education effects on child health. The information from this study is of both theoretical and policy importance. On the one hand, it would serve to highlight what level of educational attainment is important for improved health outcomes. On the other hand, it would provide information on how educational attainment can be improved to realize both human development and health goals of nations. Further, a cross-national comparative study of the effects of education would increase our knowledge about the role of national contextual forces and maternal characteristics including household characteristics on child health as measured by infant mortality.

9.2. Education and Infant Mortality: A Theoretical Framework Although a wealth of empirical research shows that maternal education has a negative association with child mortality, much less is known about the mechanisms underlying this association. Several mechanisms have been suggested to explain the negative relationship between education and early life mortality. First, educated mothers are more likely to have access to health information and to understand health information (e.g. Glewwe, 1999; Alderman, Hentschel, & Sabates, 2003). As a result they are less fatalistic about illness and disease, and are therefore more predisposed to seek medical assistance for their sick children (Uchudi, 2001; Pongou, Ezzati, & Salomon, 2006). Again, educated parents are more likely to bring sick children to health services, more likely to follow the suggested treatment properly, and much more likely to report back to the health service if a cure has not being effected. Further, educated women are more likely to demand services and to insist that a sick child is treated (Caldwell, Reddy, & Caldwell, 1983). Nonetheless, because of better childcare practices, fewer children of educated mothers are likely to be sick and hence utilization of health services by these mothers will be lower. A second mechanism involves education-providing women with knowledge and skills necessary for raising healthy children. For example, it has been suggested that educated mothers are more likely to distribute food in the family in accordance with needs and less likely to demand that a sick child gets up and works. Also, because such parents are likely to have school-going children, the latter are likely to take better care of themselves, more articulate and make greater demands for care and consumption. Schools may also intervene in identifying child sickness and encouraging care and treatment (Caldwell, 1979). A third pathway involves education changing intra-family power relations thereby leading to a more child-centered approach which would have a positive impact on child health (Caldwell et al., 1992; Pfeiffer, Gloyd, & Li, 2001). It is well-known, for example, that mothers are more likely than fathers to allocate family resources in ways that promote child health. By granting women more decision making power in matters of childcare, education ultimately benefits child health. For instance, the predisposition of educated mothers to seeking medical assistance outside of the home is linked to the role of education in shifting power arrangements in the household, giving mothers autonomy in decision making in childcare issues (Caldwell et al., 1992).

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nine Education may provide women with financial means to take advantage of local services and infrastructure, through higher earnings or selective mating. Additionally, education can increase the value of women’s time and change their preferences. More educated women are likely to marry comparably educated men, or men with resources, hence enabling their children to have better living conditions and improved nutrition and health services (Ware, 1984; Cleland & Van Ginneken, 1988; Shultz, 1993). Since these resources are important for the rearing of healthy children, children of such mothers will enjoy better survival prospects. Education may also affect infant mortality through proximate determinants of mortality including breastfeeding, birth intervals, and age at birth of children (Mosley and Chen, 1984). Studies from less developed countries have found that more educated mothers have longer inter-birth intervals (e.g. Pebley & Stupp, 1987; Setty-Venugopal & Upadhyay, 2002). Educated mothers are also more likely to breastfeed for at least six months (Cernadas et al., 2003; Al Tajir et al., 2006) perhaps because they understand the benefits of breast milk to the baby’s health, breastfeed longer. However, in some less developed countries higher education is associated with shorter breastfeeding duration and early introduction of supplement (Forste, 1994; Poggensee et al., 2004). Finally, educated women are less likely to have births at younger ages (Alam, 2000) because they stay in school longer. Other potential mechanisms, but which are less known or studied in demographic literature are maternal depression and intelligence. A depressed woman may not adhere to proper dietary habits during pregnancy and may suffer sleep loss; she could be more susceptible to illness, which may compromise her ability to care for her children. Studies in less developed countries show that relative to mothers with no education, more educated mothers are less likely to be depressed (Patel et al,. 2006; Savarimuthu et al. 2010). In addition, depression has also been found to be associated with negative pregnancy outcomes including preterm delivery, low birth weight, and small-for-gestational age babies (Steer et al., 1992), and malnutrition and illnesses among infants (Rahman et al., 2004); all of which are significant risk factors for infant mortality. Nonetheless, although most women are susceptible to postnatal depression, educated mothers could have better coping mechanisms because of access to information on better childcare practices and access to health care. Studies show that higher education is associated with higher maternal intelligence (Barber, 2005), and higher intelligence is associated with several positive child health outcomes (Sandiford et al., 1997). However, although depression is much less known in demography, intelligence is similar to maternal competence (Das Gupta, 1990). Both intelligence and competence, however, are not directly observable. Das Gupta (1990), for instance, looked at some of the ways in which mothers treated illnesses in their households and the failure in childcare as revealed by multiple child loss to measure competence. She found that mothers who experienced multiple child deaths were less resourceful and less organized in caring for their surviving children, running the household and poor at making effective home diagnoses of their children’s illnesses and taking appropriate actions even when compared with other women in households with similar education and socioeconomic levels. Similarly, a recent review concluded that women with lower levels of intelligence may have more difficulty making appropriate resource allocation choices than those with higher intelligence especially when family resources are limited (Wachs, 2008).


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nine In line with the multilevel framework of this study, the influence of maternal education on early life mortality depends on national level contexts. These national influences include economic development, educational infrastructure, healthcare provision, culture, religion, and governance among others. Economic development usually measured by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is by far the most examined determinant of population at national level. The influence of economic development on health operates through its effect on improvement of material circumstances in the population; increase of employment opportunities and higher incomes, as well as the creation of capital for investment in both public and private sectors (Boyle et al., 2006). The implication is that countries would allocate the resources from economic development to education and literacy programs, and the resulting improved parental education and literacy lead to better child health. Available evidence shows that GDP per capita is strongly associated with infant mortality (Wang, 2003; Omariba & Boyle, 2010). However, because of differential allocation of resources of economic development in social programs, there are large cross-national differences in the effect of GDP per capita on mortality and child health in general (Caldwell, 1986; Sen, 2001; Shen & Williamson, 2001). For example, Caldwell (1986) demonstrated that child mortality was much lower in Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, and the Indian state of Kerala than would be expected based on overall national income; and much higher in Oman and Saudi Arabia than would be predicted by their level of economic development. This suggests that although economic development is necessary for improving health, it is not a sufficient condition. Maternal education has been found to be associated with the factors through which education is thought to affect infant mortality. For instance, studies in India (Gokhale et al., 2002), Ghana (Mathews & Diamond, 1997), Nigeria (Okafor, 1991), and Philippines (Wang et al., 1987) found that maternal education was significantly associated with seeking complete antenatal care. However, although education may be associated with more health care use, better childcare practices, or women taking a greater role in household decision-making, it does not suggest that education acts through them to affect infant mortality. This is the methodological issue of mediation. Few studies, however, have tested for mediation in the relationship between education and infant mortality. Sastry (1997) found that 40 percent of the effects of maternal education on child survival operate through breastfeeding and birth spacing. The lack of studies examining the underlying mechanisms in the education and child health relationships may perhaps be because the required variables for these tests are not available in most surveys. The implication is that the role of education on infant mortality, for example, will be uncertain and hence designing appropriate intervention strategies will be difficult. Despite these limitations, certain regression analysis methods estimate explained variance associated with predictor variables and then nested models can be used to separate the explained variance into unique and shared portions. In addition, the utility of multilevel modelling framework is that it allows one to examine the effects of both national-level contexts on within-country relationships between infant mortality and parental education in a unitary model. Using these regression techniques, it is therefore possible to isolate the independent effect of each factor and potential mediating relationships on infant mortality.

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nine 9.3. Data and Methods 9.3.1. Data The data for this study comes from a single cross-sectional Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program conducted between 2003 and 2008. The DHS program, which started in 1984 as a successor to the World Fertility Survey program for less developed countries, has conducted a total of 200 surveys (some repeated at 3-6 year intervals) in 75 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, North Africa and Near East, and South East Asia. A total of 28 sub-Saharan countries conducted their latest round of the survey between 2003 and 2008 and therefore met the criteria for inclusion in this study. The surveys are nationally representative probability samples of women of age 15-49 and their partners, which use area-based sampling frames to select intact clusters. Information on sampling, survey methodology, and results of preliminary analysis are available in country reports accompanying all data releases to the public. Besides the generally acknowledged quality, DHS data are also suited to our cross-national comparative study because the surveys contain similar measures of health and other socioeconomic indicators. Because all of the information in DHS is measured at the level of the individual women and households, we combine these data with country-level measures obtained from World Development Indicators (World Bank, 2010) to realize the objectives of the study. Table 36 presents the selected countries, the year of data collection, the sample of children used in the analysis, and the year WDI data reference. The analysis is based on births and deaths that occurred within a ten-year period before each survey, for several reasons. First, births and deaths that occurred within the last ten years before the surveys are relatively recent and are therefore more likely to be accurately recalled by the mothers. Second, it ensures that the selected characteristics of mothers and countries correspond as closely as possible to the time the births and deaths occurred. Lastly, including only recent births ensures that older women do not contribute a disproportionately larger number of children compared to younger women hence biasing the estimates against the latter. The analysis also excluded children born in the month of interview because their mortality experience is censored, and multiple births because they have a higher risk of death. The data on which the analysis was based comprised 427,581 children and 187,619 mothers.


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nine Table 36: List of Selected Countries, Year of Survey and Corresponding Sample Size Used for the Analysis of Infant Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa Country

Year of DHS

N

Benin

2006

29,075 1996-2005

Year of WDI Data

Burkina Faso

2003

20,213

Cameroon

2004

14,238 1994-2003

Chad

2004

10,718 1994-2003

Congo Brazzaville

2005

8,337

1995-2004

Congo Democratic Republic

2007

15,601

1997-2006

Cote d’Ivoire

2005

6,630

1995-2004

Ethiopia

2005

19,639 1995-2004

Ghana

2008 5,568 1998-2007

Guinea

2005

12,555 1995-2004

Kenya

2003

10,519 1993-2002

Lesotho

2004 6,636 1994-2003

Liberia

2007

10,591 1997-2006

Madagascar

2003/04

10,165

Malawi

2004

18,912 1994-2003

Mali

2006

26,499 1996-2005

Mozambique

2003

18,782 1993-2003

Namibia

2006/07 9,551 1996-2005

Niger

2006

17,704 1996-2005

Nigeria

2008

52,641 1998-2007

Rwanda

2005

15,815 1995-2004

Senegal

2005

20,051 1995-2004

Sierra Leone

2008

10,937

Swaziland

2006/07 5,071 1996-2005

Tanzania

2004

15,190 1994-2003

Uganda

2006

15,269 1996-2005

Zambia

2007

11,434 1997-2006

Zimbabwe

2005/06 9,240 1995-2004

Total

1993-2002

1993-2002

1998-2007

427,581

9.3.2. Description of the Variables Dependent Variable The dependent variable is binary and measures whether a child survived between birth and their first birthday. The survival status of the child between birth and exact age was determined from the information dates of birth, current age if the child is alive, and age at death if the child is not alive that is collected from women respondents in Demographic and Health Surveys.

184


nine Independent variables (a)

Maternal Education

The major independent variable in this analysis is the maternal educational attainment. The analysis distinguishes between mothers and fathers with no education, primary, and secondary or higher education. This measure is preferred to number of school years completed because longer stay in school does not translate to higher educational attainment.

(b) Country-level Variables

The study includes three country-level variables: GDP, female literacy rate, and public expenditure on primary education. It is expected that the selected country-level variables will both have an independent effect on infant mortality and account for a large portion of the overall cross-national variation in infant mortality levels and in the effect of maternal education. The GDP variable is an indicator of economic development at the country level. It measures GDP converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity rates (World Bank, 2010). All the incomes are converted into constant prices using the US consumer price index as the deflator to adjust for inflation (2000 US consumer price indicator =100).

Female literacy rate is the percentage of women aged 15 and above in a country that are able to read and write a short, simple statement on their everyday life. In addition, they should also be able to comprehend what they read and write. Public expenditure on primary education is public current spending on primary education divided by the total number of students expressed as a percentage of GDP per capita. It includes government spending on educational institutions, education administration and subsidies for private entities including students, households, and other private entities (World Bank, 2010).

Because the optimal time period for measuring a country’s GDP, female literacy and proportion of GDP spent on education are indeterminate, an average of each indicator covering the ten-year period before each survey is used. This corresponds to the time period when the children in the study would have been born and were exposed to the risk of death. It is assumed that the averages will quantify relatively stable between-country differences in economic development, public expenditure on education, and in levels of female literacy compared to one-time measures.

(c)

Family-level Variables

At the family-level, the study considers household SES, place of residence, paternal education, and marital status. Following Filmer and Pritchett (2001), a household wealth index was derived using principal component analysis based on a weighted linear combination of consumer items and household living conditions. The items used to derive the index include, ownership of radio, television, refrigerator, bicycle, motorcycle, and car; living in a house with a durable (non-thatched) roof, living in a


185

nine house with durable wall (stone or brick), living in house with non-dirt floor; and availability of flush toilet and piped water in the household. This measure is constructed and standardized within each country to a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one. Empirical studies using the index show that it does as well as consumption expenditures (Houweling et al., 2003). Higher SES could be an indication of higher educational attainment and SES could also have a direct effect on infant mortality.

Just as in maternal education, a distinction is made between fathers with no education, primary, and secondary or higher education. Place of residence is a two- category variable, rural versus urban. A distinction is made between currently married, formerly married (widowed, divorced or separated), and never married mothers. Paternal education, place of residence and marital status could be associated to maternal education and are also important predictors of childhood mortality.

(d) Child-level Variables

Four child-level variables, which could be related to both maternal education and infant mortality, are included in this analysis. These are gender, birth order, maternal age at birth of child, and inter-birth intervals. For example, more educated women are likely to have longer intervals between births through use of family planning, and are less likely to have higher order births because they have fewer children overall. Such mothers are also more likely to rear both sons and daughters equally. However, because of long years of schooling, educated mothers may get their children at relatively older ages, which is a risk factor for negative birth outcomes including infant death.

9.3.3. Analytic Method The data used here have a hierarchical structure, children (level 1) are nested within mothers (level 2), and both are nested within countries (level 3). Because survival outcomes among siblings and children in the same countries are correlated, employing standard statistical techniques which ignore this correlation leads to artificially smaller standard errors and parameter estimates that could be spuriously significant (Guo & Zhao, 2000). This study therefore employs multilevel modelling to adjust for the hierarchical structure of the data and correct for these biases. At the same time the modelling technique provides explicit estimates of residual variation for each level in the data (Snijders & Bosker, 1999). The distribution of deaths in the first year of life is asymmetrical. Multilevel binary generalized linear model (GLM) using a complementary log-log link are appropriate for our needs and are therefore utilized. The resulting regression coefficients (log hazards) are antilogged and interpreted as hazard ratios or relative risks (Singer & Willet, 2003, pp. 424). The log hazards are assessed for their significance using the Wald test, which has a chi-squared distribution and therefore the assumptions of the chi-squared apply.

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nine The model’s estimates of family- and country-level variances are used to calculate intra-family and intra-country correlation coefficients. This is a measure of family- and country-level variation that is due to unobserved factors at each of these levels. These coefficients are also a measure of the extent to which mortality experiences of children in the same family or country are similar (death clustering). The individual-level residuals (Level 1) are assumed to have a standard logistic distribution with mean 0 and variance π2 /3. The models were fitted using MLwiN software version 2.02 (Rasbash, Browne, Healey, Cameron, & Charlton, 2004).

9.4. Results 9.4.1. Descriptive Results Table 37 presents descriptive information on the sample including country, maternal and child-level variables by maternal birth cohort. The mean number of children at country-level was 15,271, and the number of children per country ranges from 5,071 (Swaziland) to 29,075 (Benin). Of the total 427,581 born in the study period (1993-2008) 8.8 percent died before their first birthday (Table 37 third panel). There was much variation in the country level variables. The mean GDP purchasing-power-parity per capita is $1,239, but ranged from a low of 245 (Zimbabwe) to a high of $4,780 (Namibia). The mean female literacy rate was about 44 percent, but it ranged from a low of 8.1 percent (Burkina Faso) to a high of 92 percent (Lesotho). Sub-Saharan Africa governments spend very little of their GDP on primary education, a mean of about 12%. The percentage of GDP spent on primary education ranged from 5 percent (Chad) to 30 percent (Lesotho). Although this is a reflection of low economic development, it can also be an indication of low priority given to primary education. There were also differences in the selected family and child-level factors, although they were smaller for the former group of variables. For instance, whereas 20.4 percent of all women had secondary or higher education, slightly more of the below 30 cohort (22.3 percent) than the 30 and over cohort (18.5 percent) had secondary or higher education. Using the proportions of people with a certain level of education for each cohort, progress in educational attainment was made in primary and secondary or higher educational attainment for a majority of women in the countries studied over the 15-year period (data not shown). Also, slightly more of the 30 and over cohort were currently married (87.4 percent). Not surprisingly, most of the higher order births occurred to the 30 and over cohort, and most of their children were born farther apart. However, there were no differences between the cohorts in the number of children who had died; 9 percent for each.


187

nine Table 37: Descriptive Statistics of Country, Family, and Child Predictors of Child Mortality and by Maternal Cohort Characteristic

Overall

Country level (N)

28

Below 30 cohort

Mean GDP

$1,239

Mean GDP spent on primary education, %

12.3

Mean female literacy level, %

44.4

Family level (n)

187,619

94,700

>=30 cohort

92,919

Maternal Education level (%) None

47.4 42.8

52.0

Primary

32.2 34.9

29.4

Secondary or higher

20.4

18.6

22.3

Paternal Education level (%) None

37.1 32.6

41.7

Primary

26.6 26.7

26.5

Secondary or higher

25.9

25.1

Unknown

10.4 14.1

6.7

Mean SES

-0.11 -0.11

-0.11

26.6

Place of residence Urban

31.8 32.5

31.0

Rural

68.2 67.5

69.0

Marital status (%) Never Married

5.8

9.5

2.1

Currently married

85.2

83.1

87.4

Formerly married

9.0

7.4

10.6

Child level (n)

427,581

199,519

228,062

Children dead (%)

8.8 9.0

8.7

Female child

49.3 49.4

49.2

Birth order (%) Firstborns

21.8 40.7

5.2

2-3 order

33.8

45.4

23.7

4-5 order

22.1

12.1

30.8

≥6

22.3

1.7

40.3

Preceding birth interval (%)a