Photography: © Julie Pudlowski © Julie Photography: MAINLAND EDUCATION BUDGET BRIEF 2020 TANZANIA KEY MESSAGES The education sector was explicitly Tanzania continues to put much effort allocated TSh 4.51 trillion in FY 2019/20 on capital investment, particularly on compared to TSh 4.64 trillion in FY 2018/19, the construction of schools, to keep which marks a decline of 2.8 per cent in pace with the increase in enrolment. nominal terms. The sector allocation takes Currently, student classroom ratios are 1 up 13.6 per cent of the total budget in classroom per 76 primary students and FY 2019/20 down from 14.8 per cent in 1 per 40 secondary students. International FY 2017/18 (including Consolidated Fund best practice points to a maximum of Services (CFS). Given the population 30 children per classroom. A balanced growth in the country and shortage of investment approach on both recurrent and teachers in basic education, Tanzania development components are crucial to has long term plan towards achievement ensure the successful implementation of of the Education for All (EFA) target, of the Primary Teacher Deployment Strategy, committing 20 per cent of its national and the construction of classrooms in budget to education. hard-to-reach areas. 1 Overall budget execution in the the sources of fi nancing. Improved education sector was good. The total operationalization of IFMIS and FFARS1 education budget execution rate stood at will help to address challenges with the 87.2 per cent in 2018/19, with the recurrent quality of data, and also help to enhance expenditure at 96.4 per cent and internally the monitoring and reporting systems at fi nanced development expenditure at the LGA level. 90.8 per cent. There was, however, room for improvement in respect of externally The Education Sector Development Plan fi nanced development expenditure (ESDP) between 2016/17 and 2020/21 which stood at 65.9 per cent. The low has a comprehensive costing plan setting execution rate for the externally fi nanced out the requirements for annual fi nancial development budget was also observed resources. The total cost of ESDP was in FY 2017/18. It is recommended to estimated at TSh 26.2 trillion including work with DPs to identify the reasons TSh 19.1 trillion for recurrent expenditure for delayed or non-disbursement of their and TSh 7.1 trillion for development committed funds to improve budget expenditure. However, since FY 2018/19, predictability for projects fi nanced by funding gaps have signifi cantly increased development partners (DP). for the fi nal two years of the ESDP. It is strongly recommended that the fi scal Due to data challenges in relation to envelope for education be reconsidered LGA functioning, it was not possible so that the ESDP may receive adequate to capture important dimensions of funding to achieve its objectives education spending at this level, including as emphasized in the government expenditure trends, spending by commitment with Global Partnership for programme areas, budget execution, Education (GPE). equity in resource distribution and 1. INTRODUCTION 2. STATUS OF THE EDUCATION This Education budget brief update explores the extent to which the Mainland Tanzania SECTOR budget addresses the needs of children aged under 18 years. It analyses the size Indicators for the education sector and composition of budget allocations for suggest that a lot of progress has been fi scal year 2019/20 and offers insights into made because of signifi cant investments the effi ciency, equity and adequacy of past from the Government of Tanzania (GoT) spending on education. The main objective and development partners (DPs), but of the brief is fi rstly to synthesize complex challenges still remain. In December 2015, budget information so that it can be easily the GoT introduced the Fee Free Basic understood by all stakeholders and secondly Education (FFBE) Policy which envisages fee to put forth key messages which can free basic education from the pre-primary up inform policy and budget decision-making to the lower-secondary school level, which processes. 1 IFMIS and FFARS are MIS tools used to manage budget data at the LGA and budget recipients’ levels. 2 is an indicator of impressive progress in better performing and more motivated removing a critical barrier in accessing basic teaching force.” (ESDP from 2016/17 to education. However, this sector still faces 2020/21). some issues such as the shortage of teachers and classrooms, as well as inequality in Two GoT ministries hold most responsibilities access to educational services. For instance, for the education sector on the Mainland accounting to BEST 2018, pupil classroom Tanzania. The Ministry of Education, Science ratios are 1 to 76 for primary school pupils and Technology (MoEST) is responsible for and 1 to 40 for secondary. According to policy formulation, planning, monitoring and international best practice there should be evaluation of basic, technical, vocational, folk, a maximum of 30 children per classroom for non-formal, and higher education. Through primary and lower secondary. its parastatals MoEST is also responsible for the implementation of technical and Education sector reform is guided by vocational education and training (TVET) the Education Sector Development Plan and higher education (HE). The President’s (ESDP) from 2016/17 to 2020/21, which is Offi ce–Regional Administration and Local synchronized with the current Five-Year Government (PO-RALG) coordinates the Development Plan (FYDP). The ESDP has been administration, delivery and management of developed in cognizance of the African Union pre-primary, primary and secondary education Agenda 2063 and the related Continental through a decentralized system involving 185 Education Strategy for Africa (2016–2025) as local government authorities (LGAs) in the well as the Sustainable Development Goals 26 regions of the Mainland Tanzania. The PO- (SDGs). The ESDP aims to ensure that the RALG also oversees teacher deployment. The entire education sector and all activities within LGAs provide supervision for schools through it are focused on the overarching goal of regional, district and ward level education improving learning outcomes and acquisition offi cers and quality assurance offi cers. of relevant skills. A key policy initiative that distinguishes this ESDP from previous In 2017, the GoT adopted the Primary plans is Tanzania’s commitment to providing Teacher Deployment Strategy and the twelve years of free Basic Education to the National Framework for Continuous entire population (FYDP 2016/17 - 2020/21). Professional Development for Practicing In addition, supporting free basic education Teachers (NFCPDPT, 2017) to address and higher education programmes are among shortage of teachers and improving teacher the priority areas of the GoT. competencies in the country. The ESDP specifi cally aims for equity Since 2016, as part of its economic through “Ensuring [that] out-of-school transformation and industrialization policy, children, illiterate youth and adults and other the government has been implementing vulnerable groups can access quality learning several fl agship projects, which impact opportunities and thus obtain knowledge the education sector, both directly and and vocational skills”. The strategic focus of indirectly. For instance, the construction of the ESDP is to improve quality at all levels of the hydroelectric power project at Rufi ji River learning. As such, the ESDP aims to improve and the rural electrifi cation project-phase the education sector through “purposive III will play a critical role in enhancing the reform” and coordinated activities including infrastructure facilities of schools and enable the achievement of “a properly managed, households in rural areas to access electricity. 3 Furthermore, it is important to emphasize the the rates of children out of school aged 7-13 critical role of the Productive Social Safety Net years (primary school ages). For instance, Programme (PSSN), implemented by the GoT high percentages were observed in Tabora in addressing poverty and enabling access to (44.3 per cent), Katavi (42.5 per cent), Geita education (and other essential social services) (37.8 per cent), and Rukwa (35.5 per cent). for low-income families. PSSN phase I has Distance from school was identifi ed as one of been completed successfully, and Phase II the major reasons preventing children from was launched in early 2020. enrolling. In an out-of-school children (OOSC) study of seven regions, many children of pre- Tanzania has achieved a signifi cant increase primary and standard I school going age were in enrolment at the pre-primary and still at home because they were not able to primary levels. As an illustration of the pre- walk long distances to and from school. In primary defi cit of pupils, in 2017, just over some districts school children were expected 1.5 million were enrolled in pre-primary against to cover more than six kilometres per day. 8.9 million enrolled in primary grades. Most The fi ndings revealed that some children students at the pre-primary education in pastoral communities, for instance, had level are enrolled in public primary schools to walk for more than three hours in order (95 per cent). Pre-primary enrolment has to reach their schools, which affected their increased in absolute terms from 1,034,729 interest in going there. Being out of school is pupils in 2012 to 1,562,770 in 2016 and is a common challenge for those children living projected to grow to 1,738,843 students by in hard-to-reach areas. Introducing a school 2021. However, there is still a large number transportation programme (school buses) of over-age and a small number of underage can partially address accessibility issues in children enrolled in pre-primary. those areas. Another persisting challenge is the high In addition, cattle care is also another major number of children still out of school.