Fee-Free Education in Tanzania: A Qualified Success or Challenge?

Abstract

This study captured successes and challenges of free-fee education strategy introduced in 2015 in the vein of implementation of Education and Training Policy of 2014 in Tanzania. Data were collected through document reviews, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with parents, primary school teachers and head teachers in Dodoma, Tanzania. It was found that fee-free education has led to liberation, inclusion and end of discrimination of children from poorest households in education. It has increased participation, equity and equality in education. However, fee-free education is faced with challenges ranging from some parents' poverty and lack of capacity to meet education costs, inadequacy in school budgets; shortage of educational resources and infrastructure, lack of emphasis of disability-inclusive education, loss of involvement of parents in school development activities to confusion and misconception of fee-free education. Conclusively, although formal school fees for public schools have been abolished in Tanzania, the associated costs of education for books, uniforms, transportation and medical are still extremely common and prohibitively expensive for many poor families. It is recommended to the Tanzanian Government and other education stakeholders to develop more ambitious strategies to expedite their plans to tackle barriers of additional costs more than school fees