Tanga — MORE girls who were forced to drop out of secondary school for various reasons, including early pregnancies, are expected to enrol in alternative education pathways this year, according to Dr Lyabwene Mutahaba, Commissioner for Education.
Dr Mutahaba launched the Alternative Education Pathways national implementation guidelines in Tanga recently, saying that the results of the registration of girls for the first year of the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQUIP) implementation show that 3,333 girls were registered for the programme.
He said they were currently enrolled in their first year of study in 131 centres in 26 Tanzania Mainland regions with a total of 803 teachers.
He noted that the Adult Education Institute was given the goal of enrolling 3,000 girls each year. The results show, however, that there is a high demand for such a programme, and that he anticipates, even more, enrolment this year.
He appealed to parents, caretakers and communities at large in Tanzania to trace and inspire girls, who were compelled to abandon secondary education for a variety of reasons including pregnancies, to come out and save their academic aspirations.
He said many challenges have been observed in the implementation of the SEQUIP. He mentioned some of the recent challenges as including stakeholders operating secondary education centres without government registration through the Adult Education Institute.
Other challenges included some centres running such programmes without qualified teachers, as well as the government's lack of accurate data on students pursuing secondary education outside of the official system.
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"I hope that the guidelines that have been launched here today will be fully implemented and monitored in order to address the various challenges that are inherent in the provision of alternative secondary education in Tanzania," Dr Mtahaba said.
Dr Michael Ng'umbi, Director of the Adult Education Institute, said that the project has led to significant improvements in the provision of alternative education, including curriculum improvements and the construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure, including buildings.
According to Dr Ng'umbi, the new guidelines improve on the old ones by shifting the focus from open to alternative secondary education.
He mentioned some of the challenges they faced as including low community motivation on the issue of getting girls who had interrupted their secondary studies back to school, distance from home to the centres, a lack of fare, lunch, and some girls having to attend the program with their children.
He explained that they communicated with Folk Development Colleges, who are their partners as regards absorbing such girls because they provide daycare and boarding.
According to Dr Ng'umbi, the new guidelines include mandatory registration for alternative secondary education centers as well as mandatory training for owners and managers of such centers.
