Mapping of school capacity to absorb out-of-school children in Zanzibar
A review of school capacity , school inclusiveness, and reasons why children are out of school
Highlights
The Ministry of Education, and Vocational Training (MoEVT) of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar (RGoZ) with the technical and financial support of UNICEF and the Milele Zanzibar Foundation made a huge undertaking of mapping of school capacity to absorb Out of School Children in Zanzibar coupled with research into the reasons that children are Out of School in Zanzibar. The effort focused on three components: 1) to establish profiles of all schools and non-formal alternative learning classes (ALCs); 2) to analyse the reasons that children are out of school (OOS); and 3) to make recommendations to ensure that out-of-school children (OOSC) and those at risk of dropping out are retained in schools. Approximately 140,000 children between the ages of 4 and 15 years were found to be Out of School in Zanzibar, and varied factors and practices that keep children out of schools were established, against a backdrop of schooling system found to be with limited capacity to absorb additional children. Subsequently, the findings have been used to review and update the Zanzibar Inclusive Education Policy and to leverage Global Partnership for Education (GPE) resources for quality pre-primary and primary education, and inclusive education, including addressing resource gaps identified.
