Education for Self-Reliance has been practiced in Tanzania for several years since 1967. The country made reforms on various education policies and programs to ensure that students in secondary schools are provided with Education for Self-Reliance (ESR) to realize national education objectives. This study sought to assess the effectiveness of ESR in secondary schools. The study was guided by four specific objectives. The study anchored on human capital theory developed in 1776 and adopted by Theodor Schultz in1969 in the field of education. The researcher employed a mixed research approach and convergent parallel research design was used to collate data from the field. Target population involved were teachers, school heads, students, DEO, parents and graduated youth. A sample size of 192 informants was employed to provide data in quantitative and qualitative terms. Quantitative data was analyzed through SPSS version 20, while qualitative data was analyzed through coding, categories and themes. Validity and reliability of the quantitative instruments were checked to obtain 0.80 coefficients which indicated that the instruments were valid and reliable while for qualitative instruments validity and reliability were tested through triangulation. The findings demonstrated that ESR is relevant to students in secondary schools although teachers in school do not teach subjects which lead students into Self-Reliance. Therefore students complete secondary education with inadequate skills for Self-Reliance which leads to unemployment, increase of crimes and failure to seize opportunities around. It also indicated that poor infrastructure, curriculum content, and financial problems set back the provision of ESR in schools. The researcher recommended that the Ministry of Education Science and Technology to contrive an educational curriculum, policy and strategies to ensure students in secondary schools are trained in Self-Reliance.