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The realisation of universal pre-primary education in any country requires serious
government intervention to finance it. To be able to provide adequate funds, governments
require information regarding the annual unit cost of educating a child in a pre-primary class.
This study uses the 2012 Tanzanian census data to determine the unit cost of providing preprimary
education in public pre-primary schools in Tanzania for two years. The study
employed the qualitative research methodology using a basic/generic research design. Data
were collected through existing documents, observations, telephone and face-to-face
interviews with head teachers and pre-primary class teachers in 260 primary schools located
in the Dar es salaam and Pwani regions. The analysis was performed using the Excel program
and content analysis. The findings revealed that the public pre-primary unit cost is 517,262
and 221,960 Tanzanian shillings (Tshs.) for year one of a serious implementation of the
financing strategies and the following year respectively. This amount means that, for the first
year of financing pre-primary education, the unit cost is Tshs. 2,666 or $1.251 for each school
day and Tshs. 53,325 or $25.15 for 20 school days per month. For the following year, the unit
cost is Tshs. 1,144 or $0.54 a day and Tshs. 22,882 or $10.79 a month. The paper suggests a
need to finance pre-primary education on the basis of the actual unit cost. Hence, pre-primary
pupils should be provided with capitation and development grants of $25 a month in the first
year of the programme implementation and $10 a month in the following years. |
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