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This study examined the relationship between the government policy concerning the provision of basic education to the children on street and its practice in Morogoro Municipality-Tanzania. The study was guided by four objectives: (i) to explore overall awareness of the community about the policy, (ii) to assess the quality of basic education provided to the children on street, (iii) to find out the challenges encountered in the provision of basic education to the children on street and (iv) to determine the solution to the challenges observed.
The sample was obtained through purposive sampling technique, and it consisted of 28 participants: 5 primary school teachers, 13 parents and 10 children on street. The study used a case study design and utilized a qualitative research approach where semi- structured interview, direct observation, focus group discussion, documentary analysis and direct observation were deployed. The collected data were analyzed both deductively and inductively based on the approach by Ezzy (2002).
The findings indicated that, lack of understanding of the policy was due to inadequate information given to the community. The mismatch between policy statement and actual practices was due to government poor planning, lack of follow up and lack of laws to enforce policy implementation. These were reflected in the existence of the children on street during class hours contrary to the policy statement that stressed attendance in school. Poor planning had resulted into several challenges compromising the quality of education to the children on street.
Inadequate teaching and learning resources, inadequate teacher-pupils ratio, and heavy work load for teachers, lack of teachers’ professional development to cope with the irregular changes of the curriculum as well as lack of feeding programme characterized all the schools in the study. The study concluded that the state of basic education provided to children on street to a large extent depended on the existing policy statement.
It is recommended that, the existing policy should be enforced so as to provide quality basic education to the children on street. Parents, teachers and the community in general must make sure children on street are given first priority when planning educational issues. (333 words) |
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