Do Children with Disabilities Have Equal Access to Education?
/ 2008

Despite Tanzania?s very significant effort to increase the opportunities for children to access schooling, there is still a serious under enrollment of children with disabilities. The National enrolment Data from Basic Education Statistics in Tanzania (BEST 2007) indicates that Gross Enrollment Ratio by 2007 is over the MDG target (114%), and Net enrolment ratio is 97.3%. BUT still only 1% of children with disabilities are in school (BEST 2007), where are the others? What are the reasons behind this situation? What opportunities exist for them? And when will this problem come to an end?In answering these questions, HakiElimu commissioned this research study to investigate the above questions about learning conditions and accessibility to education for children with disabilities: challenges and opportunities at local level. This report therefore, documents the magnitude of the problem of under enrolment of children with disabilities, barriers that hinder children with disabilities to access education, and understanding and readiness of community to undertake inclusive education. The general picture shows that children with disabilities will continue to be under enrolled if there is not practical commitment to support them through purchasing school equipments suitable for them, designing and building classrooms that are friendly to them as well as enough fund or budget commitment for education of children with disabilities. Educational stakeholder?s comments and recommendations for improvement of opportunity to education for children with disabilities in this report can serve as a starting point.