Challenges Associated with Fee-Free Secondary Education in Promoting Female Students' Performance in Central District Zanzibar

Abstract

This paper examined the challenges that affect the implementation of a fee-free education policy in secondary schools in Zanzibar.  The paper is a mixed approach with a descriptive design whereby it employed data obtained from a total sample of 156 respondents from the Central district. The target population involved heads of schools, students, teachers and district education officers in the central district. Analysis of the data employed SPSS version 20 for the surveys and thematic analysis of the qualitative interviews.  standpoint theory was used to explore the understanding of challenges affecting the implementation of the policy. The challenges identified include financial, managerial and administrative demands, delayed disbursement of funds, inadequate teaching and learning materials, existing gender inequalities at home, inadequate support of parents in the policy implementation, deviance and unethical behaviours from both teachers and students, socio-economic factors, and non-existent special support from schools and teachers for girls with peculiar needs. Concluded that the free education policy is undeniably good towards supporting female students' performance but this contribution is marginal in the central district. Government should therefore contribute more funding to cover additional components and also enhance teachers' quality to attain the best results.

Keywords: Performance, Quality Education

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-18-09

Publication date:June 30^th 2023