The influence of cost sharing on enrolment and dropout rates among students in community secondary schools: a comparison between Arumeru Rural and Arusha Urban Districts in Tanzania

The study was aimed at comparing the influence of cost-sharing on enrolment, promotion, and dropout rates between students in rural and urban based secondary schools in Arusha region in Tanzania. Data for this study was collected from six community secondary schools located in Arumeru rural and Arusha Urban (Municipal) districts, three from each district. The study consists of 156 respondents, which was composed of heads of school, teachers, students, parents and village executive officers. The methodological underpinning at the study draws on quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study was comparative in nature, based on data gathered through questionnaires, structured interview and document search. While qualitative data were subjected to content analysis, quantitative data was processed through Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). In light of the research tasks, several research findings are presented. First, the findings revealed that there was variation on enrolment and dropout rates between rural and urban based secondary schools. The evidence indicates that low enrolment in urban secondary schools "'as not due to cost sharing but due to quality of education provided by community schools. Inability to meet costs of education was found to limit enrolment to some students in rural areas. The reasons for dropout differ between location and sex. Dropout in the urban based schools was mainly due to poor performance while in rural based schools was due to inability to meet cost of education, distance and low value attached to education. Teenager pregnancies and early marriage were common reasons for girls' dropout. Thirdly, the findings revealed that cost sharing has widened inequality in the provision of education between sex, poor and non poor and between rural and urban areas. Fourthly, findings have shown that cast sharing had impact on provision of education to an individual student as well as to schools. The study recommends that in order to reduce the problem of dropout and improve access to, and participation in education, the government should establish mechanisms that would help to correct the educational inequality that is growing out of financia] inequalities.