The contribution of mining sector to the development of education in Tanzania: a case of the communities surrounding the Geita Gold Mine

Abstract

This study investigated the contribution of mining sector to the development of education in Tanzania with specific reference to the communities surrounding the Geita Gold Mine situated in Mwanza Region. The study rests on the following objectives: (i) to assess the extent to which mining companies support education, (ii) to establish the mechanisms used by the mining companies in supporting education and (iii) to determine the challenges facing the mining company when supporting education in the communities surrounding mining area. The study was mainly qualitative informed with a case study design. Purposive sampling, simple random sampling and snow balling sampling were involved in selecting the 80 participants of this study. The sample comprised of DEOs, WEO, VEO’s, teachers, community members and students. Data collection methods comprised of interviews, focus group discussion and observation. The data collected were subjected to thematic analysis to establish common themes. The findings revealed that the mining company’s contribution to the development of education was in physical and fiscal form that included classrooms, dormitories, laboratories and scholarship to cover tuition fee, logging and field study. Findings also revealed that the mining sector contribute to education willingly (by volunteering) or by responding to the requests from the communities. Furthermore, it was unveiled that inadequate resources, over expectation of the community members, unaccountability of community leaders and uncooperative community members were the challenges mining company faced in supporting education development. The study concluded that the support of the mining company to education development in the communities surrounding mining area was minimal. Thus, the study recommends the establishment of mechanisms and policies which will ensure that the mining companies contribute significantly to the development of education in the communities surrounding mining area. Finally, it is recommended that the mining company in collaboration with the community around has to set priorities of what would be most needed at the time they support education development.