Accessibility of funds for supporting primary school education among poor families in Mbeya district council, Tanzania.

This study examined accessibility of funds for supporting primary school education among poor families in Mbeya District Council Tanzania. The study was guided by three research objectives namely to: Examine the sources and patterns of funds to which pupils from poor families access to support for primary school education assess the suitability of existing financing mechanisms for primary school education and examine the ways in which poor families’ education financing can be improved to enhance access to and equity in primary school education.The study adopted a mixed method research approach. The study employed a case study research design. A study sample consisted of 80 respondents who were selected through purposive sampling, stratified, simple random and snowball sampling techniques. Data were collected through questionnaires and interview and Focus Group Discussion. The quantitative data collected were analyzed by using SPSS 20 version whilequalitative data were analyzed through content analysis. The study findings indicated that parents and /or guardians were leading (50%) in financing their children or relatives towards achieving primary education which is among the children fundamental rights agreed at international level followed by TASAF (30%), Capitation (12%), NGOs(5%) and FBOs(3%). With the exception of parents/ guardians the rest sponsors were found offering services to beneficiaries based on certain condition such as being orphans, living with elders, from poor families and living with HIV/AIDS. Moreover, the study identified that the major services offered by the sponsors focused on food, school uniforms and stationeries only. The aforementioned sponsors for primary school education were suitable in terms of improving pupils’ school attendance, retention, and academic performance as well as reducing truancy to pupils from poor families. Additionally, the sponsors found suitable through focusing to pupils from poor families and giving services or funds directly to the beneficiaries in a transparent manner. However, the services offered encountered some challenges such as being insufficient to meet the beneficiaries’ demands and delayed of its disbursement to beneficiaries which hindered the effective primary education achievement in particular to pupils from poor families. The study concluded that,the main source of funding for pupils from poor families education were; the Government, parents or guardians, TASAF and NGOs or FBOs. In accessing the educational support, Government and parents/guardian set no criteria but other sources set criteria. The existing funding of education to pupils from poor families was inadequate. Finally, the study recommended that, searching for other sources of sponsoring agents in primary education, improved means of identifying the beneficiaries from the community as well as reduced bureaucracy to the government authorities. The named recommendations are crucial aspects towards enhancing the access to and equity in primary school education in particular to pupils from poor families.