Performance in Mathematics and Science Subjects: A Gender Perspective for Selected Primary Schools in Rural and Urban Tanzania
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Date
2014
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Research Institute for Policy Development
Abstract
Since the 2000, Tanzania is striving to eliminate gender inequality in the education
system. As such, the gender gap in enrolment is closing in primary education. Yet,
gendered performance remains a challenge. Using data from Primary School
Leaving Examination results for the period between 2007 and 2011, and from
qualitative methods, this paper examined trends and factors for poor performance
in Mathematics and Science subjects with a gender perspective. Two schools from
rural and two from urban areas were involved in the study. The results did not show
a clear trend in Mathematics performance in rural relative to urban schools, which
showed a clear decreasing trend. On the other hand, performance in science was
decreasing in rural schools and in one of the urban schools. There was also lower
girls’ performance in both subjects with some few unique cases. Secondly, the
gender inequality was more prominent in rural relative to urban schools because of a
number of overlapping factors including lack of female teachers role models and
lack of an appropriate school environment for girls. Therefore, to tackle gender
inequality in performance, rigorous efforts need to consider multiple, but
interlocking factors with a gender lens, while considering rural-urban differences.
Description
International Journal of Gender and Women’s Studies
September 2014, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 87-105
Keywords
Performance, Gender inequality, Mathematics, Tanzania, Science