Economic, Social And Cultural Determinants Of Access To Primary Education Among Disabled Children: A Case Of Dodoma And Chamwino Districts, Tanzania

ABSTRACT

Despite efforts made by the Tanzanian government to provide primary education to all

children, many disabled children are still out of school. Therefore, this research was

carried out to determine the economic, social and cultural determinants of access to

primary education among disabled children in Dodoma Municipality and Chamwino

District. The main objective was to analyse factors that influence access to primary

education among disabled children. The specific objectives were to: identify economic,

social and cultural factors which influence disabled children’s access to primary

education; assess disabled children’s access to primary education; and determine the

extents to which some economic, social and cultural factors influence disabled children’s

access to primary education. A total number of 120 households were involved in the study

in which parents and/or guardians of disabled children were interviewed. Moreover,

teachers, members of CHAVITA in Dodoma and street/village leaders were interviewed.

Data were collected in November and December 2010. The data were analysed using the

Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Software, Version 16.0, in which case the

main analytical model was binary logistic regression. In the model, the dependent variable

was access to primary education with the following two options: has no access (0) and has

access (1). The study revealed that there were different economic, social and cultural

factors which influenced disabled children’s access to primary education to different

extents. The most important factor was inaccessibility to school compounds; it had the

highest impact on the chances of disabled children accessing primary education (Wald

statistic = 4.138, p = 0.042). In view of the results, it is recommended that school

compounds should be improved for more accessibility by disabled children.