Public-Private Partnership In Provision Of Secondary Education In Tanzania: A Case Of Mufindi District In Iringa

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted in Mufindi District Council. The study assessed the contribution of Public-Private Participation in provision of Secondary Education in Mufindi District, in Iringa-Tanzania. Three research objectives guided the study which included the evaluation of the contribution of Public-Private Partnerships in education provision in secondary schools, assessment of the quality of education provided by PPP in secondary schools and examination of the factors affecting PPP in education provision. A cross section research designs was employed by the study. The sample size of 90 respondents including 10 key informants making it 100 of total were employed in the study. The study used primary and secondary data. Data were collected through questionnaires survey, interview and documentary review. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16.0 the study provides insights into how the partnerships originated, how they work, how the poor have been targeted, constraints and bottlenecks in the design, implementation and management of partnerships, and performance of these partnerships in reaching the targeted population. The paper argues that, if well designed and implemented in stages, PPP is an innovative mechanism that benefits the poor. It would be unfair to categories PPP as privatisation or marketisation because most of the partnerships that are designed to deliver education services (not the ancillary services) are either civil society organizations or from the non-profit private sector. However, some arrangements involve the private for- profit sector in PPP. This paper highlights significant policy perspectives on public/private partnership in education sector. Operational issues in the context of equity, accessibility to the poor and the deprived groups are discussed. Collaboration with the private sector to provide education services to the poor has generated many challenges. These include the motives of the private sector, scope and objectives of partnership, policy and legal frameworks, benefits of such partnerships, technical and managerial capacity of governments and private agencies to manage and monitor such partnerships, incentives for the private sector, stakeholder’s perspectives towards partnership, and explicit benefits to the poor through such partnerships. Research evidence on these issues in Tanzania is scanty.