Reasons behind children drop out of primary schools with unequal socio-economic preconditions : A comparative case study of three primary schools in Babati Town Council, Tanzania

Sammanfattning: One of the countries where the basic academic education is problematic to achieve is Tanzania. Despite the multiple attempts to increase enrolments and decrease dropouts through new partnerships and organizations, high level of drop out still occur in the country. Two research questions were composed in aim to understand why this drop out phenomenon still occur. First question: “Which individual/ collective factors contribute to that girls and boys in the age group between 7 and 13 drop out of  primary schools?” and the second question: “What differences are there in the drop out causes between two more “privileged” and one more “marginalized” school?”.  The answers to these questions were found through the field work in Babati Town Council, Tanzania. There primary data was gathered in form of semi-structured interviews with three headteachers from three different schools. Two privileged schools; Maisaka Primary School and Primary School Oyster bay, and one marginalized school; Kiongozi Primary School. Also interviews with nine parents/other guardians of dropouts were conducted. Gathered data was summarized in short case stories, narratives which later on were analyzed with in a theoretical framework. This theoretical framework consisted of six different theories. These theories are; Academic Mediation theory, General Deviance theory, Deviant Affiliation theory, Poor Family Socialization theory, Structural Strains theory and lastly a theory of Institutional Departure. The conclusion of the study is that, even though the schools are located in the same area a major difference in dropout rates and its causes are existing. At the marginalized school there is a high level of drop out and at more privileged schools no dropouts occur. Factors which play a major role for this existing difference are; childrens and parents commitment to school, family structure and background, family's socio-economic status, relationships in the family and of course quality of the school.