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.
