Financing for equity in primary and secondary education
1. Education resources to subnational governments
2. Education resources to schools
3. Education resources to students and families
4. Social policies and family support programmes
Introduction
The United Republic of Tanzania is divided into 31 regions, 26 on Tanzania Mainland and 5 on the island of Zanzibar.
In Tanzania Mainland, the education budget is managed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) together with the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG). Most of the budget is channelled by the Ministry of Finance to the 184 local government authorities (137 district authorities and 47 urban authorities), which are responsible for implementing pre-primary, primary, and secondary education within a decentralised by devolution framework. In the 2021/22 financial year, 83 per cent of the recurrent education budget was allocated to local government authorities, while 15 per cent was managed by MoEST. PORALG plays a central role in allocating funds to regional and local government authorities, which in turn are responsible for executing the bulk of education spending.
In Zanzibar, the public education budget is predominantly managed by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT). Shifts in the proportional allocation between MoEVT and the regions reflect the different phases of the Decentralisation by Devolution Policy, under which education funding was channelled to local government authorities from 2018, before being returned to the central ministry in 2021 due to implementation challenges. As on the Tanzanian Mainland, staff costs such as salaries, allowances, and other personnel emoluments have consistently represented the largest share of the government’s recurrent education budget.
1. Education resources to subnational governments
In Tanzania Mainland, local government authorities are funded through a formula-based grant system initially introduced in 2004, with education and health sectors receiving the largest share. While the grant system initially covered recurrent expenses, it was extended to include development expenditure in 2006. The formula guiding the recurrent grant for education is based on the number of school-aged children enrolled in primary and secondary schools, while the development grant additionally considers classroom shortage, level of poverty, and assessment reports.
In Zanzibar, the provision and financing of education services are centralised and managed by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training directly to schools.
2. Education resources to schools
School Capitation Grants
In Tanzania Mainland, the main mechanism for financing public schools apart from the government budget is through capitation grants, which are allocated according on a per capita basis based on the number of students. These grants were introduced in 2002 for primary education and extended to secondary education in 2004, restricted to categorical recurrent expenditure. Although there is no dedicated funding for disadvantaged students, the 2018–21 National Strategy on Inclusive Education outlined plans to allocate higher per capita spending for children with disabilities. However, in the 2025/26 Budget Statement of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, no specific reference was made to additional capitation grants for students with disabilities, with only the provision of digital devices and teaching and learning materials included in the allocations.
In Zanzibar, school capitation grants are also allocated according to student enrolment. With the introduction of the free education policy in 2015, primary school voluntary contributions were abolished, and a capitation grant of 18,500 TZS per student was introduced, part of which is disbursed directly to schools while the remainder is used for central procurement. In 2018, parents’ contributions to secondary education were likewise abolished.
3. Education resources to students and families
In Tanzania, government loans are provided at the tertiary education level to students in need, including orphans, students with disabilities, and those from low-income households, but are not available at the primary or secondary levels.
4. Social policies and family support programmes
Productive Social Safety Net Programme
Since 2012, the United Republic of Tanzania has implemented the Productive Social Safety Net Programme, its flagship nationwide social protection initiative operating in both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, and recognised as the country’s largest social assistance programme. It is managed by the Tanzania Social Action Fund under the President’s Office and financed by both government and development partners. The programme provides unconditional base cash transfers to extremely poor households, alongside additional transfers conditional on school attendance, and is implemented in 184 local government authorities in mainland Tanzania and 11 in Zanzibar.
Targeting follows a three-stage system: geographical selection of the poorest districts, wards, and communities; community-based listing of extremely poor and vulnerable households; and a proxy-means test to establish household eligibility. Under the education conditionality, households receive monthly transfers of TZS 2,000 per child (up to TZS 8,000) for primary school attendance and TZS 4,000–6,000 per child (up to TZS 12,000) for secondary school attendance, fee-free provision of basic education notwithstanding. Compliance is achieved when children over the age of five are enrolled and attend at least 80 per cent of school days.
The World Bank has been the programme’s largest and longest-standing funder, while the government has gradually increased its share of financing. Although it was initially agreed that the government would cover one-third of the annual budget, in practice it contributed only 4.1 per cent of total costs in 2015/16, equivalent to 15.9 per cent of its original commitment. Overall, the majority of social welfare and assistance funding in Tanzania—about 89 per cent—is provided by development partners.
5. School meal programmes
Multiple largely donor-funded initiatives provide school meals to around half of the country’s schools. In Tanzania Mainland, 79 per cent of financing for school meal programmes comes from donors, with the government covering the remaining 21 per cent. The government fully funds school meals only in public secondary boarding schools—providing three meals per day since independence in 1961 through capitation grants—while public day school students rely on parents and guardians for meals.
The programme with the widest reach is the Community-Led School Feeding for Public Day Schools, managed by local governments and supported through funding and in-kind contributions from parents and school communities. Launched in 2020, it had expanded to cover public primary and secondary schools by 2022. Additionally, since 1961, the government has provided school meals to students with special needs in public primary schools, with local governments responsible for managing and procuring food under the oversight of the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government. The 2020 National Guidelines on School Feeding and Nutrition Services to Basic Education Students clarify that financing for school feeding in public day schools rests with parents or guardians, while the government continues to fully fund meals for public boarding schools.
In 2024, the government committed to increasing its school meals budget by 13 per cent annually, establishing a National School Feeding Technical Working Group, and including nutritious meals for school-age children in its national nutrition policy. As of 2022, approximately 26 nutritionists were employed by local governments to support school feeding programmes.
In Zanzibar, the Home-grown School Feeding Programme has been in operation since 2014, targeting primary schools in poor communities with low nutrition and health outcomes, low student attendance, and poor academic performance. The programme operates in 36 public primary schools across Unguja and Pemba, reaching around 18,404 students, and is primarily funded by Table for Two International (TfT), following the School Feeding Guidelines for Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary Schools in Zanzibar.
This profile has been reviewed by Dr Hillary A. Dachi (University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania).
