Education-related facts and issues

In Tanzania, there are about 1,696,349 orphans according to official statistics. About 36,645 of them are in Zanzibar.
Out of the total number, 854,799 are orphaned girls and 841,550 orphaned boys. About 24,000 orphans live in orphanages in different parts of the country.
Orphans are less likely to be in school and more likely to fall behind or drop out, compromising their abilities and their future prospects.
Majority of the orphans who live with their mothers or grandmothers or other members of extended family face drop out from school due to difficulties in meeting their schooling needs.
Widows who live in poverty also withdraw their half-orphaned children from school because they cannot afford to meet the schooling needs of these children.
Dropping out of school and engaging in child labour denies the orphaned children the right to education, causes mental stress and anguish to the orphans.
For some orphans who have lost both parents, the property left behind by their parents is confiscated by unscrupulous relatives thus interrupting their schooling and subjecting them to extreme difficulties and hopelessness.