Conceptions of Sustainability of Open Schools in Offering Quality Secondary Education in Tanzania

Abstract

This paper examines the conceptions of sustainability of open schoolsin offering quality secondary education to complement the conventionaleducation system in Tanzania. Data were collected through interviewswith 35 participants who comprised 20 adult learners, five open schoolco-ordinators and 10 facilitators who were purposively selected. Datawere thematically analysed. The findings indicate that, limited learnersupport services were a major impediment for the sustainability of opensecondary schools in offering quality secondary education. Further, lackof qualified facilitators, library facilities, study centres, academic guidanceand counselling services have adversely affected the learners ' academicperformance in open schools. The paper recommends that open schoolsmust invest substantively in robust and facilitative learner-support servicesfor learners who are unable to obtain secondary education in conventionalsecondary schools.Keywords: adults, learner-support services, open schools, qualitysecondary education, youth