Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – July 2026
Every child deserves more than a seat in a classroom, they deserve a safe place to learn, the opportunity to thrive, and the freedom to dream about their future.
Today marks a historic milestone in advancing that vision. At the Arise Africa Conference, HakiElimu, in collaboration with Together for Girls, officially launched the Tanzania Safe to Learn (StL) National Diagnostic Exercise Report. As Tanzania's first comprehensive baseline assessment focused on preventing school-based violence, this landmark report provides a clear picture of the country's current progress while identifying the critical actions needed to ensure every child can learn in safety and dignity.
The Great Contradiction: National Progress vs. Classroom Reality
The timing of this report couldn't be more critical. Fresh off the heels of Tanzania’s 2024 Violence Against Children Survey (VACS), there is undeniable reason to celebrate. The data shows a significant, hard-won decline in violence against children compared to the 2009 baseline, a testament to years of fierce, sustained national advocacy.
But numbers on a page don’t always match the reality on the ground.
While national commitments are at an all-time high, the Safe to Learn assessment highlights a troubling implementation gap. The grand strategies designed in capital cities are hitting roadblocks before they reach the rural classroom door.
About the Assessment: Conducted between September 15 and October 16, 2025, this mixed-methods diagnostic put Tanzania’s education system under the microscope. Spanning six regions (four on the mainland, two in Zanzibar) and ten districts, researchers gathered insights directly from the people who live it: students, teachers, education officials, and community leaders.
The study evaluated the education ecosystem against the five core pillars of the global Safe to Learn Call to Action:
- Implementation of laws and policies
- School-based prevention and response mechanisms
- Social norms and behavior change
- Financing for violence prevention
- Evidence generation and use
The Bright Spots: A Foundation to Build On
It’s not all uphill. The report highlights that Tanzania has successfully built a powerful blueprint for child protection. We aren't starting from scratch. Promising initiatives already moving the needle include:
- Curriculum Upgrades: Integrating violence prevention and essential life skills directly into school lessons.
- Active Safeguards: The rollout of school safety initiatives under the BOOST and SEQUIP programs, alongside student-led clubs and dedicated reporting desks.
- Grassroots & Crisis Support: Active child protection committees stretching from the national level down to communities, supported by One-Stop Centres providing vital medical, legal, and psychosocial care for survivors.
The Hard Truths: 5 Gaps We Must Close
To fix a system, you have to be honest about where it’s broken. The diagnostic exercise identified five critical pain points that require urgent, uncompromising attention:
- The Corporal Punishment Double Standard
While Zanzibar has taken progressive, monumental strides toward completely prohibiting corporal punishment, Tanzania Mainland still permits regulated caning under Education Circular No. 24 of 2002. This policy gap directly contradicts international child rights standards and clouds the message on safe discipline.
- Under-Resourced Safeguards
A reporting box is useless if children don't trust the system behind it. While school-based reporting structures exist, trained psychosocial and counseling staff are critically scarce particularly in rural schools. Furthermore, many of these vital safety nets rely entirely on unpredictable, donor-funded programs.
- Deep-Rooted Social Norms
In too many communities, physical violence is still heavily normalized as standard "discipline." Current behavior-change campaigns are fragmented, isolated, and lack the unified momentum needed to shift generations of cultural acceptance.
- The Funding Desert
Good intentions require budgets. Right now, violence prevention initiatives remain painfully dependent on external donor funding. Domestic budget allocations specifically earmarked for child protection at the district and school levels are nearly non-existent.
- Manual Data Bottlenecks
Tanzania is great at high-level data collection, but school-level reporting is trapped in a bygone era of manual paperwork. Without digitized, real-time feedback loops, policy-makers are flying blind.
The Blueprint for Action: Next Steps for Tanzania
HakiElimu’s report isn’t just a critique; it is a roadmap. To translate national policy into real-world protection over the next five years, the report calls on the government, civil society, and partners to rally behind these critical actions:
- Harmonize the Law: Ban corporal punishment across all schools nationwide to align with international human rights.
- Fund from Within: Establish dedicated domestic budget lines for school-based child protection rather than relying on external aid.
- Professionalize Support: Train and deploy dedicated counseling and safeguarding focal points to schools, prioritizing rural areas.
- Go Digital: Scale up school-level digital child protection data systems for real-time tracking and accountability.
- Look to the Future: Heavily invest in disability-inclusive programming, early childhood protection, and modern defenses against digital threats like cyberbullying and online exploitation.
The HakiElimu Verdict
At HakiElimu, our philosophy is simple: Access to education means nothing without a safe learning environment.
The Safe to Learn National Diagnostic Exercise provides the precise coordinates we need to navigate the next five years. As Tanzania continues to roll out its National Plan of Action to End Violence Against Women and Children: II (NPA–VAWC II) 2024/25–2028/29 this report offers the practical, unvarnished guidance needed to turn promise into practice.
Let’s build schools where children don't just learn but where they can safely thrive, grow, and lead.
Want to dive deeper into the data? Read the full research here: Download the HakiElimu publication