Contribution of Community Involvement Strategy in Enhancing the Availability of Water for Female Students’ Relief in Public Rural Secondary Schools in Eastern Lushoto District, Tanzania

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the of Community Involvement Strategy in Enhancing the Availability of Water for Female students’ Relief in Public Rural Secondary Schools in Selected Wards in Eastern Lushoto District, Tanzania. The study employed Convergent design under mixed research methods. The target population of the study was 13 public secondary schools, 13 heads of schools, 13 matrons, 116 teachers, and 836 female students. Five heads of schools and 5 matrons were purposively selected to take part in the study through interview guide, while 20 teachers and 80 female students were selected randomly to take part in the study through questionnaires. Quantitative data analysis was done through descriptive statistics with the aid of SPSS 22 Version, while, Qualitative data analysis was done thematically. The study revealed that, the community is too rigid to attend school meetings concerning water scarcity, offering their physical labour, fund-raising, repairing water infrastructure, and taking care of water sources. The study concluded that, the rigidity of the community to offer various contributions in enhancing the availability of water for female students’ relief in public secondary schools, is due to insufficient knowledge on the value of female students’ education as well as female students’ hygiene. Further, negative social cultural practice that, fetching water from far sources helps to prepare their girls to become good wives for the future. The study recommended that, there is a great need to liberate rural community members’ mind to value female students’ education and hygiene.