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Tanzania has shown great progress in establishing quality primary education where access, completion and equity have all improved. This is largely due to the Fee-Free Basic Education Policy, which makes education compulsory until the age of 15. The World Bank shows that from 2015 to 2018, primary school enrollment rose by 17 percent and secondary school enrollment increased by 23 percent. In addition, there was a 39 percent increase in student retention through primary school.
Despite this progress, attendance rates and transition rates remain low from primary to secondary schools. Based on UNICEF data, net attendance drops from 81 percent to 28 percent from primary to lower secondary school. In upper secondary school, there is only a 3 percent net attendance rate. While this is partially because education is no longer compulsory, students are also forced to drop out of school to enter the labor force or early marriage.