Straddling the Boundaries of the Zone of Tolerance: One District’s Response to Rapid Demographic Change

Sewall County, located in metropolitan Atlanta, and its public school system experienced significant demographic change between 2000 and 2010. The population doubled, reaching more than 200,000 residents, and its percentage of White residents fell by 25% to just more than 55%. Its public school system is now considered majority–minority. Using the zone of tolerance framework, which argues that there are boundaries within which community members will allow policies to be changed, this study will examine how school and district leaders in Sewall County, Georgia, responded to the racial and socioeconomic changes in their schools and community. Findings indicate that there were no new policies enacted in the district to address rapid demographic shift, and instead, the district, individual schools, and parents engaged in actions that fell within and outside the boundaries of Sewall’s zone of tolerance.

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Effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organisations’ Activities in Basic Education in Supporting School Dropped Out Girls in Shinyanga Region, Tanzania

East African Journal of Education Studies ◽

10.37284/eajes.3.1.269 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 14-25

Author(s):

Ezekiel Kassanga ◽

Chrispina Lekule

Keyword(s):

Public School ◽

School System ◽

Basic Education ◽

Teenage Mothers ◽

Public School System ◽

Community Members ◽

The Public ◽

Study Population ◽

The Government ◽

Mixed Approach

This study examined NGOs' effectiveness in supporting teenage mothers who dropped out of schools due to pregnancy to accomplish basic education out of the public school system in Tanzania using Shinyanga region as a case study. The study employed a mixed approach whereby the study population included 10 NGOs, 20 teenage mothers who are supported by NGOs and 20 parents/guardians of the supported teenage mothers. For the purpose of investigation; interviews, questionnaires and documents review were used as instruments. The results of this study indicated that most of the NGOs activities’ such as sensitisation, sponsorship, provision of learning materials and running of learning centres, among others are generally ineffective in enabling the ever-increasing teenage mothers to accomplish basic education out of public school system. Its consequence is the fact that most teenage mothers are left under the plight of ignorance. Thus, recommendations are made for the government, NGOs, parents and community members to admit the fact that pregnancy among school girls is not a crime against morality but a tragedy for girls hence deliberate remedies should be done for enabling them to access basic education after delivery because educating a girl is to educate the nation.

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