Hidden cost of education for students in big cities

Dar es Salaam. It is 6:00am in Dar es Salaam. The streets are buzzing. Hawkers line the pavements, commuters rush toward bus stops, and schoolchildren—dressed in brown, green, blue, and white uniforms—stand huddled in small groups, eyes darting toward every approaching minibus.

However, when the daladala finally screeches to a stop, the conductor swings open the door and yells, “Hatubebi wanafunzi!”—We don’t carry students! And just like that, the bus moves on, leaving the students behind.

This scene repeats itself every morning at busy terminals like Ubungo, Kimara, Mbagala and Mwenge.

While public buses are supposed to serve all citizens, students, especially from low-income families, face rejection, humiliation, and sometimes even abuse from bus conductors.

For students like Neema Michael, a Form Two student at Jangwani Secondary School, every school day begins with a battle—not in the classroom, but at the bus stop.

“I leave home by 5:30am., but I sometimes arrive late because the conductors don’t want to take us. If you try to insist, they shout or ignore you,” says Neema, who lives in Mbezi but goes to school in the city centre.

Her mother, Mama Neema, relocated from Kariakoo to Mbezi due to rising rent. “We couldn’t afford the city anymore,” she says. “But my daughter’s school is good, so I didn’t want to transfer her. I didn’t know transport would be this hard.”

“Even the bus rapid transit (BRT) system, which I thought would be helpful, is one of the biggest challenges, especially in the morning hours,” she adds.

Like many urban families, the only affordable option for low-income parents is public transport. However, this “affordable” option is becoming more and more hostile.

“They don’t pay!”

According to a conductor on the Kimara–Posta route,  Mr Ali Mkandara, the issue is simple: “Students pay half. That means we lose money. We have targets. If we fill the bus with students, we’ll fail.”

Mr Mkandara admits to rejecting students even when the bus is half full. “We’re not proud of it. But owners don’t care. They want Sh100,000 or more by the end of the day,” he says.

A bus driver on the Mwenge–Kariakoo route, Josephat Komba, shares a similar view. “Conductors are under pressure. Some owners are even harsher if they find you’ve taken too many students.”

He adds: “During peak hours, it is war at every stand. Students, workers, traders—everyone wants to get in. And students are slow. They get pushed.”

Tanzania’s Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra)—now under the Land Transport Regulatory Authority (Latra)—stipulates that students in uniform should pay half fare and must not be denied service.

However, in practice, the rule is largely ignored.

“There is a law, yes. But who enforces it at 6am in Kimara?” asks a parent and primary school teacher, Ms Upendo Mwakilasa. “Even if students report, most times nothing changes.”

In 2022, Latra launched a student card system to help monitor transport compliance and ensure proper fare charges. But the rollout has been slow, and some conductors refuse to accept the cards, claiming they are “fake” or “expired.”

“I don’t like mornings,” says Samuel, a Standard Seven pupil in Temeke. “I always wait for too long. They shout at us. Sometimes I cry and go back home.”

His mother, Mama Sam, sells pancakes. “There are days he misses school because the conductors insult him. They think students don’t matter. But we are trying our best.”

For working parents who must leave early, trusting that their children will reach school safely and on time is now a gamble. The psychological toll on children, especially girls, is another layer often overlooked.

A cycle of inequality

Education is the most powerful tool to lift families out of poverty—but for low-income urban dwellers, even that journey is threatened by the very public systems meant to support them.

An education policy analyst, Dr Leonard Munira, says transport rejection is part of a larger inequality problem. “When families are pushed out of city centres due to rent, children are forced to travel farther. Without reliable, safe transport, schooling becomes a nightmare.” He adds: “The state must recognise transport as a vital part of access to education.”

Parents, educationists, and even some conductors agree that the system needs fixing. Among the possible solutions, they say include: stricter enforcement of Latra rules, including undercover spot checks.

“There must be a will to act,” says Ms Mwakilasa. “Education is a right. We cannot let students be punished for being poor.”

As Dar es Salaam continues to expand, the gap between where people live and where their children study will also widen. If the city fails to make room for its most vulnerable commuters—its students—the dream of inclusive, quality education will remain just that: a dream.