The Impact Of Mining Activities On Educational Development: A Case Of Geita Gold Mine

ABSTRACT

This study sought to assess the impact of mining activities on educational development. The theoretical frame work of this study was grounded on the Open System theory. Open System theory asserts that, a system does not exist in the vacuum. It is dependent on its environment in which it is established. Its implication is that, education development as a system depends on mining environment of Geita through which it was established. So mining environment, can affect educational development positively or negatively. This study used Cross Sectional Survey design with mixed approaches namely as; qualitative and quantitative. Empirical data were gathered through open and closed form questionnaire, documentary review and semi structured interviews from 60 respondents. The qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics of which frequencies, percentages, and means were presented. The major findings showed that, views of educational community was that; presence of mining activities in Geita urban district is disadvantageous, since most of the respondents disagreed with the question that enquired about the blessing or disadvantage of mining activities in Geita. Visited schools by the researcher were found to be overcrowded, lacking staff houses, missing enough text books and lacking enough classrooms. All these disqualify enhancement of quality education to the mining community in Geita. Basing on the findings it was recommended that; the government and mining investors should assess challenges which face the educational institutions into mining societies. Moreover, education stakeholders should formulate partnership between large scale mining companies and school institutions for the betterment of quality education.