Dar es Salaam – Educational vulnerability is about far more than poor grades or struggling with a particular subject. It stems from a combination of factors that accumulate over time, including family background, neighbourhood and the school a child attends. These inequalities begin long before children are able to shape their own future. Yet such disadvantages are not inevitable. In primary schools across Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, targeted remedial education programmes have led to significant improvements in pupils' learning outcomes. These are the findings of the cooperation project "Equality of Educational Opportunities: Remedial Education Interventions in Tanzania", funded through the University of Bologna's Global South 2024 programme and coordinated by Professor Giuseppe Pignataro of the Department of Economics. The project combined academic research with field interventions as part of the broader PRT – Pamoja Tudumishe Elimu initiative, funded by Education Above All (EAA) and implemented by the international NGO WeWorld. The University of Bologna team, which also included Professor Fedele Greco from the Department of Statistical Sciences and Professor Massimo Marcuccio from the Department of Education Studies, brought together expertise in quantitative research and pedagogy. Their work combined teacher training, locally adapted teaching materials and remedial classes for pupils experiencing the greatest learning difficulties. Overall, the study examined the academic performance and social and family circumstances of nearly 6,000 children across ten primary schools. Around 90 per cent were found to experience at least one form of educational vulnerability, including poverty, orphanhood, disability or irregular school attendance. Based on assessments conducted every six months in English, Kiswahili, mathematics and science, the research recorded improvements across all subjects, with particularly strong gains in mathematics, where pupils had initially faced the greatest challenges. The remedial classes, designed for children at the highest educational risk, reached 2,233 pupils in 2024 and 2,165 in 2025. Of these, 1,531 participated in both years, demonstrating that sustained educational support is not only desirable but also achievable in practice. Questionnaires completed by the pupils also challenge common stereotypes. Many expressed a strong desire to continue their education, build professional careers and learn in more inclusive environments. In these contexts, poor academic performance stems not from a lack of motivation but from the difficulty of turning aspiration into achievement when time, support, continuity and favourable learning conditions are lacking. The research also highlights the crucial role played by teachers. Remedial interventions prove significantly more effective when accompanied by professional development and teaching methods that enable learning difficulties to be identified at an early stage. "Educational gaps can be narrowed when they are recognised early, when support is targeted, when teachers receive appropriate guidance and when schools have access to reliable data showing where intervention is needed," Professor Pignataro said. "Remedial education should become a routine part of a school system capable of identifying those at risk of falling behind before it is too late, providing children not only with access to the classroom but with genuine opportunities to learn." (9colonne)