School dropout is absenteeism from school for no good reason for a continuous number of days. Addressing this challenge requires a thorough understanding of the underlying issues and effective planning for interventions. Over the years machine learning has gained much attention on addressing the problem of students dropout. This is because machine learning techniques can effectively facilitate determination of at-risk students and timely planning for interventions. In order to collect, organize, and synthesize existing knowledge in the field of machine learning on addressing student dropout; literature in academic journals, books and case studies have been surveyed. The survey reveal that, several machine learning algorithms have been proposed in literature. However, most of those algorithms have been developed and tested in developed countries. Hence, developing countries are facing lack of research on the use of machine learning on addressing this problem. Furthermore, many studies focus on addressing student dropout using student level datasets. However, developing countries need to include school level datasets due to the issue of limited resources. Therefore, this paper presents an overview of machine learning in education with the focus on techniques for student dropout prediction. Furthermore, the paper highlights open challenges for future research directions.

Globally, applications of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in services management and delivery have positively transformed various sectors of economies. Similar transformations have been witnessed in Tanzania, where mobile money and the Internet have transformed the way businesses are done. However, the transformations have not taken place across all sectors of the Tanzanian economy with some sectors lagging further behind than others. Cultural heritage sector, in particular, has been slow in leveraging ICT to transform the delivery of services. The sector is characterized by poor consumption of heritage sites and artworks, neglect, low publicity, weak branding, to mention a few. Although the achieved level of skills in Internet and Web have enabled the proliferation of many useful Websites which offer services to the public, information gathering remains a huge challenge considering the size of the country, its cultural heritage from 126 tribes and the vast nature reserves. We have investigated the usefulness of Web services in promoting mechanisms to gather and disseminate information about e-Cultural Heritage in Tanzania. In our investigations, we analyzed stakeholders of the sector and realized that Web services can be used to foster mechanisms within specific groups using crowdsourcing techniques. We then proposed specific Web services that cater for information flow chain of Tanzanian's artwork industry and developed an e-cultural heritage portal for demonstration. We tested the system with a sample of selected stakeholders and the initial results indicated that the locals' readiness for such a system is strong enough and that apart from developers benefiting from the Web services, accessibility of information and stakeholders' visibility will improve.

This study is part of the EU H2020 research Project FLOWERED (de-FLuoridation technologies for imprOving quality of WatEr and agRo-animal products along the East African Rift Valley in the context of aDaptation to climate change). FLOWERED project aims to develop technologies and methodologies at cross-boundary catchment scales to manage the risks associated with high Fluoride water supply in Africa, focusing on three representative test areas along the African Rift Valley (i.e. Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania), characterized by high fluoride contents in waters and soils, water scarcity, overexploitation of groundwater and high vulnerability to risks arising from climate change, as drought and desertification. It also is empowering local communities to take responsibility for the integrated-sustainability of the natural resources, growing national and international environmental priorities, enhancing transboundary cooperation and promoting local ownership based on a scientific and technological approach. Within the FLOWERED project, the transition from the land cover to the land use and water use maps is provided through the development of a mobile application (FLOWERED-GeoDBapp ). It is dedicated to the collection of local geo-information on land use, water uses, irrigation systems, household features, use of drinking water and the other information needful for the specific knowledge of water supply involving local communities through participative approach. This system is structured to be populated, through an action of crowd-generating data by local communities (students and people involved mainly by NGOs). The SHAREGEODBapp is proposed as an innovative tool for water management and agriculture institutions at regional and local level.