Aga Khan network earns Govt praise in education

Kilwa. The government has lavished praise on the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) for implementing effectively an education initiative under a project dubbed Strengthening Education Systems East Africa (Sesea).

The implementation of the project started in 2012 with a purpose of building capacity to pre and primary school teachers on how best they can prepare teaching aid, monitoring and assess academic performance of their pupils.

The project intends to reach 187,344 teachers in the East African countries out of which Tanzania will have 69,515 female teachers as beneficiaries.

In Tanzania, it was being implemented in Nachingwea, Newala, Rural Lindi and Kilwa District.

It falls under a joint initiative between Global Affairs Canada and the Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC), and being implemented in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda through the Aga Khan University (AKU).

In the message read on his behalf by director of higher education Prof Sylvia Temu, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry of Education, Science and Technology Dr Leonard Akwilapo, recommended the AKU and Sesea management for the effective supervision.

“It’s clear that the project has improved the quality of education through capacity building programmes to pre and primary school teachers. This is a great initiative that deserves credit,” he said.

He added: “Sesea is among the living examples among the private institutions that have a keen interest in the education sector in the country, I therefore use this opportunity to learn from the AKU and its networks”.

According to him, for the past five years since its establishment, Sesea has issued PhD scholarships to 20 teachers and over 2,000 for tutors, and other 200,000 for instructors as well as many other teachers who were exposed to various capacity building courses.

Dr Akwilapo said the Sesesa project was introduced at the right time and that its outcome has directly complemented the government’s initiatives to improve pupil’s capacity in reading, writing and numeracy.

The PS went on to extend his call to the Sesesa management to expand its investment in the education sector to support the government’s policy.

Speaking on behalf of Lindi region education officer Mr Wengi Mchuchuri, the regional cultural officer, Mr Malakege Shekilage echoed Dr Akwilapo’s remarks saying the project has brought a positive impact in the country’s education.

“We, the people of Lindi, are happy with the project. The AKU and Sesesa teams should accept our thanks for doing an outstanding job in our region,” he said.

For his part, AKF East African Coordinator Mr Bernard Urimbo said the phase two project was on the horizon.

Speaking on behalf of the AKU Vice Chancellor, Prof Joe Lugalla, the university’s senior lecturer Dk Nicholaus Washira thanked the education ministry for cooperation, which helped facilitate the accomplishment of the phase one project.