AKF initiative changing the way schoolchildren learn
Tanzania's Ministries of Education, Schools2030 and UNICEF's Data Must Speak research join forces to improve education in the country. PHOTO | UNICEF
What you need to know:
- One of the reasons for the introduction of such a project in some primary and secondary schools within Dar es Salaam and Lindi regions was due to challenges such as lack of adequate teachers, overcrowding in classrooms and too much insistance on theory compared to practical learning.
Dar es Salaam. The Aga Khan Foundation’s $500,000 (about Sh1.2 billion) annual School2030 Tanzania project has enabled teachers and students to visualise and solve the challenges they face leading to improvement of teaching and learning in public schools.
Using the principles of human-centred design and focusing on key transition ages of five, 10 and 15, the initiative, which was launched in 2020, supported teachers and students in designing and implementing education micro-innovations.
“These low-cost and scaleable innovations inform and transform education systems to improve holistic learning outcomes for the most marginalised learners in Tanzania,” Mr Shaibu Mandavo, the School2030 project coordinator told reporters yesterday.
One of the reasons for the introduction of such a project in some primary and secondary schools within Dar es Salaam and Lindi regions was due to challenges such as lack of adequate teachers, overcrowding in classrooms and too much insistance on theory compared to practical learning.
The ten-year participatory learning improvement project based on 1,000 government schools across ten countries, has shown positive results according to Mr Mandavo and some of the beneficiaries.
Teachers said they have come up with a number of innovations, including how to help students learn mathematics easily by setting up math laboratories while others have come up with ways to enable pupils to read, write and count easily.
“Through this project we have been able to eliminate negative attitudes towards mathematics among students as it is now easier for teachers to reach individual students and help them through the laboratories,” said Ms Halima Tagalile, a teacher from Kijichi Secondary School as she showcased the outcome of the programme.
In the laboratory, according to the teacher, students have been entering group learning with all the facilitators’ equipment, including one student using a single book and various arithmetic rules posted on the wall.
“It is a class that makes students excited to learn, love to learn and we have succeeded in removing the concept of students seeing this subject as difficult as the class used is participatory,” she said.
“The existing friendly environment, pictures of various shapes and principles have helped increase students’ motivation to learn and understand, even our weekly math test results show performance improvement,” she further noted.
Mr Mandavo said this year the project expects to spend $500,000 adding that the 10-year project’s budget has been tailored according to the needs of each academic calendar, assuring that through the initiative, students will have the right skills, knowledge and direction of learning.
“Before a teacher comes up with an invention, he is passed through training in various stages until he finds a solution to the challenges he is going through in the classroom,” he said, adding, “If a teacher says his class has too many students we ask him what he can do to get rid of it and we support his innovation.”
He said the best innovations will be shared with other schools for tackling challenges hindering smooth learning,” said Mr Mandavo.
