Help Camfed to train teachers in Tanzania

In Tanzania, just ten percent of children are enrolled in secondary school – one of the lowest enrolment rates in the world. But the Tanzanian government has set an ambitious target to increase the secondary school enrolment rate to 50 percent by 2010, and more teachers are needed in order to reach this goal. In particular, female teachers are critical to provide a more girl-friendly environment for girls to learn and flourish in a school system where less than one in three teachers are women.

“There is currently a real momentum behind education in Tanzania,” says Camfed programme officer Naomi Lovett.

“As new schools are built across the country, in many communities this is the first time that rural children have had the opportunity to go to secondary school. The communities have shown their commitment to education by building the schools themselves, and Camfed is supporting the government to provide much needed teachers in the rural areas.”

In a bid to meet this need, the Tanzanian government has subsidised fees for a fast track one-year college course for teacher training, while the trainees are responsible for food, accommodation, books and other costs associated with their studies – a total cost of £50/$90.

“If I get the chance to go to teacher training college, I will be able to develop myself and develop the community as a whole.” Shida Abdallah, TanzaniaCamfed has identified 50 young women from some of the poorest families in rural Tanzania who have graduated from secondary school and qualified for teacher training college. Young women like twenty-one-year-old Shida Abdallah, who studied hard at primary school and was awarded a government grant so that she could continue her studies at secondary school. Shida graduated from secondary school with good results, was accepted into teacher training college and Camfed is meeting her additional costs.

It costs just £50/$90 to support a young woman through teacher training college in Tanzania for one year. Camfed has committed to supporting 50 young women to start studying this January and there are many more young women like Shida who can teach and inspire the next generation of girls given the necessary funds.