Enabling school education in Tanzania

The Tanzanian school system suffers from a series of problems: state schools lack properly qualified teachers in many places and, moreover, they have to teach classes that are far too large. This affects the quality of the lessons. On the other hand, private schools can finance themselves only from school fees. But these fees are not affordable for many families, especially in rural areas.

The Mbozi Secondary School is located in the Songwe Region of South-Western Tanzania. In contrast to many state schools it has laboratories and computers at its disposal, which means it can even teach science subjects and IT. Moreover, it offers accommodation in order to be able to accept pupils from more remote villages. But this costs about 600 Euros per pupil per year – far too expensive for poorer families.

For that reason, the school itself also has a financial problem: despite the quality of its lessons, its current level of income is insufficient. In the past, teachers were not always paid on time, and a deficit has even already accrued in its insurance payments.

The Mbozi Secondary School needs to attract higher pupil numbers in order to be able to budget sensibly and to pay reasonable salaries. At the same time, poor children from the surrounding area need education, but their families cannot meet the costs. The idea of the project is to pay them the school fees so that, on the one hand, destitute children and young people can receive a good education and, on the other hand, the continuing existence of the Mbozi Secondary School can be guaranteed

In the meantime, the school together with the church’s social service has identified 27 destitute children from the region. Thanks to the knodel foundation paying their school fees, they will receive a good education in future.