The last two Fridays I have been out and about - my ‘work diary’ will say community relations but I have been getting to know Tanzania!

On September 17^th I went to the Graduation Ceremony for the Standard VII class at New Vision English Medium School (EMS).  This is a private school in a village 2 hours drive SW of Bukoba via 10 km of tarmac then 30 km of rough dirt road.  An EMS is a school where the medium of instruction is English.  The school is quite new.  This was their first ever graduating class and it had 11 students.  All of them will pass the Standard VII exam, the results won’t come until December but there is little doubt of their success. 

Steve and I were among the guests of honour at the ceremony.  When we’d agreed to go we had explained that we would need to leave at 12 noon as Steve had an appointment in town at 3 pm.  As the ceremony was due to start at 10 am this seemed reasonable but in the event it didn’t start until 11:30 so our departure ½  an hour later was a bit embarrassing!  We were there long enough to see some children dancing and singing and to speak to each of the students in the Graduating class.

This picture shows the Graduating Class singing a song about the importance of education.  Each of the girls sang a verse and everyone joined in with the chorus.  The boy on the end reminded me of Toby at the same age – gangly and uncoordinated with no sense of rhythm.  We enjoyed what we saw of the ceremony and were sorry to have to leave early.

Last Friday I attended a celebration of Adult Education at a government school not far from New Vision.  Steve was again busy so I went in the District’s 4WD driven by one of the District’s drivers.  There were little stalls set up showing the items of food, clothing and furniture produced by the adult education vocational classes and also agricultural exhibits from the agriculture class.  Again there were speeches, and singing and dancing by local school children, but also some traditional dancing by an adult group brought in for the day.  One of the speeches explained how important these classes were to the mostly young adults who accessed them – these students had for various reasons missed the chance to get an education as children and were making up the deficiency now.  Often they had missed out because of poverty and lack of parent support for education  The speech was delivered in the ‘sing-song’ of an Islamic Mosque service. 

One of the songs from a primary school group was about the importance of education but also included a plea for a more relevant curriculum (I applauded this verse loudly) and stronger support by elected officials for education. There was a rather long speech delivered by a region education leader and several shorter speeches translated for me by Mr Josiah.  A very nice lunch followed, cooked by the Home Economics class, and we returned to Bukoba about 5 pm.  Again it was a lovely day out and interesting to meet and chat to a variety of people.  I was the only Mzungu so received a special welcome in the speeches which is always embarrassing.

On the Monday in between these two events I had a trip to the Tanzanian Revenue Authority to fetch the umbrella I’d left there earlier the previous week.  I was on my own and the official who had helped us then (and who had the umbrella) was in the mood for a chat.  Where was the man I had had with me last time?  At home.  And who was he anyway?  My husband.  Was I happily married and did I love him?  Yes and yes.  How many children did I have? Three.  Only three?  Yes, that’s plenty to educate. (Here is where the conversation became relevant.)  The leader of the Inquisition, really a very nice man with the Tanzanian habit of asking what in our culture are impertinent questions but quite acceptable in Tz, told me he has five children and is constantly scratching for the money to  pay school fees.  I asked if the children are at an English Medium School.  Of course, he said, children cannot learn at a government school.

On Thursday I had a long chat at morning tea time with the District Procurement officer.  He told me about his secondary school education at a Roman Catholic boarding school far from his home.  I asked how he felt about being away from his parents and home at such a young age.  He said if he hadn’t gone he would have no education and no life choices.  (He also told me he is hoping to do an MBA in Australia.)

In Australia we have a private education sector that gets significant Government funding and anyone who knows me well will know how I feel about that.  And I know some of you reading this have strongly differing views and feel you are doing the best by your children and make many sacrifices to give them what you see as a better education.  (We’ll settle it behind the shelter shed later – or is that just a state school thing?). 

Here in Tanzania the choice is stark, and it truly is about standard of education!  Parents I talk to are making huge financial sacrifices to send their children to an English Medium School, some children are away boarding at 6 years of age. But the difference in educational opportunity is also huge.  I am seeing class sizes of 15 to 25 in the private schools – classes 10 times that size are not unheard of in the government schools.  Private schools have a text book ratio of 1:1, I have heard 1:10 commonly and up to 1:30 in some government schools.  Very few children at government schools will be celebrating ‘graduation’ until the letter comes in December as over half will not have passed. Private schools in Tanzania get no government funding though some have significant sponsorship, often foreign and usually from religious organisations.  Some are money making ventures – the local CCM candidate owns one (conflict of interest anyone?) – and the quality would vary widely.  The more I learn about education in Tanzania the more thankful I am to have been born in Australia where all children, no matter what their parents choose, get the chance of an excellent education.