Next March I'm going to Tanzania for 3 months to volunteer with VSO! I am going to be volunteering on an education themed project, supporting the 'Improving children's learning and participation programme' (ICLP) which is currently operating in 24 primary schools within the Bukoba district of Tanzania.

Although roughly 95% of children in Tanzania now attend primary school, the quality of education still remains weak. A UWEZO report on education concluded that by Standard lll: 70% of students cannot read Swahili (the national language), 90% cannot read english and 80% cannot do basic maths. 

Within the 24 primary schools in which the ICLP project runs, The Standard 7 examination results indicated that 34% of boys and 31% of girls passed the English exam, and 57% of boys and 53% of girls passed the Maths.

Although marginally higher than the national average, the performance of children is affected by many factors including:

• Teachers have limited training and lack skills
  to implement child-centred learning
• Children are vulnerable to child-rights abuse in
  and out of school
• Head teachers are classroom teachers who have no
  special training in school leadership and receive no extra salary for the
  increased workloads

These are just a few of the many aspects that are currently affecting the quality of education that children are receiving. The project I will be participating in is a long term initiative helping to tackle these problems, and implement solutions that will positively impact the communities and the children within them. 

I believe this is a really exciting initiative, and I hope you will support me along this journey!

Thank you!

Eleanor 

VSO brings people together to address marginalisation and poverty. Right now, VSO is bringing justice to rape survivors in Pakistan, ending stigma against disabled children in Ethiopia and tackling the youth skills gap in Uganda.Please join me as I take a stand against poverty and support VSO's uniquely effective approach that reached over 1.5 million people last year alone.Read more about this vital work, please visit their website: www.vsointernational.org/fighting-povertyThank you