Bursary Support Program
Flagship Programs
Vocational Training and Future Leaders
According to the 2021 World Bank Tanzania Education Sector Institutional and Governance Assessment report, 28% of Tanzanian children are not enrolled in secondary school and only 3.1% have access to tertiary education (UNESCO).
The Bursary Support Program was created to increase the number of students accessing secondary school and tertiary education. The program has succeeded in improving access to tertiary education for students from low-income families, who would otherwise have had no means of funding their education.
The program has supported students enrolled at secondary schools, vocational colleges, and universities.
Bursary Support Programme successes
- Previously sponsored student was awarded the highest mark at sixth form examinations and providing him a university place to study Food Science and Technology at University;
- Eight (8) students completed vocational technical training in Tailoring, Cookery, Plumbing, Electrical Installations and Motor vehicle mechanics.
- We have seen an improved number of students pass-rates at high school in recent years, compared to previous years. And this is attributed to the Library and Bursary Support Programme. Students have more access to learning materials and have a guarantee that should they perform well at school, they would have financial assistance to support them through university.
- In 2022, Msimbati Secondary School (the Secondary School nearest to the Wentworth’s gas operations) was able to have the highest number of students achieve a pass-rate at the national examinations. For the first time since the start of the school, 60 students have achieved a pass rate. This means all 60 students are now eligible for entry at university.
Libraries for Secondary Schools
Flagship Programs
Since 2014, WAF has been working in partnership with READ International to set up reading libraries in schools across Mtwara and Lindi, where WAF funds 100% of the project.
Libraries are important in schools as they provide teachers and students with print and digital materials that offer opportunities to strengthen student learning. School library programs stimulate critical thinking, providing students with the skills they need to analyse, form, and communicate ideas.
WAF’s Libraries for Secondary Schools program is implemented by a local Tanzanian legal registered non-government-organization called Realising Development Through Education (READ). Through this program WAF and READ aim at “improving the quality of education in Tanzania, with a clear focus to ensure the Government schools’ environment is conducive and supports learning and teaching.”
The program provides schools with textbooks, fictional and non-fictional books, and five computers, each with educational software (Soma Direct) which enables the students to access online and offline educational-related reading resources.
Further, the program provides teachers with the capacity to increase knowledge and improve teaching methodologies.
Additional program activities include the creation of reading clubs that equip students with reading skills, promote a reading culture, and in turn, improve individual self-esteem.
Through the Libraries for Secondary Schools program, some secondary schools in the Mtwara region may be elevated to the High School level. This is an important development as it enables the school to receive more funding from the government.
Keep a Girl in School
Flagship Programs
In Tanzania, like many low-income countries, girls receive limited puberty guidance, and the cost of mass-produced sanitary materials is high.
The complete lack of proper sanitation facilities and affordable hygiene materials for use by adolescent girls at home and at school, affects their health, their potential to access education, employment, overall safety and quality of life.
Girls who do not have access to female hygiene products miss three to four classes each month during their menses, which adds up to 30 to 40 missed days per school year. A growing body of research shows that girls’ inability to manage their menstrual hygiene in schools results in school absenteeism, which in turn, has severe economic costs on their lives and on the country as a whole.
It is for this reason that WAF developed the Keep a Girl in School Program.
The importance of the program is particularly seen in the rural areas, where teachers are reporting improved school attendance and less absenteeism among girls.
In 2017, 13-year-old Isobel joined the Wentworth Africa Foundation team on the ground in Mtwara in southeastern Tanzania to help promote the ‘Keep a Girl in School’ programme of personal care. It was her first trip outside of Europe. See what she had to say in this short video.
