Establish an inclusive multi-stakeholder Education

Mr. Bertin Mushi, Marketing Manager, Promasidor Tanzania Ltd and Ms. Fatma Fernandes from Abel & Fernandes Company Ltd exchanging ideas with primary school children at the Launch of Hatua Jithamini TV show.

Children from different primary schools at the launch of Hatua Jithamini Show which will be aired on Star TV every Saturday at 7.30 pm to 8pm and TV1 at 11.30am.

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Education is more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic. It is one of the most important investments a country can make in its people and its future and is critical to reducing poverty and inequality.

Education is a human right and it is also the gateway for children to realize their full potential in societies, and break the cycle of poverty. Nonetheless, many factors contribute to limiting the quality of the education that children receive, and hence their learning, that is, lack of textbooks, poor school infrastructure (overcrowded classes, absent children and teachers, poor use of classroom time), parents unable to monitor homework, developmental delays due to lack of early childhood interventions, inappropriate or insufficient learner assessment and limited teacher skills.

An estimated 250 million children who attend primary school in developing countries are struggling to read even basic words. According to UNICEF’s 2014 report, in Tanzania the net primary school enrolment was 89.7% in 2013 however net primary school completion was just 55.3% in the same year. In addition, over the last two decades, national education policies and international aid for education have mainly focused on improving access to primary school and completion rates. Progress has been steady on these two indicators, but the focus has to shift to ensuring that children who attend school actually learn.

According to the Managing Director of Abel & Fernandes Communications Fatma Fernandes, the producer of “Hatua Jithamini” campaign; “The challenge is not finding the problem – that’s easy. The hard part is identifying the solution. We believe that the impact of investing in education is profound; education results in raising income, improving health, promoting gender equality and reducing poverty. From the outset, we recognize that effective measurement of learning is most certainly not the same as improving learning, and that it is only one part of the solution to the many problems facing education especially here in Tanzania.

Our production team visited 12 regions, that is, Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Tabora, Mwanza, Dodoma, Morogoro, Iringa, Songea, Mtwara and Lindi to research on the barriers that hinder access to effective education. Among the challenges that have been addressed are poverty, gender disparity, disability, language, malnutrition, HIV and AIDS as well as cultural barriers. Our hope is to not to find a one-fit all solution but to tackle each case sensitive issue and see a dramatic increase in the number of children learning.

“Hatua Jithamini” program’s approach is focused on a multi-stakeholder inclusion thus educating students, teachers and parents through developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant, fun and participatory activities that involve social learning via the TV show.

We acknowledge the efforts of the Ministry of Education for their initiatives to improve education in Tanzania and their support to this project. Moreover we also appreciate Promasidor Tanzania Ltd as the company is supporting the initiative through one of its brand, Cowbell milk which have all the necessary vitamins including vitamin A, C, D, E & K and minerals that are vital for child growth.

Promasidor’s Marketing Manager, Mr. Bertin Mushi said, “Milk is widely acknowledged and recommended by physicians for strengthening the health of the brain as well as improving body defense systems as a good source of nutrition. We are genuinely proud to get an opportunity to help children and serve the future of the country. Milk is one of the most nutritious foods there is and we want to do what we can to make sure Tanzanian kids grow up drinking it every day.”

Once children are in school, the next challenge is to ensure that they are actually learning to read, write and count as well as acquiring the life skills they will need to become productive members of society. In short, education has the power to make Africa and Tanzania a better place. We therefore urge parents and the community at large get on our bandwagon and be accountable and support the teachers in ensuring that children get quality education. If all students in low-income countries left school with basic reading skills 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty.