Tanzania | Projects

71%

of 14-17 year olds are not enrolled in secondary education [2]

QUENTIN JUNIOR ACADEMY

The Quentin Junior Academy was established in 2009 in a suburb of Dar es Salaam where 13 pupils received free pre-primary education. It proved so successful that numbers quickly grew and in early 2018, they moved into a brand new, purpose-built nursery school that has capacity for up to 100 students.

Many families in Dar es Salaam work in local quarries where they grind stones into gravel – often working for less than 1 US Dollar per day. In a country with no state-funded pre-primary education system, children frequently accompany their parents to work where they spend hours watching them work in an unsafe environment. Sadly, they are often eventually lured into working themselves by unscrupulous quarry owners.

The Quentin Junior Academy offers a safe learning environment for these children, standing them in good stead for the future, with plenty of time for play, music and physical education to improve their self-confidence and help build relationships.

Your donations help us to support the nursery by providing educational materials, paying the salary of one of the teachers and ensuring the children receive a nutritious Uji porridge meal each day. We have also helped the nursery to develop a vegetable patch which supplements the porridge meal and helps teach children basic gardening skills.

SCHOOL GIRL ESSENTIALS

Tanzanian teachers have identified a lack of affordable sanitary towels as a significant factor in reduced school attendance for girls from under-served social & economic backgrounds.

As such, our Tanzanian partner – Mfuko Wa Watoto - has introduced its School Girl Essentials programme that will extend Education All Month, Every Month to schools in the traditionally Maasai region around Arusha. 

For a girl who is menstruating, the inability of her family to afford sanitary towels coupled with cultural taboos around menstruation mean that she is will miss on average four days of school every month. She will fall behind in class which often leads to her dropping out of school completely.

In addition to the expense of sanitary towels and underwear, girls have limited education about the facts of menstruation and limited access to counselling and guidance, the impact of which is further compounded by cultural myths, leading to embarrassment and low self-esteem.  

First periods are described as frightening, confusing and shame-inducing – emotions no girl should feel.

The Education All Month, Every Month scheme will ensure hundreds of girls in designated schools receive a supply of reusable or disposable sanitary towels in addition to regular deliveries of underwear and soap. Furthermore, the programme will act as an entry point for engagement on wider issues related to menstrual hygiene and reproductive health by providing an education forum in each participating school that will enable girls to learn about what to expect during puberty and raise awareness of risks surrounding HIV/AIDS.