What we doFor the eradication of poverty, education is the highest of the priorities of the governments and peoples of Africa. Education often takes an enormous slice of the national and community budget. Teachers in general are highly dedicated and work under crushing circumstances. Students are hard working and have an awareness of the value of education. Families make tremendous sacrifices to ensure their children receive the best education available. Adopt a School assists with the holistic development of Community Schools by appropriate and sustainable means. The aim is to develop an optimum education by providing the Schools, teachers and students with the physical and academic means to attain it. In a well managed school with proper facilities and well trained, dedicated teachers an excellent education is inevitable. With your support we link with an African Community School and the school community for five years and develop the school into a model school by providing ...
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Education is the solution to all the problems of Africa
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WaterMost Tanzanian schools do not have adequate water. Each day water is carried by the children to the school, often from many kilometers away. Thus they miss classes and are often too tired to study. By providing water to the school we are able to also provide household water to the surrounding village and so increase the quality of life. Water for homes is most often carried by young girls and is frequently the cause for them to miss school entirely. School teachers have identified the lack of water as being more detrimental to their work than the lack of classrooms. Adopt a School provides water by the most economical and environmentally suitable means. |
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Restoring and constructing classrooms and school facilitiesVery few schools have adequate classrooms. In most schools they are dilapidated or unfinished. Toilet blocks are rarely satisfactory. Assembly facilities are a rarity. Staff rooms and teachers facilities are inadequate. Libraries or computer rooms almost non-existent. Adopt a School aims to see this situation rectified by providing structures using appropriate, low cost building practices. Wherever possible local labor and materials are utilized, work is closely supervised and an optimum quality obtained. All works are approved by the district engineers and education authorities. The school community assists with all projects both in funds and labor. School children also assist with the work.
When a school is adopted the process is to bring all classrooms up to a basic standard before any new construction is commenced. This usually requires the rendering of walls to prevent dampness, painting, windows and doors and other repairs. All works are undertaken at the direction of the benefactor of the school. All Community Schools need assistance with the provision of facilities. Adopt a School seeks out the most appropriate and cost efficient methods to provide them. The program is implementing innovative methods of construction, energy use, agriculture, human waste disposal, landscaping and forestry. In every case concentration is placed on using local resources of material and labor so that maximum benefit and minimum cost is offered to the local community. The use of imported goods in construction, even from within the country is avoided wherever possible. All buildings, facilities, gardens and furniture are made by the local villagers and students themselves. |
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School FurnitureAfrican Community Schools are short of everything. Many classrooms have no desks. Text books and teaching materials are very few. In selected schools Adopt a School provides sufficient materials for the school to operate efficiently. In most cases desks and materials are locally manufactured or purchased but are often sourced from overseas donors. Used computers and teaching materials are eagerly sought. |
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Text books and writing materialsIn all selected schools Adopt a School tries to ensure that all teachers have the appropriate text books for the current curriculum and that all students have access to them. Pens and note books are available at low cost in Africa and are purchased and provided from benefactors funds wherever possible. |
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LibrariesNo community schools have libraries but it is our effort to provide them. This means a lot more than the provision of books. As all schools are short of classrooms a special secure room has to be constructed and teachers educated in classification and maintenance. Children also need to be instructed in the care of books. Many children have to walk many kilometers to and from school carrying the books in their hand or in plastic bags. The books are easily damaged. Donations of appropriate books are gratefully accepted when we have been able to develop the facilities to store and care for them. |
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Computers and InstructionAs the developed world races into the advanced digital age many African students leave secondary school without even having seen a computer. Not only does this severely retard a modern education it prevents African Nations from being part of the digital age. Modern communication and methods are not possible. This is a serious problem identified by all African educators and those concerned with the advancement of African nations. Adopt a School is constantly trying to source used but serviceable computers from donors and the means to install them securely in schools with a regular power supply. If computers are to be used for efficient instruction a special secure computer room needs to be constructed with power outlets but even a single computer in the staff room for teacher use is a very valuable and useful commodity. |
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Landscaping, Agriculture and the EnvironmentThe landscaping of adopted schools is one of the first tasks we undertake. It is done at the same time as the restoration of existing classrooms. Landscaping is undertaken to lift the tone of the school and to provide a pleasant academic environment. It is also done so that students and the school community will have an example of land care to bring into their own homes. Most African economies are based on Agriculture. This is certainly the case with Tanzania. Agriculture is a subject taught in many schools. The Adopt a School program supports this aspect of the curriculum by establishing gardens and nurseries within the school grounds that are maintained and developed by the students and local communities. These nurseries provide seeds and seedlings to local farmers to improve and augment existing plantings. Organic and permacultural methods, which do not require expensive fertilizers and chemicals, are introduced and practiced. They are utilized as a hands on approach to lessons. Agroforestry is the basic method of agriculture across most of village Africa but tree plantings have not kept up with the rapacious use of wood. Environment problems are horrendous and while they are often blamed on global warming the real problem lies with poor land management and exploitative land use. There is more than enough potentially fertile land in Africa to not only make recurrent famine a thing of the past but to feed the rest of the world. The Adopt a School program has recognized that in an agricultural economy an emphasis on agriculture and environment education of all types is of vital importance and it is a significant aspect of our work. |
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MusicAfricans have possibly a greater love of music than the peoples of any other continent but musical abilities are not developed in Community Schools Adopt a School assists by encouraging teachers to improve musical instruction and by providing local musical instruments, mostly drums. We arrange school performances and inter-school competitions which involve the school communities and develop a stronger bond between the community and the school. |
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Professional development and capacity building for teachersThe experience of Adopt a School is that teachers in Tanzania are in general highly motivated and dedicated. The government is doing all within it’s means to provide sufficient training. There is however enormous potential for improvement and teachers are anxious to develop their skills. Adopt a School makes every effort to provide workshops and post graduate training in contemporary and appropriate teaching techniques. This is a priority work of Adopt a School and we are actively seeking professional volunteers who can assist. |
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Assistant Teachers to reduce class sizesClass sizes in Community Schools are way above what a competent teacher can cope with. Eighty children to a class is not uncommon, sometimes the classes exceed 200 students. Adopt a School accepts applications from indigent and suitable young people and employs them as assistant teachers to our adopted schools thereby cutting a class size in half. After a one year internship the assistant may qualify for an Adopt a School scholarship to enter teachers college. In so doing we employ a young person in desperate circumstances and give them a future and a career. We cut class sizes in half, relieve the burden on the teachers and ensure the children are receiving an adequate education. |
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Student Teacher ScholarshipsScholarships are only offered to student teachers after they have worked as an assistant teacher in a needy school for one year and proven their dedication to the profession. By special arrangement with a local colleges Adopt a School has negotiated a special fee of US$1,560 per year per student for a two year course. This remarkably low cost will lift a young person from poverty and benefit thousands of young Africans by providing them with a competent teacher and a sound education. |
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