Supporting Education In Tanzania

Tanzanian education got a boost this month with a donation from the United States of more than 800,000 textbooks and teachers guides. With support from the American people through the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, textbooks and teachers guides for Form 1 and 2 biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics were presented by U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania Alfonso Lenhardt to Tanzania's Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in a ceremony in Dar es Salaam on August 17th.

"Education is absolutely essential in developing the scientists, engineers, doctors, and teachers so urgently needed for the future of Tanzania," Ambassador Lenhardt told ceremony participants. "We will do all we can to support your efforts to improve education by Tanzanians, for Tanzanians."

The textbooks were developed jointly by South Carolina State University in the United States and experts with Tanzania's Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, or MOEVT, to ensure that the materials are culturally relevant and fully aligned with Tanzania's school curriculum.

Building on their success in producing textbooks for Forms 1 and 2, South Carolina State University and MOEVT are now working together to develop new science and math textbooks for Tanzanian youth in Forms 3 and 4 as part of President Barack Obama's African Education Initiative. This successful collaboration will leverage USAID support to provide a total of more than 2 million textbooks for Tanzanian youth over the next 2 years.

All of the textbooks produced through this partnership are being printed locally to support Tanzania's publishing industry. The new science and math texts include important information on rolling back malaria and HIV/AIDS, and incorporate innovative approaches to language learning that fully address the needs of students in Tanzania's bi-lingual education system.

The United States is pleased to work with its partner Tanzania, to help Tanzanian youth prepare to meet a challenging future.