the teaching box
Southampton
During a Rotary club visit to Arusha, Tanzania in 2012, Jeanette Johnstone
visited a government school and found a serious lack of teaching resources. A
trip to the local library found it full of serious students with no computers
and a limited number of quality text books. “I was really, really confronted by
the lack of opportunity for people outside the School of St Jude (a school in
Arusha established by Australian Gemma Sisia and where she had been staying
while in Tanzania) and thought I’d like to put some effort into looking at
different ways we might be able to assist,” Jeanette said. “Their desire for
education blew my mind.” While the internet may be seen by many to be the answer
this was found not to be the case. The internet was too slow and too expensive
to support proper online learning, and it was being reported that student
results in the Tanzanian National Exams had dropped in places where students had
access to the internet. (Presumably due to the distractions of social media).
Another solution was needed.
