Poor student performance in the national examinations in the past years has been of great concern to many Tanzanian, who are dedicated to promote the learning process.
With this in mind, a local Non Governmental Organization set up activity in 2006 with the aim of improving education for Tanzanian children.
Opportunity Education, decided to joining hands with the government to change this sad trend.
This year, the NGO has donated laptop computers embedded with 450 video lessons and television screens to a number of schools. According to the NGO, the aim is to ensure school teachers have access to the curriculum on their laptops, while students follow the lessons as projected on TV screens.
"We have realized that both primary and secondary school students will benefit a lot from our materials, as they face more or less the sane problems", said Mbaki Mutahaba, Opportunity Education Tanzania Field Manager.
Lessons provided using the laptops have great use of videos that help engage students and create focus for the lessons. This is one of the learning principles of Opportunity Education, it makes learning a fun process.
"Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is very important in today's world, not only does it expose the students, but more importantly, it can help build a foundation in their future education " insists Mr Mbaki.
The fact is, the government alone cannot supply all schools with education materials. Support from various organizations would help jerk up government's premeditated efforts. Opportunity Education has shown interest to join other education stakeholders in a bid to improve the learning environment for students.
The NGO has invested in the education sector by providing education materials to teachers and students all over the country. Currently, over 360 primary and secondary schools have benefited from the organization's support.
Through this initiative, the firm has been able to record a number of successes, such as increased enrollment and improved attendance due to the exciting learning methods provided. Some of the secondary schools that have benefited from the NGO supports include Pugu, Tusiime, St Joseph Millennium, Montfort, St Anne and Freys Luis, all from Dar es Salaam.
"The aim is to spread our service further to rural schools. However, due to financial constraints, we will need more time and patience", says Mr Mutahaba. In the case of primary schools, Opportunity Education has managed to take its support to Karume English Medium primary school in Bukoba.
The support according to the school's head teacher, Mr Seif Mkunde has greatly improved in performance. For instance, the school emerged as number one of 968 schools in Kagera Region and was 6th in the country out of 15,059 schools in the 2012 exams.
"Opportunity Education program support has given us a very big advantage to improve the standard of education at our school, region and country at large", says Mr Mkunde. One of the teachers from the supported schools, Sr Linda Jerald from ST Anne Primary School says the education materials offered by Opportunity Education are extremely helpful in teaching.
"Today we can see clearly the difference in the performance of students after using the computers. We thank the Opportunity Education's materials in the teaching methods. The methodology and visual ability help students grasp concepts faster than reading the notes," Sister Linda explained.
Mr Mbaki appeals to all needy schools across the country that need to benefit from organization's education support to apply through their website, www. opportuniyeducation.org.
He said that education sector in the country faces a number of problems that cannot be addressed amicably without joint efforts from all players in the sector including government and other stakeholders.
"As an NGO, we can't cover everything, that is why we are playing our part in improving education, thus , the government has its role, as well as other NGO's and stakeholders, " insisted Mr Mbaki.
On their future plans,besides extending wings to rural areas, Mr Mbaki said that the NGO plan of supplying mini laptops to students, loaded with powerful digital lessons, plans that would replace the current educational materials, will not only see students in Tanzania access better education but also embrace ICT in their studies.
Ms Philomena Temu, a former Education Officer with Ministry of Education, says Opportunity Education tools are among imperative steps meant for improving learning in Tanzania schools. "Many schools lack books, and have very few teachers, so these tools although they are not replacement for teachers they will really curb the situation," says Ms Temu.
Ms Temu says even in schools with enough teachers, Opportunity Education tools to be used to compliment what the teachers are teaching. With future plans of supplying tablets to students, loaded with powerful digital lessons, Opportunity Education's mission is to see that students access better education through technology and embrace ICT in their studies.
Aspects among others, stipulated by many people hint at relevance of the curriculum, the syllabus, learning environment starting from primary and secondary schools, students' seriousness in their studies, availability of teaching facilities at all levels and the degree of comfort among the school teachers.
One of the students who failed, Joash Lameck a product of ward secondary school-Bukura in Mara region noted that nothing was expected from the result for they lacked all requirements that would have led them to success.
"We have few teachers but all are incompetent as we heard that some of them were just form six dropouts, what do you expect from such a teacher? The school goes without modern library and laboratory, it is thereafter hard to pass under this situation , " he said.
