World Bank program to benefit over 12 mn children in Tanzania

Dar Es Salaam, Dec 23 (IANS) The World Bank has approved $500 million that will benefit more than 12 million children in pre-primary and primary education in Tanzania's mainland, the bank has said in a statement.

The programme called 'BOOST Primary Student Learning Program for Results' is aimed at making pre-primary and primary education better and more accessible across the east African country, Xinhua news agency reported citing the statement released on Wednesday.

The statement said the education programme supported by World Bank will help make Tanzania primary schools safer, more inclusive, child friendly and enhance teachers' subject content knowledge.

The overall goal is to ensure an education system that supports all children, including the most marginalised, to enroll early, develop strong foundational skills and complete a quality education, said the statement.

The programme which was jointly formulated with the government and other development partners will support Tanzanian government's education sector development plan in the next five years by providing result-based financing to catalyze reforms, the statement said.

"Tanzania has made important progress in education by expanding access and reducing gender disparity in basic education," said Mara Warwick, World Bank Country Director for Tanzania.

"Investing in the education of young and vulnerable children, especially girls, is a critical building block to accelerate the country's progress towards inclusive growth, poverty reduction and stronger upward mobility of all Tanzanians," she said.

Primary enrollment in Tanzania increased since 2013, the statement said, adding that Tanzania's mainland now has 12.3 million pupils attending preprimary and primary classes.

Nevertheless, Tanzania's education sector remains constrained by several key factors including inequitable access to early learning and primary education for rural marginalised and vulnerable groups, inadequate school learning environments exacerbated by declining financing and increasing school populations, and a shortage of teachers and low teacher competencies, said the statement.