Moshi, TZ – Teacher housing improvements already showing impact for students at Mwangaria – 26 Aug 2017

ISL and Frensham students answered a direct request from the teachers and administration at Mwangaria Primary School by refurbishing teacher housing. Previously the school had just 3 teachers and 1 headmaster for over 400 students from 7 grade levels. The root cause of this shortage was the school’s uninhabitable teacher housing. There are not enough educated adults in Mwangaria to fill all of the teaching positions so the government sends teachers from across Tanzania to fill vacancies. For years, teachers have arrived at Mwangaria and then left shortly afterwards, preferring to take non-teaching jobs than live in the available housing. Frensham Heights and ISL students installed ceiling boards, connected the house to piped water, and sealed the roof from bugs, snakes, birds, and bats.

Within one month of students completing their rehabilitation work a new teacher had moved into house. The headmaster is optimistic that the teachers assigned to Mwangaria Primary School in 2018 will decide to stay.

Tupendane will continue to monitor the impact of this project on the total number of teachers at Mwangaria as well as on the performance of students. If the project proves to be high-impact / low-cost it can be repeated at other schools in Kahe Ward.