Elimu – schooling & education

We assist Tanzanian special needs educational facilities by helping to provide materials, funding, and support for daily and longer-term needs.

Despite progress in recognizing and addressing disability rights, people with diverse abilities in Tanzania continue to face significant challenges – one of the most pressing ones being the lack of access to quality education. While Tanzania made great progress in universal primary education, challenges are large student-to-teacher ratios (over 1:50), difficulties in retaining teachers, and retention rates for girls.

These challenges are aggregated for children with special needs, many of whom would need individualized support. Many children with disabilities are unable to attend school due to lack of specialized support, resources, and staffing, as well as discrimination and physical barriers. Low-income caregivers are oftentimes unable to provide contributions for school meals, and struggle to pay for transport to school, school uniforms, and supplies. This forces children and youth to remain at home, increasing social exclusion and limiting their access to future employment opportunities, thus perpetuating poverty and vulnerability.

Where children with diverse abilities are able to attend school, classrooms often lack specialized educational materials and digital tools, proper accessible facilities, and enough funding for staffing and school meals. Therefore, we assist Tanzanian special needs programs by sourcing school materials and classroom equipment, and fundraising for school meals and larger building projects.

Until now we have focused on supporting Mwambao school in the coastal town of Bagamoyo. We have donated educational materials suitable for children with diverse abilities, have been providing food for warm daily school meals for the children for several months, and have been supporting the construction and upkeep of accessible sanitary facilities.

We are in regular communication with the teachers at Mwambao and continue to assist the class. We are also currently in contact with other educational institutions in Tanzania. We aim to extend our support to further students, teachers, and communities in the future to help provide safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments for all children with diverse abilities. Please contact us if you are interested in supporting, partnering with, or donating to special needs classrooms.

Mwambao primary school | Bagamoyo