What is The Hoja Project?

[EDIT 3rd Jan 2006: Since I wrote this post work on an uncompleted Government secondary school in the village has resumed, and we will now be supporting that school. All the details aren't certain yet, so I won't update this properly just yet. It should mean that we have a lesser initial sum to raise, and we can focus on providing the facilities that we feel are important, in cooperation with the school.]

In 2004, a certain group of young people were working as volunteers for the charity Students' Partnership Worldwide (see link in sidebar). They - okay, we (yes, I was one of them) - were based in Iringa region in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania.

Living in various villages, we were teaching in the local primary schools and working with the local youth. Our work involved a wide range of activities, but the main focus was always on reducing young people's vulnerability to HIV.

Unbeknownst to the rest of us, one of the other volunteers was hatching a plan. His name was (and, he tells me, still is) Oswin Mahundi, and his plan was thus:

To build and run a secondary school on the edge of his home village of Mpandangindo, in Songea region.

Of course, this would be a massive, not to mention impossible, undertaking were he to attempt it himself. By roping in many of his friends, however, he has now turned this dream into a very real possibility.

Secondary education in Tanzania

Primary education in Tanzania is compulsory, yet the number of students advancing on to secondary school, let alone finishing their education, is tiny. According to UNICEF, between 1998-2002, secondary education enrolment was just 6% for boys and 5% for girls nationwide.

This problem doesn't lie solely with the lack of schools either. Most Tanzanians simply can't afford the fees of less £100 a year. Girls, in particular, are vulnerable to those who might offer to sponsor them through school.

Secondary education lasts six years. At the end of Form 4, students take their O Level exams, and in Form 6, their A Levels. If they finish at least the first of these exams, they may have the opportunity to enter a profession such as teaching.

Hoja School Ethos

Much of the proposed school ethos is based on our experience as SPW volunteers. The use of non-formal education (NFE) techniques, the elimination of corporal punishment, the teaching of life skills, and the promotion of gender equality are key to both the more specific aim of beating HIV and the wider goal of reducing poverty.

Non-formal education

In most classrooms in Tanzania you will find the children sitting quietly in rows, with the boys on one side of the class, and the girls on the other. The teacher will be telling them what to write, and they will write it. When a question is asked, there will only be right and wrong answers.

With the Hoja Project, we want to teach the students to think for themselves. We want to use games, group work, discussion, debate, drama and role plays to achieve this. We want them to develop their own ideas and opinions, and to respect those of others.

Corporal punishment

In Tanzania, corporal punishment is allowed, and is supposed to be strictly controlled, but in practice it is often used extensively. We would not allow any corporal punishment in the Hoja School, and a more inventive use of both reward and punishment will be encouraged in its place.

Corporal punishment is not only physically cruel to a child, but it holds back their education. A child who is afraid of being hit will not offer answers to questions in class. Rather than risk making a mistake from which they can learn, they will simply sit and keep quiet, learning nothing.

Life skills

Life skills are those skills that enable you use your knowledge to make the right choices in life. For example, a girl may know how HIV and other STIs are transmitted, and she may know how to prevent them being transmitted, but if she does not know how to say "No", that initial knowledge is useless.

The Hoja school will aim to build the confidence and self-esteem of students to enable them to make the right choices in life, recognising that knowledge would not necessarily make them any less vulnerable to difficult situations.

Gender equality

Young women and girls are far more vulnerable than men in Tanzania. Through all that I've outlined here, through NFE and mixing classes, through equal treatment in punishment and reward, and through the teaching of life skills, Hoja would aim to give every girl as good a chance of succeeding in life as every boy in the school.

It's not just about building the self-confidence and self-esteem of girls, but also teaching the boys that they are equal, and that each individual has something to offer and should be respected for it.

Funding the school

Initially, the cost of setting up the school is estimated at around £15,000, and it is anticipated that this will be raised before any work begins.

Once the school is up and running, sponsors would be asked to pay the school fees of a pupil for one year, at around £84 or £7 per month. This would cover their fees, and the student's family would be expected to cover the cost of their food. The sponsors could keep in contact with their sponsee, and see the effect that their money is having.