The Teaching Box

During a Rotary club visit to Arusha, Tanzania in 2012, Jeanette Johnstone visited a government school and found a serious lack of teaching resources. A trip to the local library found it full of serious students with no computers and a limited number of quality text books. “I was really, really confronted by the lack of opportunity for people outside the School of St Jude (a school in Arusha established by Australian Gemma Sisia and where she had been staying while in Tanzania) and thought I’d like to put some effort into looking at different ways we might be able to assist,” Jeanette said. “Their desire for education blew my mind.” While the internet may be seen by many to be the answer this was found not to be the case. The internet was too slow and too expensive to support proper online learning, and it was being reported that student results in the Tanzanian National Exams had dropped in places where students had access to the internet. (Presumably due to the distractions of social media). Another solution was needed.