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Press Releases
Zanzibar’s President Karume and U.S. Ambassador Michael Retzer Inaugurate Children’s Radio Project
May 3, 2007
Young children in Zanzibar are ready to learn but need more support from family and school to realize their potential. An advocate of early education, the Government of Zanzibar has enacted a preschool policy with a goal of 50% enrollment by 2010. To reach more children, the Government of Zanzibar through the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MOEVT) and the United States Agency for Development (USAID) are initiating Radio Instruction to Strengthen Education (RISE) . The Project will provide radio instruction to community-based preschool and after school learning centers by radio. Recognizing the importance of radio technology for education advancement in Zanzibar, the President of Zanzibar, Amani Abeid Karume and the United States Ambassador to Tanzania, Michael Retzer, will officiate over the RISE inauguration ceremony on May 3 at 10:00 AM at the RISE/MOEVT building on Vuga Street in Stonetown.
Through RISE and its implementing partner, Education Development Center (EDC), USAID has built and equipped a state of the art digital recording studio and is training teachers to develop 278 interactive radio education programs. The Tucheze Tujifunze (‘Play-to-Learn’) programs will provide an entertaining format of stories, dramas, games and songs that reinforce basic competencies taught in the early grades of school. They will also help communities play a more active role in their children’s education.
Parents are also being asked to make an important contribution to RISE, because the quality and care of educational stimulation in the home affects how well children benefit from schooling. Plans include working with communities to establish 125 community-based Play-to-Learn centers serving 10,200 children. Most of the children will improve their math, Kiswahili and life skills in clubs that utilize a trained parent mentor. Using simple ‘wind-up’ radios, parents and adolescent volunteers in each community will be able to provide a quality program while they also learn how to provide the social, emotional and academic support children need to do well in school.
Sixty early primary classroom teachers in government primary schools will also use interactive radio instruction to reinforce government curriculum competencies and enrich learning environments for children.
Radio Zanzibar, an essential partner in the initiative, will begin broadcasting preschool programs in July 2007. Standard I programs will begin broadcast in January 2008. The Standard I programs will be offered as after-school clubs and also piloted in 60 classrooms in Micheweni and North A to bring more fun to the learning process.
For more information please contact:
Deborah Llewellyn, RISE Country Director 0754 782 111 or
Bishara Mohamed, RISE Technical Advisor 0777 411 060