Arise Community School: “Quality Education for Children and the Community”

One of the aims of Arise since its outset has been that it should work closely with parents and the community as a whole to provide quality education both for the children and the community, fostering and developing good relationships between students, staff, parents and community members in order to achieve this.

To this end, in the last couple of years, both teaching and non teaching staff have participated in training and attended workshops to equip and empower them to become better educators and to create a safe and friendly environment in which the children’s needs can be met.

The weekend of 3rd – 5th August saw another exciting step forward – a three day seminar for students, parents and teachers. On Friday 3rd August, a seminar was held for the oldest pupils in Classes Three to Five. They were taught about their rights as children, how to set goals and work to achieve them by believing and dreaming big and, of course, by studying hard!

On Saturday the 4th August, a seminar for parents provided the opportunity for them to learn how to motivate and encourage their children to attend school and how to create a friendly and supportive environment for their learning at home. Discipline issues were also addressed. Mr. Willbroad Prosper, Guest Speaker from the Family Hope Foundation in Dar es Salaam, a specialist on family matters and a key player in educational and family issues in Tanzania, was very well received. Parents not only really enjoyed the seminar, they requested another be arranged on good parenting in order to help them improve the lives of their children!

The climax of the event was reached on the Sunday when sessions were held for the staff. Topics covered included safeguarding and child protection, child neglect and exploitation, domestic violence and other crimes against children. The final session addressed issues of discipline and classroom management, in particular, learning how to change from the traditional approach in Tanzania, based on fear, threats, humiliation and physical punishment, into a child friendly and non-discriminatory one that supports cooperative learning. (N.B. Physical punishment has never been permitted at Arise School but is still lawful and very prevalent in many schools throughout Tanzania).

All three days included activities and games outside the classroom to enable the participants to gain a better understanding of the concepts that were taught in the classroom sessions, for example, the importance of team work and effective communication.

What another brilliant example of how Arise School is developing as a centre of excellence and how it is carrying out its mission to provide “Quality Education for Children and the Community”. Very well done to all concerned in making this initiative possible.