Secondary and Pre-school program under one roof - 45 miles outside of Dar es Salaam city in Boko village – Tanzania

 

Tumaini Boarding and Day Secondary School and Pre-school, formerly known as “One Stop Center” (OSC), offers a comprehensive educational program under one roof, targeting vulnerable children and their families in Boko village, a suburb of Dar es Salaam city, Tanzania. 

 

For decades, national and international development policies have favored primary education over secondary and high school education. In addition, as many government sponsored secondary schools have reached capacity, more and more young people are unable to obtain post-primary education.  Our goal is to offer children from very low income families an opportunity to participate in affordable and quality secondary schooling. Furthermore, we want to produce the professionals desperately needed to develop the nation’s youth and to safeguard poor children from the impact of migration and child-labor.

 

ARK started OSC after realizing that many children, especially those affected by HIV/AIDS, were not attending secondary school because of financial difficulties.  Furthermore, children this target group rarely meet the admission/academic requirements to attend these government sponsored secondary schools. Some of the families do not even understand how the government process works.

 

In addition to offering free secondary education to qualifying students, Tumaini Secondary School also offers an integrated and comprehensive program that includes technical training, computer literacy, and support for caretakers, early childhood development, HIV outreach, and other support services and activities. The school is capable of providing education to approximately 250 children. The school strives to provide a safe place for vulnerable children to make new friends, obtain a quality education and guidance, and to benefit from a supportive community of responsible and trained adults. Tumaini helps to alleviate poverty, fight child labor and reduce the incidence of HIV among young people. It has a goal of preparing each child for a productive, meaningful future.  The school is actively involved in the community and works with paid, trained and qualified staff and volunteers that are both local and international.