Twelfth Quarterly Report: Bridgeit Tanzania

The program aimed to increase educational quality and achievement among students at primary school level in mathematics, science, and life skills through the innovative use of cell phones and digital technology. Bridgeit was given a local name, "Elimu kwa Teknolojia," and was implemented in 17 districts across 7 regions in Tanzania Mainland. The program worked to achieve three specific objectives: to deepen collaboration with MoEVT and local communities to build their management capacity to expand and enrich Bridgeit in Tanzania and lay the foundation for long-term sustainability of the project; to create a system for integrating Bridgeit approaches into Tanzanian primary school classrooms to improve teacher performance; and to increase learning gains among standard five and six students in mathematics, science, and life skills in Bridgeit classrooms, with a particular emphasis on girls. During the twelfth quarter (July-September 2010), most of the activities planned for the quarter were implemented as scheduled. Major activities included identifying alternative lower-end phone options and finding out their availability in the Tanzanian mobile market. Two Training and Technology Centers (TTCs) and two Training and Resource Centers (TRCs) were identified to serve as training centers for Bridgeit and to provide ongoing support to Bridgeit teachers in their cluster. The project identified Nokia's 3600 Slide as the preferred phone model due to its better picture resolution and availability in the Tanzanian market. The project also made arrangements with a vendor to procure micro SD cards of at least 8 megabytes to match the storage capacity of the Nokia N95 currently used in the project. Additionally, the project searched for cheaper models of TV sets to be used in the project and identified a Sing Sung TV model due to its affordability and availability in the Tanzanian market. The project continued to monitor the implementation of Bridgeit and provide needed support to Bridgeit teachers. District School Inspectors were selected from a group of district education inspectors and underwent training sessions on Bridgeit. The project accompanied District School Inspectors in classroom observations to provide additional support to teachers on a one-on-one basis. The project facilitated transportation for District School Inspectors to reach all schools in a given time, and District Bridgeit focal points were committed to visiting all schools in their districts at least once every quarter. The project observed significant improvement in teachers' ability to apply teaching skills acquired during Bridgeit teacher training sessions. Bridgeit staff and MoEVT will continue to provide this support throughout the remaining period of the project. The project also identified the need to conduct MoEVT capacity-building activities to enhance their management capacity to expand and enrich Bridgeit in Tanzania.