Donate to the DCU Tanzania Pre-Primary Education Project

Hi, my name is Ciara! I am a third-year college student on the Bachelor of Education Course - Primary Teaching in St. Patrick's College, DCU.

I have been given the opportunity to volunteer to work alongside and support pre-primary teachers and children in Tanzania, an initiative of the DCU Tanzania Pre-Primary Education Project.

The project's ongoing aim is to build capacity consistent with Tanzanian pre-primary education policy through the development of school infrastructure, the provision of resources and ongoing professional teacher development.

This July, myself and five other BEd2 & BEd3 students from DCU, will be travelling to the city of Morogoro, located in the eastern part of Tanzania. During the project, we will be working with local pre-primary teachers to support their teaching, provide resources for the classrooms to enhance the children's learning and most importantly, to enrich the learning experience for the children in these communities. We have been busy since December, participating in monthly training sessions in preparation for the volunteering experience, which will continue until we arrive in Tanzania.

In July, we will be travelling to Tanzania with the DCU Tanzania Pre-Primary Education Project team (Fiona Giblin, Dr Catherine Mulryan-Kyne and Prof Bernard Pierce), who were awarded a DCU President’s Award for Engagement last year for the project. This team has been working closely with the pre-primary teachers in Tanzania by providing them with resources, valuable teaching methods, building new classrooms for the children and overall, providing new opportunities for the teachers and children in these schools.

This is something I have always wanted to do since I had my mind set on teaching. So, I was ecstatic to find out I had been one of the six students chosen to volunteer on the project. I believe this learning experience will benefit my teaching skills and develop my knowledge on intercultural understandings of early childhood education. Furthermore, I believe I will gain valuable insights into the culture and education in Tanzania to bring back to my local community and primary schools at home.

The money raised will go directly to the project. It is going towards travel costs, resources for the classroom and any necessary developments and improvements required in the pre-primary classrooms. Providing a more vibrant and engaging environment will foster a positive and welcoming atmosphere for the children, this will further enhance these classrooms for future teaching and learning experiences.

So far, I have organised a fundraising event by hosting a Quiz Night in Nubar, DCU, in February 2025. It was very successful and thank you to those who attended and showed their support!

Any support would be greatly appreciated and will help us with our aim of improving the recognition, development and enrichment of pre-primary education in Tanzania. Thank you!