Top Stars are indeed top stars!

Some of the children and Top Stars

Jason and me with all the teachers.

Our family kindly hooked us up with our next volunteering project which has been great –

Meet the children and staff of Top Stars Nursery and Primary School. Jason and I have been assisting in this local private school for about a week.

The school has 9 teachers and 6 classes including a kindergarten baby class, middle class and preparatory class and standard 1, 2 and 3 classes. Ages of the children range from 2 years to 12 years.

Jason and me got involved with their morning exercises - C'mon Jay keep up!!

Every morning at 7:00am (yes that’s right, we had to be at school for 7:00am) the children are made to do exercises including jumping on the spot, running and marching to a drill to wake them up and get them ready for learning.

Then the head girl/boy engages the students (who are in a line formation) to sing songs to the beat of drums. The songs include the Tanzanian national anthem and the school song before starting their classes. One real cute practise they do, is when a teacher or Jay and me enter the class, the children all stand to attention, salute and chant ‘Good afternoon Madam and Sir’ (Jason loved this!!)

Jason and teacher Darius with some of the students

Jason and me have been observing in some of the classes during exams time, assisting in others and have even taught our own classes on computer technology, sports and spelling quizzes and reading stories to them!! And off course during playtime – we are there, playing along in their games and activities!  

We have learnt quite a few Tanzanian playtime songs and games, it really takes you back to our carefree days in Winterbourne Junior School!! And the children seem to have really taken to us and fascinated that we don’t have a President like they do but a Queen and Prime Minister instead. One child found it interesting that we don’t have tribes in England… well that’s not including the gangs, LOL.

Jason instructs the class 'Pay attention children!'

I take the class, ensuring they are following what we are teaching them..

We have really been welcomed by the teachers and students and have really loved our time here, everyone keeps saying ‘when are we coming back to live in Tanzania!’

The school system here is very hard on parents as education is bought every step of the way and even when a child enters school it is the parents who must pay for everything; uniform, pencils, pens, rubbers rulers, exercise, text books etc.

Government schools have overly subscribed class sizes that can include up to almost one hundred children in one class! While Swahili is the main language taught and practised according to the national curriculum with English as only a subject, if taught at all, which is not good for the future success of the child. Sadly we have been told that corruption even exists within the educational system as children have compulsory exams they must pass and if they fail at a certain level they are not allowed to repeat the exam, so sometimes if a child does not take the exam, a member of authority can be bribed to allow their child to take the exam in the child’s name that did not attend. Or if they fail at another level of testing, the child may need extra ‘tuition’ to pass the next time.

Some playtime fun!!

Even with the hot African sun beating down on the playground, the children have so much fun and take care of each other, they even have a song to shame a bully for having ‘bad manners’..(this is what they call it). They are so affectionate and race to hold your hand, sometimes even fighting over each other of who gets to stand next to you! They start the day with a white shirt but by the end, their socks and shirts are covered in dust from the playground – I feel sorry for their mums who have to have to wash them clean!!

The children are always ready to sing you a song or preform a dance for you. The girl in the picture was performing a dance called Moduko, while the boy was assisting but also had some Michael Jackson moves!! He cracked us up!