School Name: Haile Selassai Secondary School
School Location: Stonetown, Zanzibar
School Enrollment: 1989 students; 1045 female, 945 male
School Principal: Abelu Shafi Mubsin
I had the pleasure of sitting and talking with the Principal of Haile Sellassai Secondary School both in his office and during a tour of the campus of the school. The school is located on the outskirts of Stonetown, the capital city of the island of Zanzibar, off the east coast of Tanzania. Zanzibar is governed semi-autonomously from the central government in Dodoma, yet the Ministry of Education is based out of Dodoma, along with the necessary funding. I discussed some of the challenges and highlights of the school with the Principal.
Ages of Students Enrolled: A range from 14-24 years (quite a large range at the secondary level)
Focus/Goals of the School: According to the Principal, the focus of the curriculum is to get their students to enroll in higher education. The current rates of enrollment at the university level is alarmingly low-only 16 students out of 122 total graduating last year went on to college.
Resources Needed: The most urgent need by the school is for computers and computer technology, including internet connectivity. Currently, there are no computers for the almost 2000 students enrolled at the school. The school has received desks and tables for computers, and has a computer lab space set up, without any machines. The teachers have also received training in computer technology free of cost from the government. The lack of computers, and especially, the lack of internet connectivity, seems a common problem in this part of the world, where internet costs are still very high, and the connection speeds slow. Governments in the region have lacked the ability and will to connect their schools to the internet, a vital resource in the 21st century.
Contributions to the School: Currently, the parents of the enrolled students pay 5000/7500/15000 shillings per year, based on the level (the current exchange rate runs at 1300 shillings=1$). This covers school materials, including such things as chalk and chemicals for the science labs. Teachers are paid by the government, but this is the only expense covered by the Tanzanian government.
Current School Partnerships: The school currently works with a school in Wales (UK) which has provided several training trips for the staff, and has come to Stonetown to provide training on-the-ground for staff members of Haile Sellassai.
Challenges: The most pressing challenge faced by the school, according the Principal, is the overall lack of resources. They also face a problem of student truancy. To combat this issue, the school has been working with parents and has school counselors providing outreach services to truant and at-risk students.
Sources of Pride: According to Mr. Mubsin, 89.6% of his students passed the National Examinations last year, a very high percentage. This is the area that brings him and the rest of the administration the most pride. In addition to the high national passing rate of the students, he is also very proud of the school’s athletics programs, especially the basketball program. We went on a tour of the grounds and I saw the basketball court, which had been a gift from an American group a number of years back. The school was large and rambling, as it was formerly an Indian school from the colonial German days, and was showing its wear and tear. In a conservative Muslim area, such as Zanzibar, it was interesting to see a school with both male and female students coexisting; my other experiences in religious areas of the Kenyan coast saw the two sexes segregated into different schools. Possibly as a result, this school seemed to be a bit less organized and under control than the facilities previously visited.
