English Medium Primary School

Our primary school provides the highest-quality education for local children from pre-K through 7th grade. We offer free education to the most underprivileged children in the region.

Focus on Excellence

The Precious English Medium School sets and demands high standards from our students and faculty. Our goal is to improve Tanzania's future through education. When the school opened its doors in 2016, we enrolled 135 students. Presently, our enrollment is up over 600 students.

Superior Faculty Drives Performance

Our standards for hiring our faculty are high and we continuously review their performance to ensure we maintain the highest educational standards among our teachers. Our use of advanced technology and learning methods, as well as teacher training, sets Precious apart and helps attract talent to our faculty.

Creating the optimal environment for learning

Sustained learning only happens when the right conditions are available. Food, transportation to and from school, and access to a library create that optimal environment. Our new student dormitories allow for extra tutoring on nights and weekends to prepare our fourth and seventh-grade students to take and pass the Tanzanian Exams.

Teaching for the future opportunities

Technology is changing so fast in every area. Smartphones, robotics, and artificial intelligence will have changed the job market when our students graduate. Preparing them to use these technologies will enable our students to succeed in the new economy.

A Modern Approach to Learning

Challenges

Though the lack of education is a leading cause of poverty, Tanzania schools are not free. Attendance even at the primary school level requires the ability to pay for school fees, uniforms, meals, books, school supplies, and other expenses. With approximately 40% of Tanzanians living on less than one US dollar per day, (up to 87% in rural areas), there are families unable to cover these costs and thus their children can’t attend school. For the public schools, there is the added challenge of providing quality education, due to very large class sizes and rudimentary teaching methods, among other factors.

Our Multi-faceted Approach

Our approach is based on world organizations' research on what entails quality education, which includes:
  • Hiring well-trained teachers.
  • Applying positive and nurturing child-centered teaching methods.
  • Maintaining small classes to no larger than 30 students.
  • Actively engaging student families and the community in service and support to the school.
  • Ensuring students are well nourished and ready to participate and learn.
  • Providing a healthy, safe, and protective environment.
  • Empowering students to become contributing members to society by achieving the highest academic, moral and ethical growth.
  • Providing equal access for and promoting the equality of girls and boys.
Nutritious Meals
Lunch is served daily in the Community Hall
Music classes
Music and dance are important parts of Tanzanian culture.
Time to Play
Swings and slides are actively used in the playground during recess.

Applying Blended Learning

Traditional learning involves a one-way flow of knowledge from teacher to student. In blended learning, students actively learn with tablets and peer-to-peer work, combined with teacher instructional time.

Students progress at their own pace and are achieving significant improvements in learning, creativity, self-confidence, and critical thinking.

Accomplishments

  • Precious Project built a primary school to educate the underprivileged village children.
  • Approximately 50% of school enrollment are girls.
  • The primary school is the first school in the region to offer truly free education to families in need.
  • Besides Kiswahili and English fluency, our students have embraced the challenge of learning conversational French.
  • Established the ‘Breakfast Club’ providing nutritious protein-rich porridge twice daily for all students.

Project Leads and Contacts

  • Gil Williams, US
  • Debora Kileo, Tanzania
  • Richard Sululu, Tanzania
For more information : Gil@preciousproject.org

Newsletters

November 2023
Unlocking Multilingual Minds: Mastering Kiswahili, English, and French
September 2023
Celebrating Milestones: Graduations and Achievements