Before the Tanzanian government implemented free tuition to public primary and secondary schools, many students, especially those in rural villages, could not afford to continue with their education.
However, junior high and high school are still far from completely free. As most public secondary schools are boarding schools, garnering necessary resources—such as required uniforms and mattresses, for example—is often too large a task for the students, even those academically eligible to move forward.
Due to extremely low incomes and large family sizes, most Maasai children living in the conservation area cannot afford to attend school. Without it they do not realize their full academic or life potential.
Language barrier
Primary schools are taught in Kiswahili, a predicament for the Maasai people who speak their tribal language of Maa, which has no formal writing system.
Even students fluent in Kiswahili are faced with an additional obstacle when they enter secondary school, which is taught completely in English. Because of this they may not be able to pass their national exams, no matter how able and prepared they are.
Maasai children learning English
Maasai Partners (MP) works to combat this structural challenge through our primary education programs.
Our Tumaini Junior School scholarship and secondary school scholarship programs have given a number of students eager to learn more and expand their horizons the opportunity to do so.
Tumaini Junior School scholarship
Starting at ages six, seven, or eight, and continuing through their secondary education, MP has to date been funding 6 young girls and boys at Tumaini Junior School and two other junior schools.
Tumaini is an English language-based nonprofit private boarding and day school located in Karatu. When sponsored at a young age, these students learn the importance of education and prepare to succeed in secondary school.
MP carefully chooses these spectacular children to maximize potential. We want to be sure their families will be supportive and the education fully utilized.
The price to send one child to the first year of school at Tumaini Junior School covers medical expenses, room and board, clothes, field trips, tutoring, and incidental expenses.
Your donation of $1865 per child per year covers all related expenses including Tumaini’s Rafiki Fund, which provides such extra support as tutoring, bedding, clothing, toiletries and backpacks.
MP believes that the chance to forward one’s education and fulfill the opportunities provided by secondary education should not depend just on affordability.
Please help us make a world of difference in the life of a child.