IChemE provides vital IT equipment for school in Tanzania

SUJI SECONDARY SCHOOL is a small institution of about 500 students in the Pare Mountains, situated in the Kilimanjaro region of northeast Tanzania. Remote and sparsely resourced, the school is one of only two serving the entire village. Parents and caregivers contribute roughly £200 a year for fees – a significant amount locally – simply to secure access to education.

But while the school provided textbooks and stationery, access to IT remained far out of reach. Computers, considered commonplace in UK schools, were a luxury item.

“A laptop is the equivalent of a whole year’s school fees for one kid,” says Richard Clarke, an IT management expert whose work in technology has taken him across continents. “There were no computer facilities at the school, bar one laptop and a few monitors.”

Clarke first taught at the school 32 years ago during his gap year, at a time when the school had no windows or electricity. Today, the infrastructure is sturdier and the village enjoys “the fastest internet you can imagine”, he says – but until recently, the school still lacked the equipment needed to teach basic computer skills.

Determined to change that, Clarke reconnected with the school and put out a call for donated IT equipment on LinkedIn; his goal: 11 laptops and 11 projectors, one for every classroom in the school.

IChemE steps in

By summer, Clarke had gathered around 50 laptops and seven projectors from individual donors, the British School of Grand Canaria and an IT recycling company.

Significantly, 15 were donated by IChemE. Andrew Potter, head of IT at the institution, has known Richard for five years and said he was immediately interested in the project, which aligned with both his and IChemE’s values.

He says: “This project resonated with me because it directly impacts education and sustainability, which aligns with IChemE’s mission to foster positive change.”

Potter says IChemE intends to donate more to sustain the project’s “long-term success”.

Teachers are already making use of the new resources. According to Clarke, the laptops are being used to research lessons, prepare more detailed lesson plans and introduce more varied classroom activities.

Clarke is also extending the initiative. Several of the remaining laptops are being donated to another Kilimanjaro-region school, Kilimanjaro Young Girls in Need (KYGN), which educates around 900 students.

Introducing ChatGPT

With devices finally available, Clarke’s project has shifted to supporting teachers in developing IT skills and integrating digital tools into lessons.

“The students know how to use the internet and understand social media but they do not have basic IT skills like how to use Microsoft Word or Excel,” says Clarke who saw a science teacher at KYNG delivering a lesson on spreadsheets using only a blackboard and his own smartphone.

“I gave a lesson on ChatGPT to the teachers and they didn't even know what it was,” he says. “They were amazed with what you could do and how personalised it could be. If you made the prompt ‘I’m a teacher in a Tanzanian school with 50 kids in the classroom of this level, this is why I need to…’ they were amazed at how good the response was.”

To build ongoing capability, the project is partnering with teachers at the British School of Gran Canaria to create lesson materials and classroom guidelines tailored to the Tanzanian context.

What's next

In addition to the IT drive, the project is now seeking to raise around US$8,000 to help KYNG build two more classrooms in conjunction with the Gran Canaria team.

Potter has confirmed IChemE’s continued commitment to the main IT project, saying the institution is “actively” working on additional ways to provide ongoing assistance.

He says: “IChemE's support for this project is a testament to our commitment to using engineering and technology to make a real difference in communities. By donating laptops, we’ve been able to help empower individuals with the tools they need to succeed and we're excited to continue supporting this project and similar initiatives in the future.”

With more equipment on the way – and with IChemE’s continued support having enabled a critical jump in scale – Clarke hopes to return to the schools in 12 months or so to see the impact on students’ digital skills and education outcomes.

For more information on Clarke’s project, click here.