Unesco, China boost teachers’ skills

DAILY NEWS Reporter

TRAINING for teachers from three colleges in the four-year Unesco-China Funds-in-Trust (CFIT) project, which was launched in late 2012 to enhance the capacity of the key local Teacher Training Institutions through information and communications technology (ICT) in eight African countries has started in the country.

Colleges involved are Monduli, Tabora and Morogoro. The ten day training which started on Thursday at the Open University laboratories in Dar es Salaam was officiated by the Vice Chancellor of the Open University of Tanzania, Prof Elifas Bisanda in the presence of various Unesco and Chinese officials.

Speaking at the function to inaugurate the training, a Programme Specialist at Unesco, Paris Unesco-China Funds-in- Trust (CFIT) project on “Enhancing Teacher Education for Bridging the Education Quality Gap in Africa,” Gabriel El Khili, said through the project, Unesco and the Government of the People’s Republic of China are joining hands to enhance teachers’ education and professional development in Africa.

He said that the initiative, which marks the beginning of a new partnership between Unesco and the Chinese Government, will enable teachers through the use of ICTs, mobile learning, knowledge production and sharing to enhance the quality of education in line with Unesco’s work on Education for All (EFA), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the UN Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative (GEFI).

The project, which is worth about 8m US dollars for all countries, is implemented within the context of Unesco’s new teacher strategy and commitment to South-South cooperation.

“It is the first time Unesco has received this level of financial support (US$ 8 million) from China in favour of teachers’ education.

Eight African countries - selected among Unesco’s programme priority countries and according to China’s development cooperation policy - will be Ethiopia, Namibia, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Liberia, Uganda, and Tanzania,” said el Khil.

According to A Unesco specialist, the training is focusing on how to use ICT in delivering teaching materials bridging the gap in the quality of education by confronting local challenges in the sector.

He said there is a huge gap in relation to the quality of education hence the need to bring closer the use of digital based resources such as television, CD, radio and so on to improve the quality of education in the country.

Making an opening speech the Vice Chancellor of the Open University of Tanzania, Prof Elifas Bisanda, urged them to recognise the importance of solving the problems that impair the quality of training so as to be agents of change. He said the world in which we live today is no longer the same.

The work of the teacher is to guide students how to learn as learning has been simplified through smart gadgets. He wanted them not to be surprised if they found that their students were more competent than them