Smart Secondary Students

Today our secondary school opened!

Here is a picture of Form One with their new teacher, Mr. Jonas. Can you figure out what is very different about these students?

If you noticed that they are not in uniform, you are correct!

These “smart” looking students* are probably the only ones in Tanzania who came to school today without a school uniform.

In Tanzania, government schools are free for all children, though they must pay for a school uniform in order to attend. Tragically, many families cannot afford uniforms, and students are denied an education because of this small cost. (Even those lucky children who do have uniforms are usually wearing ones that are missing all or most buttons, have several rips and tears, and/or don’t fit well.)

So we have decided to make a statement—and not just by allowing a 14 year old boy to wear “Purple Hat Ladies” t-shirts to school, though that is DEFINITELY a fashion statement. We want our students to learn to express individuality through their clothes and to practice dressing professionally for the future.

But the biggest reason we’re letting our students come to school without uniforms is to say…it doesn’t matter what you wear to school, as long as you come and you work hard. We want to be an example for other schools. Our students don’t wear uniforms, and yet they are succeeding tremendously. Perhaps we can be a small agent of change in showing that uniforms are not a necessary ingredient for education. I hope in several years that mandatory uniforms will be an idea of the past and all children will have access to the education they all deserve.

Today, it’s an idea that made our students giggle. Tomorrow, it might just be the idea that opened up a world of opportunity for children across our country.

In the meantime, we have a bunch of SMART (looking) students!

*Here, people say “you look smart” for “you look nice.” So…pun intended. But now I am pointing out the pun, which is really awkward. Thanks for reading.