STEMM Education

The vowel in STEMM— the E— stands for education. STEMM, as an organization, was created in 1997 with the goal of providing scholarships to 50 children so they could attend school. Since that time, STEMM has grown, massively, to the point where now we have provided scholarships to almost 20,000 children, including, recently, the #1 overall student in Tanzania and the #1 Physics student. Scholarships are only part of what we do, however.

We determined that school attendance was a huge issue in the Mbuguni ward, where we serve. Quite frankly, food insecurity is such an issue in this region that many kids thought they had a better chance to be fed at home than they did if they were going to school. So, STEMM established a partnership with the schools and the community to provide a feeding program, to serve these children. STEMM provides the cooks, utensils, oils, and implements, while the parents provide the corn and beans. The ingredients are combined and cooked and the net result is that nearly over 5000 children receive a hot meal, every day. The effects on attendance have been stunning.

Food is not all we do to help with school attendance, however. Last year, we implemented the STEMM Academic Cup; this year, we augmented that with the STEMM Sports Cup. The Academic Cup is a battery of tests (Mathematics, Science, and Reading) which all students in the Mbuguni Ward complete. Based on results, the top 10 scorers are invited back for the “semi-finals”, where they take another round of tests with the Top 3 being allowed to take the Final Exam. There are prizes which go to the finalists, as well as notoriety to the top scoring school in the Ward. STEMM and the local schools partner to make this a big deal and it also gives the schools a vehicle to speak to the importance of school attendance and good citizenship.

The STEMM Sports Cup is the first attempt at interscholastic sports in Mbuguni. Tryouts are held in Soccer, Netball, and running. Those who make the teams, get to compete against other schools in these sports. The games have been wildly popular, and again, this motivation gives the schools the opportunity to speak to the students about attendance and good grades, as these are criteria used to determine the team, as well as athletic ability.

STEMM additionally provides teacher trainings, monthly, with a recent focus being on Microsoft Excel. We hope to hold a “Teacher Bonanza” later in the year, where STEMM provides the means to get teachers together to plan within their grades, across the Ward, and also individually for their classrooms.

One need we heard loud and clear on a recent trip is the need for more classrooms. It surprised me to learn that there are plenty of teachers in Mbuguni, which could alleviate the biggest problem in their schools— huge class sizes (I was recently in a pre-K class that numbered over 100 students and one teacher!). The limiting factor is classrooms. STEMM hopes to help build some classrooms over the next year— one classroom is approximately $10,000 USD. We are always looking for partners in our work.

Thanks for reading about what STEMM is doing right now for Education, in our part of Tanzania!

Picture 1: Celebrating a soccer victory!

Picture 2: Pre K classroom with 100 plus kids.

Picture 3: Netball!