🎉 Big news from Tanzania! We're thrilled to share the impact of the Twaweza teacher incentive program, supported by the Hempel Foundation. Over 77,000 students have seen significant improvements in their basic reading and math skills in 2023, thanks to this transformative initiative.
This week, teachers in 265 primary schools across 11 regions will receive performance bonuses totaling TZS 401 million, based on the improved reading and numeracy skills of their early grade students at the end of the 2023 school year. That is ca. 3,4% of a teacher's annual salary.
KiuFunza, as the program is known, is making waves in education by targeting foundational reading and numeracy skills in grades 1, 2, and 3. These schools were carefully selected from areas with the greatest need, and early results have shown promising improvements in student pass rates compared to control groups.
The impact of KiuFunza is profound. Pass rates for reading Kiswahili have increased from 44% to 49% in KiuFunza schools, compared to a control group. Numeracy pass rates have also risen from 45% to 52% in these schools. These numbers highlight the tangible difference KiuFunza is making in students' lives, setting them on a path to success. 🙌
But KiuFunza isn't just about numbers – it's about empowering teachers and students alike. Aidan Eyakuze, Executive Director of Twaweza, emphasizes “Learning is key to our national development: all our children should be able to read and calculate by age 10. Of course, we need good schools, pedagogy and books but people often forget that we also need motivated teachers to achieve this. Our recent work shows that we can scale a simple teacher incentive system and still retain strong learning effects, making this one of the most cost-effective programs to promote basic skills”. 🗯
A big THANK YOU to our partner Twaweza East Africa for their great work on improving learning outcomes in Tanzania! 💙
See the official press release here: https://lnkd.in/dWvABRGG
#QualityEducation #FoundationalLearning #EducationForAll #TeacherIncentives #TanzaniaEducation
Anna Mølgaard Thaysen, Youdi Schipper, Aidan Eyakuze
Associate Professor of Development Economics at The Ohio State University
3moSo proud to be part of this exciting collaboration