Vocational Training

Over 70% of local Tanzanian children have no chance of education after finishing primary school at age 14.

Village Education Project Kilimanjaro was encouraged by villagers to help provide some skills training and built a small vocational training school which was opened in 1999 in Mshiri village.

It offers training in: carpentry, masonry, tailoring & crafts. Each of the courses includes some business skills training and all students are given maths and English lessons.

The three main courses run from 1 to 3 years and students sit the Vocational Education Training Authority (VETA) national examinations. At the end of 2009, the School had 100% pass success rate in carpentry and tailoring at Level One, a 57% pass success rate in masonry at Level One, and a pass for Level Three carpentry for the student who stayed on for his third year of study. Read more on Mshiri vocational training school.

The carpentry and masonry students have made furniture for the school, built classrooms to extend the training school, and built the school's kitchen hut and lavatory block. In tailoring & crafts the students produce goods for sale to the tourist market in Marangu. Marangu is close to Kilimanjaro National Park, and the Marangu Route is one of the most popular routes to climb the mountain.

The school is not yet financially self-sufficient as the level of fees from local students cannot be high enough to run the school so we must continue to provide assistance. We see a tremendous future for this practical initiative.

Carpentry student decorates his spoon

Demonstration of brick-making

Shop and Chagga house during construction

Read more about the Vocational Training School here.