Half Of Standard 7 Students ‘Illiterate’

This article reports on the results of an Uwezo Tanzania survey assessing the performance of primary school students.  The title is a bit misleading since the language in which half of the students are ‘illiterate’ is English, and not Swahili.  This is still a big problem as the official language of instruction in secondary schools is English.  Furthermore the report states that approximately 20% of primary school leavers are effectively illiterate in Swahili, which still could use some improvement. Full article on The Citizen‘s website

Education Slowing AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

http://live.psu.edu/story/38464 This study challenged the decades-long belief that increased education increased the chance of receiving AIDS. While Tanzania was not part of the study, neighboring Malawi and Kenya should provide a strong correlation. I am not necessarily convinced of the “cognitive tool” hypothesis, it may just be because time in school means less time doing “other activities” or that it even provides a formal education on HIV/AIDS awareness.