Cash to Help African Children Back to School

Efforts by two east African countries to get more children into school have been backed by the UK government with £87m worth of funding.

The Department for International Development (DFID) announced last week that it would give £85m to the Tanzanian government to support the country's poverty reduction strategy, which focuses on education and health. The move follows a 45% rise in the number of children attending school since 2001, when school fees were abolished.

The DFID said around 95% of children aged between seven and 13 are now enrolled in school. The number of teachers has risen by a quarter and the number of schools has increased by a fifth in the past five years. Among the challenges for the Tanzanian government now, is to ensure that children receive a good standard of education.

A further £2m will be given to neighbouring Burundi to help build more classrooms and pay for more teachers.

Class sizes swelled this term as an extra 500,000 children enrolled in school following the abolition of primary school fees by the country's newly elected government, which is expected to restore democracy to the war-ravaged country.

According to the DFID, there are 150 pupils to a class in some areas of the country and the Burundi government estimates that enrolment rates could double in the next school year.

The £2m will support the Back to School programme, operated in Burundi by the United Nations' children's fund, Unicef, which aims to build 100 temporary classrooms, provide 500 schools and provide water the sanitation facilities. Fast-track training will also be made available for up to 3,000 unqualified teachers and for 1,000 former teachers returning to education.

The DFID said it was in talks with ministers in Burundi on how to provide longer-term assistance for education in the country.

The international development secretary, Hilary Benn, said: "President [Pierre] Nkurunziza's decision to provide free primary education is a courageous step and will allow many more families to send their children to school."

The money is expected to help bring both countries a small step closer to meeting the UN's eight Millennium Development Goals, which were set in 2000 to eradicate poverty and improve access to education and healthcare by 2015. An interim target of achieving gender parity in education by 2005 has already been missed.