Tanzania, Stone Town: Zanzibar PLCI school

The Prospective Learning and Charitable Institution (PLCI) is a charity school on the outskirts of Stone Town offering free primary and secondary education and vocational training to orphans, those living in extreme poverty, or who are otherwise disadvantaged.

The objective of Nell's cooperation with this school is to incorporate experiential learning using environmental resources and experiences into the teaching curriculum in all subjects to promote greater engagement with the world around us and make learning more relevant to students’ every day lives and experiences.

Our environment is everything around us – living and non-living, natural and human-made, and environmental issues intersect with the curriculum in all subjects to a greater or lesser degree. The environment therefore provides teachers and students with a free learning resource which can be accessed simply by going outside and looking around us, to make learning all subjects more relevant. When lessons have relevance to our lives, it becomes easy to learn, to remember what we have been taught, and to apply what we have learnt to future experiences.

Volunteers and interns will work with the 9 PLCI teachers of diverse subjects to identify how to integrate environmental education into the curriculum, develop lesson plans for different age and educational levels that show practical ways to use the environment as a free education resource to help students understand our world better, and work with the teachers and students together to implement the lessons and incorporate experiential learning into the learning process.

Techniques for learning outside may include experiential learning, field trips or other practical experiences such as building compost heaps or a keyhole garden. The aim is to make students critical observers of their environment and develop imagination and creative thinking about the ways we use our environment and how our activities impact it. A keyhole garden for instance provides students and teachers with learning opportunities in nutrition, carbon cycle, water cycle, botany, agriculture, economics, and recycling. Volunteers can also teach English and computer skills.

Nell will offer volunteers and interns educational materials to work with, besides many ideas and suggestion for appropriate activities.

The School was founded by Shaffy Gasica in 2006, when he was just 17 years old, and has now grown to over 130 pupils. Most pupils attend both regular state school (morning or afternoon sittings) and supplementary lessons at PLCI, giving them an extremely strong education. All teachers are volunteers. There are classes in physics, maths, chemistry, biology and geography. Besides this, there is a nursery school group for children from the age of 2, a "science club" targeting young women, support for physically disabled children (provision of wheelchairs), and a holiday camp every year during the months of July and August.

Compared to most young Zanzibaris, the PLCI students speak good English, and – since they are voluntarily taking part in supplementary education, they are motivated and driven, and a pleasure to work with.

http://www.world-unite.de/en/volunteering-zanzibar/sustainable-east-afri...