DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - Zanzibar celebrated the handover of the highly successful Zanzibar Teacher Upgrading by Radio Project (ZTUR) to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training on February 23rd, 2011 at the National Teacher Resource Center. The handover ceremony was jointly presided by the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Scott and Zanzibar's Minister of Education and Vocational Training Ramadhan Abdulla Shabaan. ZTUR is a Distance and Open Learning Program that benefits Zanzibar's youngest students by enabling preschool teachers to enhance their skills and work towards full professional accreditation. This partnership between Zanzibar's Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Education Development Center (EDC) is helping Zanzibar educate tomorrow's leaders today.

With support from the American people, ZTUR staff developed an in-service certification program for Zanzibar's preschool teachers called the Early Childhood Certification Program (ECCP). This program increases the number of trained pre-primary teachers in Zanzibar in order to achieve the goals of the 2006 Zanzibar Education Policy of compulsory pre-primary education for all. ECCP builds on teachers' experience in the classroom and complements short-term, intensive trainings with on-going support. Participating teachers master the skills necessary to advance their careers while giving Zanzibar's children the world-class education they deserve.

The ZTUR partnership created Chezesha Ufundishe, a comprehensive radio training series for teachers, as well as Ukuzi wa Watoto, an interactive video training program that covers child development and builds the teacher training capacity of the Ministry. ZTUR also created over 6,000 print materials tailored to the needs of Zanzibar's teachers and students and distributed solar-powered audio players/radios with pre-loaded programs for children and teachers to every preschool and primary school in Zanzibar. In addition to receiving print materials and radios, Teacher Centers were provided with solar-powered video technology for teacher training.

ZTUR reflects USAID's commitment to helping Tanzanians help themselves by developing the local capacity to improve the quality of education for all. The Ministry of Education staff have been an integral part of the ZTUR team from the very beginning. Their dedication and hard work have provided a solid foundation to sustain the gains already accomplished, while producing new and innovative early childhood and distance-learning materials that will foster a strong and vibrant education system.

For more information about USAID, visit www.usaid.gov.