Idodi Secondary School

July 10, 2017

On Monday we headed out to Tungamalenga and Makifu parishes, ready to be offline for the next eight days.  Our first stop was at Idodi Secondary School.  Idodi is the first village we come to in the parish, and we have about 75 students attending the secondary school. Headmaster Christopher Mwasomola welcomed us to his office for an introduction and update.

He said that Idodi is known as a community school -- the infrastructure is built by the community (in this case, heavily supported by a group known as Friends of Ruaha) and teachers are provided by the government.  Fun fact: the Friends of Ruaha at one point received a donation from Roy Disney, whose name is included on the dedication plaque for the school's library.

The school was registered in 1999 and has 889 students, 437 girls and 452 boys. There are 41 teachers. The government supports salaries, books, lab equipment, desks, and other basic supplies. There are 11 non teaching staff, with only two paid by the government; the school supports the others. Day students number 150, with 739 students boarding in the dormitories. The school is for students in forms 1-4 but may at some point in the future add forms five and six.

The headmaster indicated that the previous year's students performed "moderately well" in their national exams. Out of 32 district schools, Idodi was ranked #7.

Successes over the past year included the completion of remodeling the computer room.  (SOTV contributed funds to this project.) The room is secure from the weather, and has secure locks on doors and windows. 

The headmaster also indicated there is still a challenge of having enough computers to hold larger classes.  There are currently 12 desktop computers and they would like to have 40 -50. The school orders its computers from Dar es Salaam.

Another success has been the construction of a new boys dorm. We noticed in several locations that handicap accessible ramps are now standard on any new construction. 

The bathrooms in the new dorm are pristine.

Another big project at the school is the construction of a new kitchen and dining facility.  Above, the open air structure on the right is the current kitchen.  Behind it is a large new structure.

The new structure is made of concrete blocks and will be completely enclosed.

Here's the current kitchen -- open fires, large cooking pots, and lots of hard physical labor to stir a pot of ugali.

Here are new pressure cookers - about three feet tall. They cook beans in a fraction of the time.

Headmaster Mwasomola thanked the people of Shepherd of the Valley for their contributions to the computer room remodeling project, and for ongoing support for students through scholarships. "On behalf of the school, the staff, and students, I offer our thanks."