A few weeks ago our school in Haukipudas had the pleasure of widening our network. A former student of Jangwani Secondary School, Ms Dorice Mazengo is currently studying in Finland.
Ms Mazengo wrote us a letter with some information of herself and also of her former school. Here are some main points of her letter:
“In short I studied at Jangwani from January 2000 to February 2006. That was ordinary and advanced level of secondary education. After that I joined institute of social work from September 2006. I was taking Bachelor Degree in Human Resource Management, but I couldn’t finish because of the school fees. Then I was at home and later one of my uncles who was here (Finland), took me here for studying. I came to start school again. That was in 2008. Now I am a student at Savonia ammmattikorkeakoulu taking bachelor degree in Industrial management 3rd year.
I am too an orphan and the first born with one younger sister and two brothers who are still in Tanzania.
I am happy to hear of such kind of program because I am interested too in helping people in either way, and I promise to do as much as I can to make these dreams come true.
The school is very old although some renovation has been done. It has also a big compound with a lot of activities going on like classrooms, library, laboratories (for physics, chemistry, biology and nutrition) and a computer room. There are dormitories, staff´s and teacher’s offices, kitchen for cookeries, needle work room, and a kiosk.
I am not sure exactly how big it is but it’s quite a big school and it has more than 1200 students including disabled students. It has two shift classes, ie morning and afternoon shift. That is because of insufficient number of class rooms. There are seven streams of studies, ie P,Q,R,S,X,Y & Z. P is for pure science, Q for science and needle work, R for science and cookery ,S for art and cookery, X for economics and bookkeeping, Y for art and needle work and Z for pure art. This means divisions of the classes. Computer course was optional and it had to be paid out of the school fees. This means not all students are able to attend the class. Jangwani is a government school but all students have to pay school fees and some other school contributions. The age of the students ranges between 14-22 years, and it is a popular school because it is at the center and takes students who are doing well in studies (talented).
In my opinion the school needs a hall for meeting, dormitories are too small, a nice and big library with necessary facilities like books, etc would be necessary. Computers and the Internet connection should be in the library and free for students. Also there are a lot of students who need help to continue their studies.
As far as I know, there are some art activities and sports too but we don’t take it much. Students are engaged in netball, dance, poems, singing and other. We used to arrange some concerts among students and participate in school celebrations.
Regards,
Dorice”
-by AMO
