The Lion of Judah Academy follows the Tanzanian educational system, including the Tanzanian national curriculum.
The major distinctives of The Lion of Judah Academy are...
The Lion of Judah Academy uses English as the language of instruction;
The Lion of Judah Academy places very high priority on having adequate books and materials for teachers and students;
The Lion of Judah Academy is firmly based on Christian values, incorporating Bible and Christian subjects into the curriculum.
In the Tanzanian system primary school begins with Awali (the equivilent of kindergarten) and goes through 7th grade, although in Tanzania they are not called 'grades,' but 'standards' (i.e. 'standard one' or 'standard four'). Awali through standard two are taught in closed classrooms; in standard three and above different teachers teach different subjects.
At the conclusion of standard four and standard seven every Tanzanian school child is required to take a standardized national exam. Failure to pass means they cannot continue their education. Secondary school offers an additional four years of education for those who are able to pass the standard seven exam. Ideally secondary school is taught in English, although very few secondary schools actually do this because teachers who are able to teach in English are very difficult to find. Of all the nations of the world Tanzania ranks almost dead last in percentage of its population which actually enrolls in secondary school -- less than 5% (for more information check the NationMaster website, link provided on the "
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The Lion of Judah Academy currently has classes from Awali through standard five, and the school expects to add a new grade each year until it reaches standard seven. Subjects include English, social studies, science, mathematics, community and health, reading and grammar, Kiswahili, art, music and physical education. At The Lion of Judah Academy all subjects except Kiswahili are taught in English, which is one of the highly distinctive features of the school.
Class size is between 25 and 30, and the board of trustees plans to limit class size to 30 students per class (as opposed to 100+ at the local government school!). Currently the school has 143 students: 79 boys and 64 girls. In January, 2005, standard 6 will begin and another 30 students will be added.
The Lion of Judah Academy teaches in English because one of the significant educational, political and economic issues in Tanzania is the very low English literacy rates. In many ways Tanzania finds itself isolated from the world, and even from its own African neighbors, because its English literacy rate is so low. But this has become a terrible "Catch 22" -- Tanzanian children need to be taught in English in order to learn English...but Tanzanian teachers struggle to teach in English because they themselves have not learned to speak English well. One goal of the school is to break out of this destructive cycle.