By Tobias Nsungwe

THE US Ambassador to Tanzania, Alfonso E. Lenhardt has said that Africa was losing out when it does not empower half of its people - namely, women and girls - to succeed intellectually and economically.

The Ambassador said that when addressing at the opening of the Africa Regional Education Workshop held in Dar es Salaam on Monday.

He said more and better opportunities for girls to attend school and advance to higher education were essential for Africa’s development.  ``This is not just an education issue. It is a fundamental issue of human rights. Africa can do better in educating its women and encouraging their full participation in the development of their society’’ he said.

He said it was now the time to break down all barriers that keep girls out of school. Lenhardt said that communities and families have an obligation to invest in the education of girls. The Ambassador said that must be fully supported at the national level by laws, policies, and practices to ensure equity in education.  

``In effect, leaving them and their families vulnerable to poverty.  The key to unlocking Africa’s potential lies in empowering women through education to build a more equitable, better educated, and more productive society’’ he added.

The Ambassador said Africa made great strides in ensuring universal access to primary education and on this he commended Tanzania for working diligently to make the promise of Universal Primary Enrollment a reality.
``Access to education should be the right of every child. I want to thank you for what you have done so far for Africa’s youngest citizens. The American People will continue to support your efforts in extending the benefits of education right across this great continent’’ he said.


  He said the meeting should also be an opportunity to work together in plotting a course to ensure that children have enough qualified educators. ``With an estimated shortage of 85,000 teachers, Tanzania is struggling with this challenge as are so many of you representing your countries’’ he added.
He said addressing the teacher gap requires the political will to make long-term investments in both pre-service and in-service training.

``More and better use of technology in the classroom holds the potential to improve learning for students and teachers alike. Tanzania recently brokered an important public-private partnership with information and computer technology firms and more agreements of this type are on the horizon. We commend our Tanzanian colleagues for their initiative and their vision in moving the Information and Communication Technology for Education agenda forward’’ he added.

 He however said that technology alone cannot fill the teacher gap adding technology-based approaches often require more and better trained teachers. ``Technology can vastly improve access to information for teachers and students, and provides a wide array of benefits when properly deployed in the classroom. But, technology is no substitute for the teacher-student engagement that lies at the heart of learner-centred approaches’’ Ambassador Lenhardt said.