The day WAMA Nakayama girl's Secondary school in Rufiji went digital with Opportunity tablets...

 Chairman of the Opportunity Education Foundation Joe Ricketts from Omaha, Nebraska, in the US signs the visitor's book upon arrival at the WAMA Nakayama Girl's Secondary School at Nyamisati village in Rufiji District, Coast Region, January 27, 2014 as hostess Tanzania First Lady and school founder Salma Kikwete with the school's Chairman of Board of Directors Dr Ramadhani Dau look on prior to the launch of the a programme that aims at providing Tanzania secondary school students with tablets pre-loaded with educational materials.

 Wanawake na Maendeleo (WAMA) Chairperson Tanzania First Lady Salma Kikwete welcomes Chairman of the Opportunity Education Foundation Joe Ricketts  ahead of  the historical launch of the a programme that aims at providing Tanzania secondary school students with Opportunity tablets pre-loaded with educational materials.

 Chairman of the Opportunity Education Foundation Joe Ricketts from Omaha, Nebraska, in the US presents a Chicago Cubs jersey to his hostess Tanzania First Lady and school founder Salma Kikwete. 

  Chairman of the Opportunity Education Foundation Joe Ricketts from Omaha, Nebraska, in the US heads for the hall of  the WAMA Nakayama Girl's Secondary School at Nyamisati village in Rufiji District, Coast Region January 27, 2014 with hostess Tanzania First Lady and school founder Salma Kikwete and  the school's Chairman of Board of Directors Dr Ramadhani Dau and headmistress

 Standing ovation as the VIP's enter the hall

  Chairman of the Opportunity Education Foundation Joe Ricketts from Omaha, Nebraska, in the US stand at attention   as the National Anthem and school song raise the curtains upon arrival at the WAMA Nakayama Girl's Secondary School at Nyamisati village in Rufiji District, Coast Region January 27, 2014 with  hostess Tanzania First Lady and school founder Salma Kikwete, Minister for Education and Vocational Education Dr Shukuru Kawambwa (right) with the school's Chairman of Board of Directors Dr Ramadhani Dau (left)

 WAMA Nakayama students sing the National Anthem

 Chairman of the Opportunity Education Foundation Joe Ricketts from Omaha, Nebraska, in the US stand at attention   as the National Anthem and school song raise the curtains upon arrival at the WAMA Nakayama Girl's Secondary School at Nyamisati village in Rufiji District, Coast Region January 27, 2014 with  hostess Tanzania First Lady and school founder Salma Kikwete, Minister for Education and Vocational Education Dr Shukuru Kawambwa (right) with the school's Chairman of Board of Directors Dr Ramadhani Dau (left)

  WAMA Nakayama school's Chairman of Board of Directors Dr Ramadhani Dau makes his welcome note

 WAMA Nakayama ..school Headmistress Ms Tuma Mensa delivers her speech

 One of WAMA beneficiaries gives his testimony 

 Representative of the Opportunity Education Foundation in Tanzania Mbakileki Mutahaba speaks out about the Opportunity Tablet programme

 Chairman of the Opportunity Education Foundation Joe Ricketts from Omaha, Nebraska, in the US makes a brief speech

 Traditional entertainment by WAMA Nakayama students

 Friends of WAMA Nakayama

 PPF Director General Mr William Erio (left) whose instution is one of the major donors was also in attendance

 A short play the students

 Minister for Education and Vocational Education Dr Shukuru Kawambwa gives his statement

 Coast Regional Commissioner Hon. Hajat Mwantumu Mahiza speaks

 Chairman of the Opportunity Education Foundation Joe Ricketts gets ready to hand over the tablets with  a word or two to Tablet Manager from the foundation's office in Tanzania, Ms Sandra Tetty.

 Mr Joe Ricketts makes a ceremonial hand-over of one of  the tablets to First Lady and school founder Salma Kikwete, Minister for Education and Vocational Education Dr Shukuru Kawambwa, the school's Chairman of Board of Directors Dr Ramadhani Dau and school's headmistress Ms Tuma Mensa

 First Lady and school founder Salma Kikwete in return hands over the tablets to the jovial students

 A visibly excited student holds shows off her tablet to the rolling cameras

 Mr Joe Ricketts joins in to bask in the warmth of the historical moment

 First Lady and school founder Salma Kikwete gives her statement of gratitude

Tablet tutor with some of the WAMA Nakayama students

 Tablet tutor sits with the students

 Another standing ovasion for First Lady as she and her guests leave the hall

 A group photo with members of the Opportunity Education Foundation team

 With WAMA Nakayama teachers and administrators

 With student representatives

 With Nyamisati Village leaders

 With WAMA Nyamisati friends

 Form two students with the tablets

 Now, this is awesome....

 PPF Director General Mr William Erio offers some tips on how to operate the Kindle-like Opportunity tablets

 Now, where is the log in icon?

 Hey, you have to log in first...

 Open sesame!

 Simply can't believe this is happening to us...

 Okay, show us how its done...

 Girls, I have decided to offer a tablet to the entire school...

 Sir, thank you...

 Okay, Sir, I start by logging in my personal details...Easy like ABC

 Well, Sir, it took me just under ten minutes to grasp how it works. We are very, very thankful for your generosity, Sir. We really are....

 Minister for Education and Vocational Education Dr Shukuru Kawambwa is happy and thankful for this pilot programme

 Multi-tablet charging decks. One full charge lasts for over eight hours.

 Hmmmm.... I am impressed. Great library...

Sir, this is our computer lab. Sits 45 students, and teachers, at one time...

Hey, i told you no Facebook, Instagram of Whatsapp in here.... Just lessons and important references like Wikipedia, encyclopedia etc. Good for us, ain't it?

By Tuma Abdallah, Daily News
A NEW era dawned in Tanzania's digital education landscape today when a programme that aims at providing secondary school students with tablets pre-loaded with educational materials was launched.

The programme’s ultimate goal is to provide each secondary school student in the country with a tablet to enable them access educational materials electronically.

It will be implemented by the government and an American NGO -- Opportunity Education Foundation (OEF).

Implementation will begin with a pilot phase in 10 secondary schools on Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, which will involve provision of about 1,100 tablets pre-loaded with Science, Mathematics, Geography and History materials for Form Two students. 

Each Form Two student in those schools will get one tablet, according to Tablet Manager from the foundation's office in Tanzania, Ms Sandra Tetty.

The donation makes Tanzania the first country in the world to receive the tablets under the OEF educational support programme, which earmarks 34 countries around the globe.

Launching of the programme involved handing over of 61 tablets to WAMA Nakayama Girls Secondary School at Nyamisati in Rufiji District by OEF Founder, Mr Joe Ricketts.

They were received by the Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Dr Shukuru Kawambwa and WAMA Chairperson, Mama Salma Kikwete. Mr Ricketts pledged a further donation of tablets for the entire school.

Dr Kawambwa hailed the donation, saying it was a valuable support to the government in its effort to improve the quality of education in the country through technology.

He noted that when rolled out throughout the country, the programme would go a long way toward addressing the shortage of teachers and text books in secondary schools.

The minister said his ministry had prepared science and mathematics content for secondary schools, which would be loaded into the tablets ready to be used by the students, while efforts to digitalise materials for other subjects go on.

This would entail replacement of the content in the donated tablets, which according to Ms Tetty, is about 60 per cent relevant to the country's O level and A level syllabuses.

"We are committed in this. We have started and there will be no going back," said the minister, adding that the government was also planning to use Tele-Presence technology in which one teacher can teach students in different schools connected to the system at the same time.

He said tomorrow he would launch a small model of the technology, which would be used to smoothen operations at his ministry. 

Dr Kawambwa commended Mama Salma and WAMA for being a ‘’shoulder on which to lean’’ in the effort to promote education, especially targeting disadvantaged children.

President Jakaya Kikwete met with Mr Ricketts at the State House in Dar es Salaam on Sunday, where he thanked the OEF Founder for supporting development of the country's education sector.

The president underscored the importance of science and technology for development, saying he strongly believed that the use of tablets in secondary schools would help address various challenges facing the sector

The customised Opportunity Education Tablets are fitted with simplified features that allow easy access of the content and uploading of any other educational materials. They also have long battery life.

Beneficiaries of the pilot phase will be Form Two students at Ilboru, Mzumbe, Msalato, Fidel Castro (Pemba), WAMA Nakayama (Coast), Bwiru Boys, J Ossian (Bukoba), Laureatte (Zanzibar), Notredame (Arusha) and Tusiime (Dar es Salaam).The 10 schools are part of 33 secondary schools which have been receiving support from the foundation.