Radio Instruction to Strengthen Education (RISE) and Zanzibar Teacher Upgrading by Radio (ZTUR)

The Radio Instruction to Strengthen Education (RISE) Projects and Zanzibar Teacher Upgrading through Radio (ZTUR) Projects were established in Zanzibar in 2006. The programs ran consecutively through 2011 with the goals of:

1. Building the capacity of Zanzibar's Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) staff in the area of early childhood development (ECD) and education–which this report defines as services for children through the age of 8, and within Zanzibar's education system covers two years of preschool education and Standards 1 and 2;
2. Improving access to quality math, literacy and life skills instruction and materials for underserved young children (preschool to grade two); and
3. Developing a quality distance and open learning program through which in-service early childhood teachers can upgrade their skills and work towards preschool accreditation.

The study uses a mixed-method design (process and impact evaluations) to explore these questions. The process evaluation looks at what has been sustained, how it has been sustained, and what challenges and success MoEVT has experienced along the way. Interviews and surveys were conducted between March and June 2014 with 94 individuals, including MoEVT officials from the central and district offices, Teacher Center staff, head teachers of RISE intervention schools, teachers that were trained in Tucheze Tujifunze programming, and learners that listened to the programs. The impact evaluation looks at student performance at Standard 7 (equivalent to grade 7 in the United States) Kiswahili, English, and Math.The main success of the RISE and ZTUR Projects consisted of successfully establishing a distance and opening learning division (the eLearning Division), within the MoEVT.

• As of 2014, 179 of the original 180 Tucheze Tujifunze ECD centers are still in existence, and some efforts have been made to help build more permanent spaces for the centers that were in non-permanent structures.
• Payments for TuTu Center mentors have been fully integrated into the Ministry's annual budget.
• Broadcast of TuTu lessons has continued, with the exception of a 4-month interruption in 2014.
• The ECACP certification program, which was designed and developed under ZTUR, was rolled out in seven Teacher Centers early in 2014.

The major challenges to continued quality implementation lie in maintaining both access to and quality of materials and programming. Maintenance and replacement of radios and broadcasting are major barriers to listenership. A lack of printing and distribution of new materials and limitations on the resources committed to regular trainings and monitoring also affect the quality and fidelity of implementation.

• The 2014 assessment found that RISE formal school students performed significantly better on standardized grade-level assessments in Kiswahili, English and math, compared to their counterparts from the comparison group and from the RISE mixed group.
• Six years after the intervention, RISE formal school students demonstrated a better mastery of grade-level concepts.
• However, the overall performance level in English and math was found to be very low among all study groups.