Fashion show in Dar promotes education

An initiative linking fashion and school launches on 12 October with a fashion show in Dar es Salaam. A street show is the first event in a fund raising effort to sponsor 100 children a year in the city’s schools. It will be followed by a fund-raising dinner in November.

The show starts at Mnazi Mmoja grounds, then goes to Kariakoo, Fire, Upanga, Salendar Bridge, Morocco, Mwenge and Milmani City.

The initiative, Elimu Mwanzo Mwisho, is promoted by Tigo Tanzania, the oldest telecommunications working in Tanzania, and the Bonnah Education Trust Fund.

The street fashion show is to promote the benefits of education to the family and the nation and it is hoped that the event will reach 20,000.

In Tanzania primary school tuition (for children from 7-13 years old) is free but parents still have to pay for uniforms and books. Between 2001 and 2008 children in primary schools almost doubled to reach a total of 8.4 million but there was no similar increase in teachers, school buildings or educational texts.