Igniting Early Literacy: Rennovate a Classroom
289 Children.
One Broken Room.
And What Happened Next.
Igniting Early Literacy · Town School, Tabora · Pilot: March to August 2025
Before a Child Can Dream, They Need a Place to Sit.
There is a classroom at Town School in Tabora where 289 children once tried to learn. Not in shifts. Not in two rooms. All 289 of them, at the same time, in one room that was falling apart.
There were no desks. The children sat on a cold concrete floor. The roof leaked. The walls had not seen paint in years. There was no light to speak of. No books. No charts on the walls. No corner where a child could discover that letters make words and words make stories.
In that environment, only 5% of children left the pre-primary programme able to read and write. Not because they lacked the capacity. But because nobody had given them a room that believed in them.
“The problem was never the children. It was never the teachers. It was the silence of a system that forgot to build the room.”
CODEWA Field Assessment, Town School, 2024When CODEWA arrived at Town School, we did not come with a theory. We came with a needs assessment, a commitment, and eventually a partner who believed the same thing we did: that the first classroom a child ever sits in should tell them the world has room for them.
A Single Room. 289 Children. And a 5% Outcome.
These were the conditions CODEWA documented during the 2024 needs assessment at Town School. Each number represents a failure of infrastructure, not a failure of children.
Six Barriers. Every One Solvable.
The challenge at Town School was not one problem. It was six problems layered on top of each other each one compounding the others. CODEWA’s needs assessment documented every barrier, and the pilot project was designed to address each one directly.
What CODEWA and KTCT Built Together.
With generous support from the Kitchen Table Charities Trust, CODEWA spent six months transforming Town School’s pre-primary programme from the ground up. This is exactly what happened, phase by phase.
Needs Assessment and Stakeholder Engagement
CODEWA conducted a full needs assessment and convened a planning meeting with school management, teachers, community representatives, and local education officials. The project was formally introduced at the Tabora Municipal Education Stakeholders Meeting on 3 March 2025, receiving strong endorsement from education authorities.
Classroom Renovation
Complete renovation of the pre-primary classrooms including interior and exterior painting, roofing and ceiling improvements, installation of new windows and doors, and full electrical installation for proper lighting. Dilapidated spaces were transformed into clean, safe, child-friendly rooms.
Teaching Aids Made With Teachers, Not For Them
CODEWA facilitated collaboration between experienced teachers from neighbouring schools and Town School teachers to design and produce low-cost, locally appropriate teaching aids. Dozens of charts, flashcards, puzzles, and storytelling materials were produced and installed created by the educators who would use them, ensuring ownership and sustainability.
Resource Acquisition and Classroom Setup
Age-appropriate furniture, teaching materials, writing boards, and educational equipment were procured and installed. The classroom setup was completed with interactive learning corners promoting literacy, numeracy, creativity, and play-based learning completing the physical transformation of the space.
Teacher Training and Capacity Building
CODEWA organised a Teachers’ Training and Reflection Workshop for 62 ECD teachers from across Tabora Municipal Council. Training focused on child-centred and play-based approaches, classroom management, early literacy and numeracy instruction, practical use of teaching materials, and peer learning. Teachers reported increased motivation and confidence.
The Pilot Worked. Here Is the Evidence.
Six months after the project began, the conditions at Town School were unrecognisable. These are the verified outputs and outcomes from the final project report not projections, not aspirations, but what actually happened.
Safe, Child-Friendly Classrooms
The renovated classrooms are bright, well-lit, and equipped with age-appropriate furniture. Children now sit at desks and learn in an environment that signals they belong there.
Interactive Learning Corners
Teaching aids arranged into literacy, numeracy, creativity, and play-based learning corners promoting engagement, exploration, and the joy of early discovery.
More Confident, More Effective Teachers
62 teachers trained in child-centred approaches, play-based learning, and technology integration. Teachers reported higher confidence, stronger instructional skills, and increased motivation.
A Model Built to Last
Teaching aids co-produced by teachers. Durable renovation materials. Community involvement embedded throughout. The improvements are designed to serve future generations of learners, not just the current cohort.
Thank You, Kitchen Table Charities Trust
The Town School pilot was made possible by the generosity and trust of the Kitchen Table Charities Trust (KTCT). Their belief in CODEWA and in the children of Tabora made everything in this report possible. CODEWA sincerely thanks KTCT for their partnership and for proving that a relatively modest investment in the right place, at the right time, with the right community, can change an entire school. We carry that lesson forward into every school we now want to reach.
Four Lessons That Changed How We Think About Early Literacy.
The Town School pilot was not just a renovation project. It was a structured experiment with a measurable result. And what it taught CODEWA goes far beyond one school in Tabora Municipality.
Environment Is Not a Luxury. It Is a Prerequisite.
Children cannot engage with learning in a space that communicates neglect. The moment the classroom became safe, bright, and furnished, teacher observations recorded a measurable increase in student participation and attention. The environment came first. The learning followed.
Teachers Built for Their Context Outperform Imported Solutions.
Rather than importing teaching materials, CODEWA facilitated collaboration between Town School teachers and neighbouring school educators to co-produce locally relevant aids. The result was not just better materials. It was teachers who owned them, maintained them, and kept developing them after the project ended.
A Six-Month Investment Creates a Generation-Long Asset.
The renovated classrooms at Town School are now serving hundreds of children beyond the original 289. The trained teachers are still teaching. The teaching aids are still on the walls. A finite project created an infrastructure that will outlast it by decades.
The Model Is Scalable. And the Need Beyond Town School Is Urgent.
Town School is in Tabora Municipality. It has electricity, relative proximity to support, and an engaged school leadership. Rural schools across Tabora Region have none of these advantages. If the problem was this acute in a municipal school, what is happening in the schools nobody visits?
“Town School was not our destination. It was our proof of concept. The children waiting in rural Tabora are the reason we built it.“
The Changes We Saw at Town School Are Now Calling Us to Rural Tabora.
The transformation at Town School was not a coincidence. It was a replicable model. And the children sitting on cold floors in rural schools across Tabora and beyond deserve the same chance that 289 children at Town School now have.
The Conditions Town School Had But Worse.
- No electricity no lighting, no technology of any kind
- Classrooms in greater disrepair than Town School before renovation
- Teachers with even less access to training and professional development
- No nearby schools to collaborate with on teaching aids
- Families further from economic centres less community advocacy capacity
- Children travelling longer distances on foot to reach a classroom that is not ready for them
Everything Town School Now Has. In Every School We Reach.
- Renovated, safe, child-friendly classrooms with proper lighting
- Age-appropriate furniture so every child has a place to sit and learn
- Locally co-produced teaching aids designed for that community’s context
- Trained teachers equipped with play-based and child-centred approaches
- Interactive learning corners for literacy, numeracy, and creative development
- A foundation that serves future generations, not just the current cohort
The Reach We Are Working Toward
CODEWA is actively designing the next phase of the Igniting Early Literacy Programme to bring the Town School model to rural schools across Tabora Region and eventually to underserved communities beyond Tabora. Each school we reach follows the same proven sequence: needs assessment, renovation, resource provision, co-produced teaching aids, and teacher training. The model does not change. Only the community does. And every community has children who deserve a room that believes in them.
Community Assessment
A thorough needs assessment of the school, engagement with local leaders, teachers, and families to design an intervention that fits that community’s specific context.
Renovation and Equipping
Full classroom renovation, furniture provision, teaching aids co-produced with local teachers, and technology where infrastructure allows. Every school left better than we found it.
Teacher Training and Follow-up
Training in play-based and child-centred approaches, peer learning workshops, and ongoing support so teachers become the sustainable engine of the improved environment.
Every Gift. A Classroom That Believes in a Child.
Every contribution to the Igniting Early Literacy Programme funds a specific, named component of the model from a single set of teaching materials to the full transformation of one rural school.
| Amount | Gift Name | What It Funds | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| EUR 25 | The Learning Kit | Materials | A set of age-appropriate teaching materials charts, flashcards, or puzzles for one classroom. The kind of resource that makes a child reach out and touch the wall. |
| EUR 50 | A Desk for Every Child | Furniture | Contributes toward providing proper desks and chairs so children sit at the same level as learners everywhere else in the world. |
| EUR 100 | The Teacher Fund | Training | Covers one teacher’s participation in the full training and reflection workshop play-based learning, literacy instruction, and technology integration. |
| EUR 200 | The Technology Corner | Technology | Contributes toward a computer and projector setup giving children in rural schools their first encounter with technology in a structured learning environment. |
| EUR 500 | The Full Classroom Gift | Full School | Funds a significant portion of one rural classroom renovation covering materials, teaching aids, and teacher training. One gift. One classroom transformed. Hundreds of children reached. |
| Any | Your Own Gift | All Components | Every contribution moves the model one step closer to the next rural school. No gift is too small to matter to a child who has been sitting on a cold floor. |
Town School Proved It Works.
Now Help Us Take It Further.
There is a child in a rural school in Tabora sitting on a cold floor right now. Not because the community does not care. Not because the teachers have given up. But because nobody has yet built the room.
We know how to build it. We proved it at Town School. We know what it costs. We know what it delivers. What we need now are the partners willing to say: this child in this classroom in this community deserves the same start as any child anywhere.
“Over 289 pre-primary learners are now accessing a safe, well-equipped, and stimulating learning environment. Strong collaboration with school authorities, local government officials, and the community ensured effective implementation and sustainability.”
CODEWA Final Project Report Town School, August 2025Give EUR 25 and furnish a classroom with teaching materials. Give EUR 100 and train a teacher who will carry that knowledge for the rest of their career. Give EUR 500 and help transform one rural classroom from a barrier into a launching pad.
Because the first classroom a child ever sits in should tell them the world has room for them. And because we now know exactly how to build that room.
SDG 4 Quality EducationEnsure inclusive and equitable quality education for all.
SDG 10 Reduced InequalitiesReduce inequality within and among countries.
SDG 17 PartnershipsStrengthen the means of implementation and global partnership.