On the evening of September 16, 2022，the opening ceremony of the second phase of the Tanzanian-Shanghai Mathematics Educator Exchange Program was successfully held at the UNESCO Teacher Education Centre (TEC). Jiang Mingjun, Vice President of Shanghai Normal University (SHNU), attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.
Jiang Mingjun first congratulated the successful launch of the program in his speech. He stated that the program provides a good opportunity for the diversified development of SHNU’s international teacher education courses, and SHNU is very willing to contribute its professional strength to the development of global education. He expressed sincere gratitude to the World Bank for building an international platform for SHNU’s foreign education aid and cooperation, especially to Dr. Wu Jianbing, a retired World Bank expert, for her generous funding of the program. He also thanked Tanzania’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Tanzania Institute of Education for their trust in SHNU, and sincerely wished that Tanzanian teachers could obtain more targeted teaching resources in the second phase of the program, creating a better mathematics education environment and providing higher-quality mathematics education resources for Tanzanian children.
On behalf of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, Zhou Qinjian extended warm congratulations on the launch of the second phase of the Tanzanian-Shanghai Mathematics Educator Exchange Program in his speech, and expressed sincere thanks to colleagues from Tanzania’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the World Bank, the Tanzania Institute of Education, and SHNU for their efforts and contributions. He stated that amid the major changes in the world today, the value of international educational cooperation has become more prominent, and educators have a long way to go in building a community with a shared future for mankind. He hoped that the program would achieve more fruitful results, and also welcomed experts and participants from Tanzania and the World Bank to visit Shanghai’s schools in person to deepen exchanges after the pandemic subsides.
In his speech, Deputy Director General Manori first thanked SHNU and the World Bank for their intellectual, human, and financial support for the development of basic education in Tanzania, which has ensured that teachers from the Tanzania Institute of Education and many secondary schools in Tanzania can continuously participate in the program. Manori believed that Shanghai’s education system is a benchmark for the world’s basic education system, and the first phase of the program has allowed Tanzanian teachers to learn advanced experiences from Shanghai’s mathematics education in cultivating students’ abilities to explore problems, solve problems, and think critically, which they have used to improve mathematics teaching in their own country. He highly anticipated the launch of the second phase of the program, which will be another proof of the friendly cooperative relations between China and Tanzania.
Liang Xiaoyan, Lead Education Specialist of the World Bank, stated in her speech that mathematics education is indispensable in the process of Tanzania’s industrialization, and the World Bank is very willing to help build a bridge of cooperation between Tanzania’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and SHNU. The first phase of the Tanzanian-Shanghai Mathematics Educator Exchange Program has achieved effective results, and she highly appreciated the contributions made by Shanghai’s mathematics experts to the progress of mathematics education in Tanzania. The World Bank will continue to support this program in the future.
Director Komba stated in her speech that the first phase of the Tanzanian-Shanghai Mathematics Educator Exchange Program has elevated mathematics teaching in Tanzania to a new level, and the learning experiences gained by trained teachers from the program will benefit mathematics classrooms across Tanzania.
Following the opening ceremony, Jiang Zheng, a teacher from SHNU, chaired the first exchange activity of this phase, and Huang Rongjin, Distinguished Professor of RIICE, delivered a thematic report. It is reported that this phase of the program will be carried out from September 16 to November 25, focusing on the digital transformation of mathematics teaching, emphasizing the use of technical tools to support algebra teaching, and enhancing Tanzanian mathematics teachers’ technological application capabilities. Thirty-three Tanzanian participants will participate in the program entirely through webinars. They are all senior teachers from local education institutes and renowned secondary schools across Tanzania, with postgraduate degrees accounting for more than 60%. In response to the participants’ learning needs, the team from RIICE has developed specialized teaching materials, lesson plans, exchange handouts, and video courses covering 7 themes, which will all be shared with the participants during the exchange.
The Tanzanian-Shanghai Mathematics Educator Exchange Program aims to start with the actual needs of Tanzania’s mathematics education development, relying on the high-quality teachers and rich experience of Shanghai’s basic mathematics education, to help Tanzanian mathematics teachers master the integration of mathematical knowledge and teaching skills, and improve the quality of mathematics teaching in Tanzania. The successful conclusion of the first phase of the program last year means that Shanghai’s education has made new progress in high-level opening-up. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic hindering the development and exchange of global basic education, this program is also a new exploration in the form and content of China’s foreign education aid, promoting Chinese educational experiences to go global and telling Chinese stories to a broader world.
