Tanzania has been chosen as among 17 sub-Saharan African countries to participate in the initial four-year cycle of a teacher training program orchestrated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The high-priority program, effective for between 2006 and 2015, aims at combating illiteracy in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a UNESCO press statement available here on Wednesday.

The program also contributes toward Tanzania's Education for All drive in both the country's mainland and Zanzibar archipelago.

As a preparation for the launch of the program, UNESCO developed two demonstration sites in Tanzania this year in collaboration with the International Reading Association, the Education Ministry of Tanzania and the Education Ministry of Zanzibar.

UNESCO is soon to launch a series of workshops in Zanzibar where some 50 officials as well as teachers will sit through courses on active teaching of literacy and diagnostic teaching.

The UN institution expects to come out from these workshops with a sound literacy policy for this country.

Diagnostic teaching is a set of instructional techniques that offer teachers with opportunity to monitor learning by students and the effectiveness of their own teaching.

Source: Xinhua