September 16, 2026 – How the Montessori Community of Tanzania is building teacher capacity, improving learning environments, and strengthening public pre-primary education through government systems.
Why This Matters
The earliest years should be a time of opportunity, yet too many children in Tanzania begin school without the strong foundations they need to learn and thrive. The greatest barriers are often faced by children in low-income, rural, and underserved communities, where public pre-primary classrooms can be overcrowded and under-resourced, and teachers may have limited access to continuous professional development.
Many learning settings also lack age-appropriate materials, safe and stimulating environments, and reliable nutrition support. In some contexts, harmful disciplinary practices, including corporal punishment, continue to undermine children’s dignity, wellbeing, and engagement in learning. Families unable to afford private early childhood services have limited alternatives, leaving children with the greatest need least likely to access quality service provision.
Addressing these inequities matters because experiences during the early years shape children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development and influence their longer-term educational outcomes.
Building Quality Early Learning Through Local Capacity
The Montessori Community of Tanzania (MCT) works to advance equitable access to quality early childhood care and education across mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. Established in 1997 and restructured as a nonprofit organization in 2021, MCT promotes inclusive, child-centered learning grounded in Montessori principles.
Through professional training, classroom-based mentorship, and continuous learning, MCT works with teachers, caregivers, and other early childhood practitioners to strengthen teaching practice and create safe, stimulating learning environments. Working across seven operational zones and in partnership with government institutions and Montessori training centers, MCT pays particular attention to children and communities facing barriers to quality early learning.
At the heart of this work is Community Rooted Education (CoRE), MCT’s flagship program for strengthening the quality of public pre-primary education.
CoRE equips teachers with practical, child-centered approaches grounded in Montessori principles, with a focus on educators working in low-income, rural, and under-resourced communities who have had limited access to specialized early childhood training and ongoing professional support.
Rather than relying on one-off training, CoRE combines structured professional development with ongoing, classroom-based mentorship. Teachers learn to observe and respond to children’s developmental needs, organize inclusive and stimulating learning environments, promote independence and positive discipline, and create effective learning materials using affordable, locally available resources.
This practical approach enables teachers to improve children’s learning experiences without relying on expensive or imported materials.
For teachers, the shift can mean changing deeply established approaches to discipline and classroom management.
“I used to rely on the cane. CoRE showed me another way. Now I prepare the classroom, I watch the children, and I make our materials from what we have around us. The children are calmer and they want to learn.”
— Maria Mwekwa, Pre-primary Teacher, Mkalama, Singida
Maria’s experience illustrates how sustained support can translate professional development into changes in everyday classroom practice, from how teachers respond to children to how they organize learning environments and create materials.
Strengthening Systems Through Government Partnership
A central feature of CoRE is its focus on strengthening existing public education systems rather than creating parallel structures.
MCT implements the program in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology; the President’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG); the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training Zanzibar; the Tanzania Institute of Education; and the Zanzibar Institute of Education.
Through curriculum alignment, government engagement, and the development of certified National Trainers, CoRE strengthens national and local capacity and supports approaches that can be sustained and scaled through government systems.
This systems-focused approach is particularly important for reaching children who are least likely to benefit from private early learning provision. By working through public structures and building the capacity of local educators, MCT is seeking to make quality improvement part of the system itself.
The approach is also gaining attention from government partners.
“MCT brought us evidence, not just ideas. CoRE is practical and it fits our priorities, so we are looking at how to take it across our public schools.”
— Wahida Omary, Head of Pre-primary Department, Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Zanzibar
CoRE is complemented by MCT’s wider program portfolio, including Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) diploma training, refresher courses, the Montessori Challenge Fund, daycare center renovations, and Montessori Hubs. Together, these interventions strengthen teachers, learning environments, families, and communities, creating a more coordinated foundation for sustainable improvements in early childhood development.
Reaching Children, Teachers, and Learning Communities
Over nearly three decades, MCT has contributed to strengthening early childhood education across mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar by improving teaching practice, learning environments, and community participation.
The change is increasingly visible in classrooms, where teachers are replacing punitive and highly teacher-directed approaches with observation, positive guidance, and child-centered learning. Children are becoming more confident, independent, and engaged, while teachers increasingly create affordable learning materials from locally available resources and share their knowledge with colleagues.
In 2025, CoRE reached 13,323 children in 115 public pre-primary schools, including 9,381 children in Mkalama District, Singida, and 3,942 in Mjini Magharibi, Zanzibar. The program also supported the transformation of 177 classrooms.
MCT’s professional development and mentorship efforts are building capacity beyond individual classrooms. Seven refresher courses strengthened 348 teachers, while monitoring and mentorship supported 497 teachers and caregivers across 280 centers. In addition, 28 daycare centers serving 1,424 children were renovated.
The organization’s wider work also extends beyond the classroom, recognizing that children’s development is shaped by the environments and relationships around them. Through initiatives such as Montessori Hubs, MCT is engaging parents and communities in supporting children’s learning and development at home.
For parents, this can involve a shift in how they understand their role in their children’s early learning.
“I used to think raising small children was my wife’s work. After the Montessori Hub I sit with my son, I read with him, and I play with him. Our home is different now.”
— Shija Mkama, Parent and Montessori Hub participant, Ilemela, Mwanza
Together, these results demonstrate progress across multiple parts of the early learning system, from teacher capacity and classroom practice to learning environments, family engagement, and community ownership.
What MCT Has Learned
MCT’s experience offers several lessons for others working to strengthen early childhood systems:
Sustained support matters. Training is more likely to translate into changed practice when teachers receive ongoing mentorship, coaching, and opportunities for reflection.
Local solutions can strengthen sustainability. Locally available materials can support quality learning while reducing reliance on expensive or imported resources.
Systems change requires partnership. Working with government institutions from the outset can help align programs with national priorities and create pathways for scale.
Families are part of the learning environment. Engaging parents can extend child-centered approaches beyond the classroom and into the home.
Quality learning cannot be separated from children’s wider needs. Nutrition, child protection, family engagement, and safe learning environments are all essential to children’s ability to learn and thrive.
Looking Ahead: Sustaining Progress Beyond Pre-Primary
Looking ahead, MCT will focus on deepening the quality and sustainability of CoRE while expanding the program to additional districts through government systems.
A key priority is extending the CoRE approach beyond pre-primary education into lower primary, particularly Standards One, Two, and Three, to support continuity in child-centered learning during the transition to formal schooling.
MCT will also strengthen classroom mentorship, teacher resource centers, nutrition, child protection, and family engagement.
As MCT looks to the next phase of its work, opportunities for collaboration will include strengthening evidence, building local capacity, supporting research and learning, and identifying sustainable pathways to scale.
The organization welcomes collaboration with government, civil society, research institutions, and development partners to strengthen evidence, build local capacity, and scale sustainable approaches that improve outcomes for young children.
About Montessori Community of Tanzania
Established in 1997 and registered as an NGO in 2021, MCT works with educators, families, communities, and government partners to strengthen early learning across mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. Learn more about MCT here.