Barrick Gold pledges Sh70 billion to expand education infrastructure in Tanzania

Dodoma. Barrick Gold is pledging $30 million (about Sh70 billion) in support of the government’s plan to expand the education infrastructure in Tanzania.

The affirmation was reached during yesterday’s meeting between Barrick president and chief executive Mark Bristow and President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Called ‘The Barrick-Twiga Future Forward Education Program”, the objective is to build 1,090 classrooms, 1,640 ablution blocks and 270 dormitories across 161 schools nationwide, helping to accommodate approximately 49,000 of the estimated 190,000 students who are expected to start their A-levels in July this year, Barrick said in a statement yesterday.

It said that the first $10 million will be paid in April and the balance will be rolled out with the program.

“We believe that education is key to the development of the country. Both the Bulyanhulu and North Mara gold mines continue to support the education sector through the building of classrooms and the improvement of education infrastructure around the mines, which has seen some of them consistently feature among the top schools in these regions,” Mr Bristow said.

President Hassan confirmed the development yesterday when she graced the launch block farms which are part of the Building Better Tomorrow (BBT) programme in Dodoma yesterday.

She said the money would help in building infrastructure to accommodate Form Five students to be admitted in the new academic year that starts in July 2023.

She said in July this year, about 72,000 Form Six are expected to complete their studies from public schools across Tanzania, noting that the number of students to start Form Five is expected to exceed 192,000.

“This is the job giving me sleepless nights as I’m obliged to see all my Form Five children are admitted for studies,” she said.