NEW GIRLS DORMITORY AT MILEMBE SECONDARY SCHOOL

There are currently 80 girls boarding in the Dorm Compound at Milembe Secondary School.

The dormitory compound at Milembe Secondary School in Iteja, Tanzania was designed as a prototype for rural school districts throughout Tanzania. Compared to typical, single-sex campuses, self-sufficient dorms like these at existing secondary schools can provide more opportunities—faster and closer to home—for girls to excel at their studies. 

Foundations for the entrance and porch under construction, with Hygiene Building in the background (11 February 2025).

When the complex was finished in 2022, just one dorm housing 50 girls was built, with bathing and composting latrines, a dining pavilion, matron house and guard house within the security wall. The dining hall was constructed with a mezzanine to provide an extra classroom.  So many girls need beds that the mezzanine currently houses 40 girls.

Crew assembling materials for concrete, with Matron House in the background (10 February 2025).

The Africa Schoolhouse team began construction on the second dormitory within the compound walls in January 2025.

Topping off concrete block walls for the central corridor on the dormitory (3 March 2025).

Girls report that the intimate scale of the dormitory, with four beds per compartment, has increased confidence and friendships as well as generating consistently high test scores. The school store built into the dormitory gate has become a campus hub where all 500 students gather midday.

The next question is, what can be done for the 109 boys who are sleeping in the classrooms so that they can pass the exams?

Misungwi District officials, Milembe School teachers, Africa Schoolhouse founders Aimee and Mark Bessire and Africa School staff and crew members celebrate signing of the Memorandum of Agreement for the new dormitory (12 February 2025).