Rev Andy Bennett started the Bible Knowledge (BK) teaching program in 2015 in the Anglican Diocese of Kagera, Tanzania. Andy was a missionary with CMS-Australia. He and his wife Jenny worked in Kagera from 2008 to 2017.
On Andy’s recommendation, the Diocese of Kagera appointed Rev Josias Buneye as the BK Coordinator in June 2017, two months before Andy and Jenny left Tanzania. Josias was a parish pastor who taught BK at Nyabishenge Secondary School in 2016-2017. While Josias looked after local coordination in Kagera, Andy continued to assist the program in retirement from Australia, mainly by raising funds.
Meanwhile, the neighbouring Diocese of Lweru started its own BK program in 2017, with assistance from the Diocese of Kagera. Also in 2017, the Diocese of Kagera was sub-divided and part of it became the new Diocese of Biharamulo, which continued to run the BK program that had been started in its area by its mother diocese. So by late 2017, there were three neighbouring dioceses running BK programs in north-west Tanzania (in the political region of Kagera, and partly in the Geita Region). Now, each of these dioceses has its own BK coordinator and its own BK funding, but they work closely together.
The role of each BK Coordinator is to develop the teaching of BK in secondary schools (government and private) within their area, and to encourage students to apply BK in their lives, mainly by doing the following.
- Encourage secondary schools to teach BK in accordance with the Ministry of Education syllabus for Form 1 to Form 4.
- Provide books relating to BK to schools involved in the program, by ordering books and arranging their delivery.
- Communicate with BK teachers and school authorities (headmasters, second masters and academic masters), to provide advice about BK teaching and to monitor academic performance in BK.
- Organise seminars for BK teachers, for them to share their experiences and to look at ways of improving the program.
- Liaise with other dioceses running similar programs, to improve overall program management.
- Communicate with Tanzanian Government authorities such as District Education Officers, to encourage more schools to teach BK.
- Keep records of BK teaching, and provide related information and photos for reporting to donor organisations.
There is a need for a national BK coordinator in Tanzania, to extend the program across the country. Hopefully one day we’ll get the right person and the necessary funding to establish such a role.
>>>>
See the DOWNLOADS page for an update on the current status of the program.