Africa-Press – Tanzania. TANZANIA Commercial Bank (TCB) has donated 150 desks to two primary schools in Mara Region that are worth over 14m/-as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) investment.
Currently, the government owned lender spends about 300m/-annually on CSR activities that mostly focus on three areas namely education, health and social welfare.
The schools that benefitted from last week’s TCB philanthropic gesture were Mariwanda A Primary School in Bunda District and Kenyamota Primary School in Mugumu.
The former, which has 753 pupils, got 50 desks worth 6.1m/- and the latter 100 that cost the bank 8m/-. Speaking at the function to hand over the classroom furniture, TCB Musoma Branch Manager Gilbert Hagai said the donation means a lot to the bank and is a worthy investment.
“Getting the opportunity to contribute to the advancement of education in Mara Region is a matter of honour to us and an obligation of some sorts because supporting the education sector is one of the priorities of our CSR policy,” Mr Hagai said on Friday at Kenyamota Primary School.
The TCB official noted that the bank’s CSR activities and the supportive financing it provides primarily seek to back government efforts to provide quality social services and improve the welfare of Tanzanians.
At Mariwanda Primary School, Mr Hagai said the CSR investments are also a gesture of appreciation to the communities where the bank operates and makes money. Additionally, he explained, it is the execution of the policy to invest part of the profit TCB makes in social causes.
“We are handing over these desks to support efforts of the government to improve the learning and teaching conditions in the country. TCB strongly believes that the authorities cannot on their sort out all the educational challenges facing the nation,” Mr Hagai stated.
“Hopefully our donation of 50 desks will make a big difference in their lives and education aspirations to consequently enable them to play their due role in nation building,” he added.
Thanking TCB for the donation, the headteacher of Mariwanda Primary School, Mr Fredrick Vicent, said the new desks will greatly help to alleviate the shortage they have had for many years.
At Kenyamota that has 736 pupils, Mr Hagai said the CSR budget for education last year amounted to some TSh50 million that benefitted about 15 schools across Tanzania.
“So far this year TCB has donated over 300 desks compared to 150 the whole of 2020 but that was due to challenges of Covid-19,” he noted.
