Alliance for Catholic Education
- St. Bonaventure Secondary School (SBSS) Started this year (2025). It is owned by the Franciscan Sisters of St. Bernadette, FSSB.
- SBSS is a co-ed school (boys and girls).
- Currently, we have the following structures: an administration block which has seven offices, a girl’s dormitory, two teachers houses, five classrooms, three science labs, and a library.
- The school teaches science and art subjects according to the national curriculum.
- The school offers extra subjects in music, computers, and French.
- Extra subjects include Bible Knowledge
The school is in the Nguvukazi - Benaco area in Ngara District, which is in northwestern Tanzania, near the Rwandan border. It is about three miles away from the small town of Benaco. A teacher coming to our school from the U.S. would fly into Kigali, Rwanda, and we would pick him or her at Kigali International Airport and drive to Tanzania. To date, we have constructed five classrooms, a three-classroom science lab, a library, a girls’ dormitory, an administration building, two teachers’ houses, and a kitchen facility. A boys’ dormitory is under construction.
In Ngara District, our community, the Franciscan Sisters of St. Bernadette of Lourdes (FSSB), has the following facilities: an elementary school called St. Bonaventure English Medium Pre- and Primary School (all instruction is in English); a Novitiate in Benaco; a small medical dispensary called Lourdes; a small hotel in the Buhororo area; and our Mother House and a generalate house in Rulenge. In addition to running the two schools and the medical dispensary, we have a program called The Village Angels of Tanzania (TVAT). TVAT matches unemployed youth with elderly poor people and the youth bring them food, do minor home repairs, and provide them with companionship. As you can see, FSSB, 60 sisters, is involved in many aspects of community support and development.
The teacher will live on the SBSS campus in the lay teachers’ house. In this house, each teacher has a self contained room, a small kitchen, and a living room. The SBSS faculty includes one sister who has her Doctoral Degree in education, at the moment she is the headmistress, another sister is working as a matron in the girls’ dormitory, and two sisters who teach (one is a science teacher). We also have three lay teachers, we expect the number of lay teachers and sisters to increase as the number of students increases. The community life at SBSS is strong, because the sisters, lay teachers, and students all work hard and they work in harmony. We can work together to process the documents and information required for a U.S. citizen to live and work in Tanzania.
The biggest learning needs for our students are critical thinking skills, science, self-sustainability ideas (to help students who will become future citizens of Tanzania and the world know that, with the education they are getting they are capable of making and getting their necessities) and self-confidence. As a Catholic school, SBSS provides religious formation and instruction. SBSS does not discriminate on the basis of gender, color or religion.