A whiteboard in every classroom in Tanzania.

The problem nobody talks about

Every time a teacher writes on a blackboard, and every time the board is wiped clean, chalk releases a cloud of fine dust into the air. In a small, poorly ventilated classroom with forty or fifty children packed in for six hours a day, that dust doesn't just disappear. It settles on desks, books and skin, and it gets breathed in, lesson after lesson, year after year.

Research into chalk dust has found that:

• chalk dust is thick with fine particles small enough to travel deep into the lungs
• children and teachers sitting near the board are exposed to the highest concentrations, right where they need to be to see and hear the lesson
• regular exposure is linked to coughing, throat and eye irritation, and reduced lung function over time, with children and asthma sufferers most at risk
• wiping the board makes things worse, throwing even finer dust back into the air

None of this is dramatic on any single day. That's exactly the problem: it's a slow, invisible harm that builds up over years of schooling, in classrooms where nobody thought to question it because it's simply how school has always been.

A simple swap with a real impact

The fix isn't expensive research or new technology. It's a whiteboard. Classrooms using whiteboards and dry-erase markers show none of the dust spikes that chalk and blackboards produce. Same lesson, same teacher, same children, just cleaner air.

• Removes the dust at the source. No chalk, no airborne particles, no daily exposure.
• Clearer lessons. Dark ink on a bright white surface is easier to read from the back of a crowded room, and coloured markers help teachers highlight key points.
• Every pupil taking part. Mini whiteboards replace chalk slates, so every child can write an answer and hold it up, and the teacher sees at once who has understood.
• Protects teachers too. They spend the most time closest to the board, day after day, year after year.
• Built to last. A good whiteboard, looked after properly, lasts for many years.

What each classroom receives

• a large classroom whiteboard for the teacher
• personal mini whiteboards for pupils, replacing chalk slates
• markers, erasers and cleaning supplies to keep them going
• a short introduction for teachers on care and use

Whiteboards need a steady supply of markers and erasers, and markers run dry. That's why the project doesn't stop at the board itself: we plan for supplies so classrooms stay equipped long after the boards go up.

Why this matters to us

We believe education should build children up, not quietly wear down their health while it does. A blackboard was never a deliberate choice to put children at risk; it's simply what was available. Now something better is available too, and we think every classroom deserves it.

Every whiteboard we install replaces years of daily dust exposure with a wipe-clean surface and a dry marker. A small change on paper; in a classroom full of children, it's the air they'll breathe for the rest of their school life.