The Embassy of Sweden on behalf of the Swedish Government will provide funding of Swedish Kronor 13 000 000 approximately 1.9 billion Tanzanian Shillings to support activities in the education sector for the period December 2003 to December 2004.Support is given to the completion of 302 classrooms and 45 offices in schools where communities have initiated construction, but are lacking roofs and other essential materials. The Swedish support will facilitate completion of these classrooms to be taken into use, including the provision of classroom furniture, which will increase the physical capacity of schools and make classrooms less overcrowded in many places. This is in continuation of support that was given in 2002 - 2003 when 197 classrooms were completed and furnished, as well as some offices and stores.The Government of Sweden will also provide support to the initiative by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports to initiate the development of a new education policy and a Zanzibar Education Sector-Wide Development Programme (ZEDP). Such a programme is an essential contribution to the economic, social and political development of Zanzibar, and in line with the Zanzibar Poverty Reduction Plan. Once the ZEDP has been designed, Sweden has the intention to provide long-term support for its implementation along with other partners.The agreement will be signed on Wednesday 10 December at 14.00 in Zanzibar by H.E. Mr. Torvald Åkesson, Ambassador of Sweden, and Mr. Julian B. Raphael, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs.For further information, please contact Hans Persson, Senior Programme Officer, Education and Social Sector or Doris Lema, Management Secretary and Information Officer at the Swedish Embassy, tel. 022-2111 235.