Three separate communities will be celebrating the start of the new academic year in September when they each receive a new block of classrooms, classroom furniture, a new latrine, a head teacher’s office and the makings of a school farm to earn income and aid sustainability.  The extra accommodation will enable these schools to enrol additional IDP children, some of whom have been excluded from school for the past eight years, because of war.

CS Moh is a primary and nursery school in one of the most remote parts of the NW region which has been hit very hard by the violent fighting during the war.  It was created in 1957 and has not had the benefit of new classrooms or a new latrine since then.  Most of the classrooms have collapsed over the years and it currently squeezes all 164 pupils into the last 2 standing rooms.  Inevitably the standard of academic success has been steadily getting worse.  Children and parents have become disillusioned regarding education because of the state of the accommodation – and the fact that all other schools in the area have been closed since the beginning of the war.  The vast majority of people in this area are peasant farmers who live on an income of less than $1 a day, but they want a better future for their children and they see the new school building as a sign of hope for the future.  They have been contributing all they can during the construction of this new building, mostly in the form of unskilled labour and sun-dried mud blocks.  The handover ceremony is scheduled for September 2025 and all that remains to be finished is the fitting of the window clusters, the doors and the painting of the whole building.

EP Bagam is a village primary school in Galim in the West Region.  Many IDPs have fled from the NW region to this area and are hoping that their children will be able to be placed at EP Bagam – but the children have been out of education for many years and had lost their enthusiasm for learning.  During the past year, around 160 IDP children have been catching up with their basic skills through a special project at our nearby Neighbourhood Learning Corners and are now really keen to go back to school.  The new classroom block will uplift the school and the whole community and will provide the space to integrate these children at the right level.  The new building is due to be handed over at the beginning of September 2025.

CETIC Koupamenke is a bilingual technical secondary school in the West Region.  It has more than 150 pupils who currently only have the use of two borrowed classrooms at a nearby primary school.  As well as the usual curriculum subjects, the children are trying to become qualified in one of the four trade training subjects on offer – Building Construction, Electricity, Tailoring and Home Economics.  Their current accommodation is so inadequate that the majority of the children have to sit on the floor when taking notes.  The new building is due to be handed over to the community in early October 2025.