ETH 12 - HARO WATO SCHOOL: OPEN NEW LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Project Location
The San Daniel Comboni kindergarten and primary school are located in Haro Wato, a small village 450 km south of Addis Ababa, in the Uraga region, where the Comboni Missionary Sisters have a community and carry out various services for the people of this land. The Uraga region is located in the middle of the mountains, with very generous lands that if cultivated produce a large quantity of vegetables throughout the year, as well as an excellent variety of coffee.
Most of the children who attend our school are children of farmers who have decided with great difficulty to give their children the opportunity to study, something that many parents have never had. The school building consists of three kindergarten classes with a large green space for children to play. The primary school consists of eight classes that go from first grade to eighth grade. In total we have an enrollment of 595 students with an average of 50 students per class.
Project description
Through this project, we want to offer students the opportunity to use books and materials that teachers produce or to reproduce school materials when textbooks are lacking. Unfortunately, the lack of books is a serious problem in this region, although the government is committed to distributing them. When we are lucky enough to receive them, they are still too few in relation to the students: about twenty for a class of 50 children. In the nursery school there are 4 teachers and each one teaches a different subject, in the primary school there are 6 teachers while in the upper classes there are 8 teachers.
The students learn three languages: Oromo (which is the language of the region), Amharic (which is the official language of the country) and English, in addition to having lessons in mathematics, science, morals, culture, art, music, sports and computer courses; the older ones also receive lessons in civics, geography, ethics and agriculture. Textbooks are an important cognitive tool, both for the teacher and for the students, they are a fundamental means in the educational process and when these are missing teachers must find alternative materials that can help children, complicating and limiting school work greatly.
For this reason, we want to make up for the missing material with photocopied handouts, which can be available to all students and encourage them to read. We would also like to buy new school books. Furthermore, knowing the limitations of the distribution of textbooks in the region, we would also like to help the nursery school, which is also under our direction. This nursery has an enrollment of 180 students from families with severe economic limitations. This year, there is also an urgent need to repair the solar panel system, because over the years the system has broken and there is a need for expensive spare parts and to have a technician come who can fix it. Even the school environments need maintenance from time to time.
Objectives
- Provide printed materials to school students to encourage reading and enhance the learning process
- Promote and support teachers in producing teaching materials for school students
- Ensure an adequate school environment with necessary maintenance
Beneficiaries
Direct: 415 children from the S. Daniele Comboni school (from nursery school to third grade) + 180 children from the Haro Wato nursery school
Indirect: the families
Sister referent of the project: Sr. Gertrude Höggerl
Project's costs