Loharno new school building
The village of Loharno in Madagascar needs a new three classroom primary school. The total cost is £9,848 and Adsum is contributing £4,924. We need £4,924 from you to match our donation and make this possible.
Loharno is 45 mn drive west of Antsirabe, which is 189 km South of the capital Antananarivo. In 2004, in response to the growing number of children of school age, members of the community tried to raise sufficient funds to build a village school. They succeeded in building the walls, but were unable to complete the project because the walls were not in line and the money ran out. Furthermore, the local representative of the Ministry of Education instructed them to halt the construction as it was unsafe and liable to collapse.
This was a great disappointment to the parents. But in 2007 they succeeded in securing funding from an NGO to reconstruct the two classroom building. Since then the number of children who attend this school has continued to increase. Most come from neighbouring villages, some 3-4 kms away, and facilities are no longer adequate.
A small room was provided by the village to add capacity to the two existing classrooms.
But this did not solve the problem. Due to the lack of adequate capacity the school has been forced to split the day in two with some children attending lessons in the morning and the rest in the afternoon. But this reduces the number of teaching hours, and teachers are having difficulties in completing the school syllabus. Instead of 32 hours a week they can only achieve a maximum of 27 hours – which will undoubtedly have a negative effect on exam results.
There are approximately 200 children of school age in this and neighbouring communities who either receive no education or have to walk a considerable distance to attend the nearest school. Members of the community and the then Mayor have been looking for funding to extend the school - but without success.
The three additional classrooms would provide additional capacity, reduce over-crowding, and enable children to follow the full syllabus.
