Agulae Maernet Grade 5-8 Primary School

Supporting Ethiopia’s education system today, with an intention that by 2030 it will be funded free of foreign aid is our goal. Getting there requires partnership and commitment.
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school progress

A Story from Agulae Maernet

With a student population currently at 1,575 and only 20 teaching classrooms available at the Agula Maernet Grade 1-8 Primary School, the quality of the learning environment is severely compromised. In some classes, teachers are required to deliver lessons to over 70 children at once, while more than 240 students enrolled in Grades 5-8 are forced to attend their education seated on stones and the dirt ground, sheltered only by makeshift open air classrooms made of tree branches, leaves and tarps erected by the community. Though open air classrooms are a clear display of the community's commitment to their children's education, this solution is resulting in frequent illness caused by regular exposure to harsh hot sun and dust filled wind gusts. School records report an average daily absence rate of 10% and a drop-out rate of 5.5% (50 students in the last academic year) for Grades 5-8.

The Agulae Maernet Primary School Project, which includes the construction of eight new classrooms, a gender divided latrine, a water point, and delivery of a variety of teacher training and Parent Teacher Association workshops along with provision of supplies and teaching aids, will provide equal access to a holistic and sustainable model of quality primary education to girls and boys living in and surrounding the community of Agulae Maernet, in the Kilte Awelalo District of Ethiopia's north eastern Tigray Region. The eight new classrooms will serve the students currently enrolled in Grades 5-8, as well as the growing student body expected in the coming years as enrolment at Grade 1-4 feeder schools increases.

An exciting element of this project is the substantial financial contribution that the community of Agulae Maernet has committed to  making (250,000 ETB/$15,000) along with a pledge from a private company in Ethiopia to contribute 460,000ETB/$27,000 to this project.  These domestic contributions, combined with yours opens up the possibility of education and choice to thousands of students, their community and their nation.

Goals

  • Build and furnish two four-classroom schools blocks (eight new classrooms).
  • Extend existing community water source to the school and build a child friendly water station making water easily accessible to students.
  • Provide three years of training (and subsequent refresher training) to seven member Water Management Committee and equip them with a toolkit.
  • Construct an eight stall gender divided pit latrine.
  • Equip the school with reading corners, sports equipment, creative writing, school club and art programs.
  • Provide Active Learning, Life Skills, Science and Exam and Measurement teacher training.
  • Train a local Parent Teacher Association to lead the school into the future.
  • Support income generating activities to sustain the school.