nampula schools

Last week, I traveled to one of Mozambique's northern provinces, Nampula. One of my tasks was to check out some schools where we are working, as I was helping our team develop a plan for monitoring and evaluating the Education program. The photos above are of schools that were being used before SC came to work their communities. We have been in the process of constructing new classrooms, as the current ones either do not provide a good physical environment for kids to learn or there are not enough classrooms to accommodate the many children who should be enrolled in school but aren't because there isn't enough space. Can you imagine what it would be like to sit either on that hard cement floor or on the rocks while trying to write down everything the teacher puts on the small blackboard in front? Just so you know too, there are on average 60 children enrolled in a class, and only about a third of the children are girls.

In this province, I should also clarify that although there may be 60 children enrolled in a class, it is not uncommon to only find 30 kids actually attending classes after the first couple of months. Sometimes they don't come because they would rather go help the fishermen at the sea nearby bring in their catch or just play around. Sometimes of course children suffer from illnesses or hunger and miss days of school.

The last photo shows a block of classrooms that SC built in the community of Mahelane. (My colleague really dislikes the color!) These classrooms are furnished with benches and desks for kids to use.