A primary school project is improving educational opportunities in Sikka, Indonesia

Thanks to our supporters, £20,842 was raised to rehabilitate and expand the educational facilities at a school in the community of Sikka, Indonesia.

Education is vital to enable children to break the cycle of poverty. It is beneficial to both children as individuals, and to communities in the long-term to provide children with access to good quality education, enabling them to be more involved in the development process of the community. Safe school buildings, motivated teachers and access to educational materials all contribute to the provision of good quality education.

Before this project began, Tuabao Primary School was in an extremely poor state of repair. Classrooms were dangerous for both teachers and children to use. The majority of teachers were untrained and lacked good quality teaching materials. In addition, children were often ill due to poor hygiene levels and unbalanced diets. These were all contributing factors to poor school attendance. The project tackled each of these issues to provide a safe environment, conducive to learning. 

Project Activities

• Building 3 new classrooms & rehabilitation of 4 further classrooms.  Using local resources and labour to implement this strand of the project, with the support of skilled, technical assistants.
• Construction of library. Pupils to take responsibility for management of the library and its resources.
• Provision of equipment and teaching/learning materials.       

The Headmaster of this school commented that the children's motivation to learn and play has increased - and they are more active.

• Teacher training, through the local Department of Education & Culture on the competency-based curriculum
• School Management and School Committee training on school-based management, roles and responsibilities of the School Committees and national regulations within education. Also training on 'Friendly School for Children' approach through FRESH (Focusing Resources on Effective School Health).
• Provision of furniture, providing a comfortable environment in which the pupils can learn.
• School Health Programme, including activities like: 'Clean Friday' and personal hygiene checking.        
• School Health Promotion:  20 children trained to use  "Child-to-Child" education methods focusing on health.
• Health Check-up Programme. Checks included malaria, blood hemoglobin levels, and nutrient status and there will be a plan of action to follow. Anti malarial medication was given to each child. Results showed a decrease of over 55% in the presence of the malaria parasite.
• Nutrition Programme provided training to local women's groups on nutritional diets and provided supplementary feeding programmes. The result of this program showed that 86,3% of the children increased their weight