BUILDING NEW SCHOOLS
WHERE THE NEED IS GREATEST
As our families achieve their dreams through the Family Savings programme, their focus changes from basics such as feeding the family to dreams of providing an education for their children. When a community reaches that stage of development, the families approach the Tabitha staff and request a school. The reasons can be as follows:
To build a school where there was no school
To build a school that is to replace a building that is no longer useable
To build additional classrooms in a school that is too small to accommodate all the students
To build a middle school where middle schools are not available
While Tabitha does not operate schools, it plays a key role in enabling the construction of the facility. Tabitha Cambodia builds and equips schools, and then passes ownership and the responsibility for the running of these schools – including the supply of teachers – to the government through the Ministry of Education.
Once completed, on average there are 80 children in each classroom. Attendance is maximized by having a morning class of children followed by an afternoon class of different children.
Since the inception of the programme, Tabitha has built almost 100 new schools in various areas around Cambodia.
THE PROCESS OF
BUILDING A NEW SCHOOL
Building a new school involves significant engagement with both the local community and various levels of the Cambodian government. A typical process would be as follows:
1.
Tabitha Cambodia liaises with the village, commune and district chiefs and a representative of the Ministry of Education
2.
A wealthy villager donates land for a school, or if there is a run-down school, this land is used
3.
The land is transferred to the national government and ear-marked for a school
6.
When complete, the school is gifted to the national government to run and maintain
5.
Once funding is received, Tabitha Cambodia arranges for local contractors to build the school, with support from local villagers
4.
Tabitha Cambodia seeks funding for the planned school
WHAT DOES
TABITHA PROVIDE?
School building
Desks for students
Desks for teachers
Blackboards
A well
Toilets
Metal flagpole
WHAT DOES THE
COMMUNITY PROVIDE?
Labour to assist carrying materials to the building site and during construction
Accommodation and other support for the teachers assigned to their school
Land
WHAT DOES THE
GOVERNMENT PROVIDE?
Teachers
Curriculum
Text books
Maintenance
£46,000
Cost to fund a 6-room school building
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Unlike the house-building programme, school-building does not involve the on-site participation of overseas volunteers. This is due to the nature of the construction and safety issues involved with this type of project. The primary area of help needed is the actual funding of the school construction.
Tabitha Cambodia has a growing list of villages where schools are needed. Your gift can help bring much-needed education to the next generation of Cambodians.