Formation 1997 | Website [1] | |
Legal status Non-profit organization Purpose Support organisation for poverty in Rwanda | ||
ActionAid Rwanda (AAIR) is a country programme of ActionAid International (AAI) – an anti-poverty agency giving assistance to poor people and communities.
Contents
- Initiatives implemented to improve quality of education
- Increasing childrens access to education via building more classrooms
- Getting children back to schools
- Fostering good learning conditions in school
- References
ActionAid is a non-partisan, non-religious development organisation that has been working in Rwanda as a full country programme since 1997 to eradicate poverty with focus on tackling the root causes of poverty rather than just meeting people’s immediate needs.
Initiatives implemented to improve quality of education
ActionAid Rwanda has implemented several initiatives to improve the education scene in Rwanda:
Increasing children’s access to education via building more classrooms
ActionAid has worked with the community in Gikoro village to build seven classrooms, fully equipped with 490 desks and chairs and a staff room. The number of children attending this school has increased from 420 to 1,000.
Before the new classrooms were constructed, there were only three classrooms accommodating 420 children in Gikoro. This was a problem as there were over 1,000 children in the village and children had to travel further to other villages to attend school.
Getting children back to schools
Lack of follow-up by parents on the education of their children, high level of poverty, whereby poor and illiterate parents attach little priority to their children’s education were proven to be the main causes of school dropout.
ActionAid Rwanda in partnership with local leaders has called on parents to ensure that their children return to school. Highlighting the importance of education the local leaders from Nyanza district, Musanze and Nyaruguru districts have identified about 1835 school dropouts. The local leaders identified 874, 396 girls and 478 boys, were supported with school uniforms and materials to reintegrate into primary schools. Youth above school going age are also being identified to attend vocational training skills to make themselves become more employable and have a more sustainable future. ActionAid also fights against gender-based violence (GBV), which is a widespread problem in Rwanda and a cause for the lower literacy rate in females compared to males.
Fostering good learning conditions in school
The problem of overcrowded classrooms is a big challenge in Rwandan schools. It has been verified that the problem led to increase of drop-outs from schools, children being de-motivated to attend school, and even children experiencing health problems due to bad sitting positions.
ActionAid has from 2008 to 2009 been able to provide about 547 classroom desks to four primary schools in Nyanza. Chairs and tables accompanied desks for teachers as well as bookshelves. ActionAid also provided about 521 classroom desks to three primary schools in Murundi and 485 classroom desks to three primary schools in Shingiro.
ActionAid also promotes school hygiene and support the community in Nyanza to build more toilet cabins in school. The available toilets are in bad shape and were constructed without considering gender as an important variable. The potential loss of privacy due to the lack of proper sanitary facilities discourages regular attendance and increases dropout rates, especially for girls.