Colombiere School

Colombiere School

Construction of a school in the village of Jarra Soma, Lower River, Gambia.

Project
The purpose of this project is to construct a school to educate children in the Gambian town of Jarra Soma.  The area is extremely rural, with the nearest school around 20 miles away.

Additionally, sending children to school is not free in Gambia; therefore many parents simply cannot afford to send their children to school resulting in many children being left uneducated.

We want to build a decent school for these children, which will give them the same education as those children attending state schools in the town centres.  We will be using the national curriculum, as well as offering modules which will provide students with life skills, such as construction, sex education and basic farming.

The children will be chosen through a thorough selection process, which is based on the neediest of children.

The children that are selected will be between the ages of 6 and 7 years old.  The aim is to provide these children with a sustainable education, right up to the age of 16 if we get sufficient funds for the project.

We at HAPC have a long experience of working with the most disadvantaged and excluded children.   Like us here in the UK, the Gambian centre is a fully registered charity, recognised by the government and permitted to receive foreign aid through HAPC (UK).

With assistance from all the fundraising projects, we believe that the Gambian school can be up and running in twelve months to take in the first intake of 30 children and, as we raise additonal funds, construct additional classrooms until we are able to admit 180 children. The plan, thereafter, is to put a plan in place to construct a senior school to admit 180 children.

Programmes

When the school is fully established, we shall provide a full set of educational and training programmes for the children:

(i)         Language Skills
We shall aim to ensure that all children at the school can read and write as a first step. Tuition, practice and a good learning environment will be provided.

(ii)         Use of English
We shall offer all the children a programme of instruction in written and spoken English. Whatever the political considerations may be, the economic facts of life in Gambia are such that a mastery of English is very often the route to success in the job market.

(iii)        Computing and I.T.
In the long term, we will offer all the children instruction in basic keyboard skills and the use of computers. This is an opportunity still denied to the vast majority of children in the country; yet, it can be provided on site at relatively low cost.  Once again, the skill it gives the children is of inestimable value and could open doors to jobs that the children could never dream of otherwise.

(vi)        Senior School
As we establish the senior school in future years, we will look to establish vocational training programmes that are actually going to be useful to the children. The provision of computer facilities has already been mentioned, and I.T. training is perhaps the most important vocational course we could offer. It is worth noting that, almost as a by-product, the skill of typing and keyboard use is acquired.

Other skills should centre in areas where there are real job opportunities.  Cookery and hotel management are areas where we can offer courses. These are areas where fluency of English is an enormous advantage, and that is another area we can specifically concentrate on.
If facilities can be developed, we very much hope to offer training in the practical trades: motor mechanics, electrical, plumbing, bricklaying, painting and decorating.  The significance of these particular trades is that they all offer virtually unlimited job prospects.

As we develop these programmes, we shall in due course be looking at schemes of work experience, whereby our school children go into industry and commerce to see how things are done in the real world.  Prudent businesses will welcome such youngsters, and may well end up giving them permanent jobs.  If funding is available, our plans will be to also encourage enterprising young adults to set up their own micro-industries, working out business plans, and offering them finance on proper terms and conditions.

This project addresses the short and long-term needs for the establishment of a school, identified in the Jarra Soma village of Gambia. The funding is needed now, immediately, in order to get the programme off the ground or the children will continue to grow and live a life without formal education.