Project: Primary School Mganja

The primary school in Mganja urgently needs more classrooms. At present 1,100 children are being taught in 9 dilapidated classrooms (122 children per classroom). Some classrooms are on the verge of collapse. The result is a high number of drop outs and a life in poverty. We are going to do something about that! In total we want to build 10 new classrooms and renovate 7 old classrooms. Pit latrines and school furniture are also needed. We started construction of the first four classrooms in February 2024.

October 2024:

Four new classrooms are ready! Standard 5, 6, 7 and 8 have moved into the new building! At the end of 2024 we will continue with two more new classrooms and renovation of the old school building.

The poor condition of the school is clearly visible in the video below, which Matthews Hau-Hau made in September 2023. The photos on this page were also taken by Matthews.

Renovation and construction of Mganja Primary School


The primary school in Mganja was founded in 1922. It is a functioning school with a committed director, a parent association and a local board. The school is rooted in the environment, which consists of 15 villages where approximately 7,500 people live, more than half of whom are children. The working population consists mainly of farmers who practice subsistence agriculture. People live below the poverty line of $2.15 per day. Education is desperately needed to alleviate poverty.

 

What do we want to achieve?

By building additional classrooms and latrines, renovating the old classrooms and purchasing furniture, we want to:

  1. offer the children a safe and humane learning environment
  2. improve the quality of education at Mganja Primary School
  3. reduce the number of children who drop out of school
  4. increase the number of students who pass primary school exams so that students can go to secondary school
  5. attract more and better teachers
  6. creating a continuous educational pathway for the residents of Mganja from toddler/kindergarten through primary school to secondary school
  7. alleviate poverty among the communities of Mganja

This can be achieved by

  1. the construction of 10 new classrooms (5 blocks of 2 classrooms each)
  2. renovation of 7 classrooms
  3. the demolition of 2 classrooms
  4. the construction of latrines
  5. the purchase of furniture

Cooperation

The teachers are paid by the government. The buildings belong to the Dedza diocese. The diocese has no money for new construction and renovation. Our Foundation works closely together with the diocese and the local community to renovate the school. Our partners in Europe include Wilde Ganzen Foundation, the Marietta & Cecilia Hamburg-Malawi Stiftung, the Stiftung Fly & Help and the GF Goeldner Foundation.

Continuous learning path

In Mganja we already built a secondary school for girls  and two pre-schools. These schools are very successful. The number of children going well prepared to primary school has greatly improved due to pre-school education. They perform well in the lower classes. The children who complete primary school can now go to a good secondary school. Education at primary school is in stark contrast to this. With this project we want to enable an adequate continuous learning path. This will benefit the entire community.