Build Beraketa a Primary School

SEED is very excited to report on the progress of the reconstruction of the Beraketa primary school after the original 2 mud classrooms were destroyed by cyclones Batsirai and Emnati in February 2022. SEED embarked on a mission to construct and furnish cyclone resistant classrooms. In addition to this, were plans for a teacher’s house and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities on the site. To date, major milestones have been achieved, and full project delivery is scheduled for end of October 2023.

The school’s three new classroom building, with cyclone resistant pillars has been erected, and the roofing has also been completed. By the end of September 2023, two of the classrooms and one of the cyclone pillars had been rendered, and the rest were in progress. The timber for windows and doors is on site and the installation works should be complete within the month. The desk benches to be used by the students are under construction as well and should completed by mid-October. The ventilated pit latrines for the boys have been roofed, and the ones for the girls are being rendered.

Soon, two handwashing stations will be built, and a well dug to permanently supply water to the school. A 1000 litre tank will also be installed to store water collected from the well, and supply to the hand washing stations and the menstrual hygiene management facility. To encourage healthy behaviours, WASH behavioural nudges, with informative murals will be drawn on latrine walls. In addition to this, a committee of school staff and community leaders have been trained to autonomously manage the WASH facilities after project completion.

This infrastructure will serve a total of 129 students and seven teachers. SEED is grateful for all the monetary and in-kind support toward the project.

Construction work is underway at Beraketa Primary School. In February 2022, the existing two classrooms were destroyed by Cyclones Batsirai and Emnati, leaving the students of Beraketa Primary School without access to a safe learning environment. Lack of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities prevents the students from adopting healthy hygiene behaviours, and has resulted in the prevalence of open defecation on the school site, increasing the spread of WASH-related diseases.

On April 25^th, SEED started preparation activities in Beraketa. The rock breaking process, used for the foundations of the three-classroom school building and teacher’s accommodation, has now been completed. The construction team is currently digging the foundations of the building, making breeze blocks, and cutting wire used to strengthen the concrete posts and foundations. Beraketa is located in an especially dry region, which makes the ground very hard to dig. Due to this, the foundations will take longer than anticipated. Over the coming weeks SEED will level the ground, lay the foundations, and begin rock weaving; a traditional Malagasy method of constructing a floor by meticulously placing rocks into a mosaic pattern.

A WASH committee responsible for managing new facilities has been established at the school, and all committee members have received training in managing the infrastructure. WASH education sessions have started, with all students attending lessons about handwashing and latrine use. Teachers also received the WASH education through a train-the-trainer model, enabling them to teach sessions to students in the future. The topics for upcoming WASH education sessions include latrine maintenance and water treatment. These achievements progress towards Programme Sekoly’s aim of tackling two barriers to development: improving access to quality education, and access to clean water and sanitation for the school’s 153 students, 74 of which are girls, and six teachers. 

Thank you for supporting SEED’s Beraketa project!