With your support Vusumnotfo will build a pre-school and a playground for children in the Nkamanzi Community in Northern Swaziland.Currently the pre-school operates outdoors; classes must be canceled frequently and the lack of a building limits teachers making full use of Vusumnotfo's in-service training for community preschool teachers. A well-constructed building will ensure that children are prepared for first grade, thereby laying a positive foundation for their school performance.
A child in Swaziland needs on average 13 years to complete a 7-year cycle of primary education - a huge limitation in a country where primary education fees are 22% of the income of an average household, the HIV rate is 26%, the poverty rate is 70%, and the unemployment rate is 40%. Though a proven way to promote school readiness, Swazi community preschools operate on an budget of $342/year (paid by parents), barely enough to pay a teacher but not enough for training or structural improvements.
Constructing a building and playground for a community-owned preschool will ensure that the school can operate on a consistent schedule regardless of the weather. It will provide an environment in which the teacher can better implement the training methods learned during Vusumnotfo's in-service training for community preschool teachers. This will increase the school-readiness of the children, thereby improving their performance in first grade, initiating a cycle of positive school performance.
Effective early childhood programs, like the one adopted in all of Vusumnotfo trained preschools, have been proven to substantially reduce the impact of poverty on children's quality of life and their readiness to learn at later stages (World Bank Report). This project will benefit the school performance of children from over 100 families, ultimately contributing to the development of the human capacity needed to address Swaziland's high HIV, poverty, and unemployment rates.
