Education Madagascar Project #55936

Sekoly: Sarisambo

by SEED Madagascar

Project Report | Mar 6, 2024
Sarisambo School is Complete!

By Alexander Cook | Programs and Office Assistant

A safe learning environment is crucial to children receiving quality education, and each of SEED’s schools is designed to improve education infrastructure to promote quality education. Thanks to your support, 27 teachers and 726 students at Sarisambo primary and lower secondary schools have a suitable environment in which to teach and learn.

Construction activities have now been completed. Two new school buildings have been constructed, adding five classrooms of fully furnished and weather-resistant learning space. Moreover, SEED has constructed accommodation for teachers, which will reduce their living expenses, commuting time, and provide additional workspace. These factors will improve the level of teacher attendance and retention, which subsequently increases educational outcomes for the students.

Five existing latrines across both schools have been repaired, and ten additional gender-segregated latrines constructed. These facilities include handwashing stations and signage that reinforces best hygiene practices. SEED has also constructed menstrual hygiene facilities, providing students the privacy and dignity they deserve, and has installed a 10,000-litre rainwater harvesting system at each school. These facilities, coupled with the WASH training and education will ensure that students and teachers can access clean drinking water and engage in healthy hygiene practices, both of which reduce the transmission of WASH-related illnesses.

The school buildings and WASH facilities have been designed to withstand extreme weather and require minimal maintenance. This endurance and longevity, as well as the training that SEED provides to teachers, ensures that these facilities can operate independently for years to come.

The responsibility for maintaining the school and the equipment will be formally transferred back to the Sarisambo community. As this project finishes, our attention now turns to the next school project which we are trying to build in the community of Antahovary, which you can read all about here.

We are grateful for your support of this important project.

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Nov 7, 2023
Developing Construction Skills Among Locals

By Betty Gisore | Grants and Administrative Assistant

Casuals at work at Sarisambo lower secondary

SEED Madagascar’s (SEED’s) Sekoly programme is playing a key role in improving health and education in the rural Anosy region. Through provision of educational infrastructure and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, students are inspired to attend school full time and teacher absenteeism is also reduced.

At Sarisambo primary and lower secondary schools, various project activities have been completed. These include roof repair at Sarisambo primary school, delivery of 70 out of 100 desk benches which are already in use and completion of five gender segregated ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines. At the lower secondary, a three-classroom building has been erected with the roofing completed. Windows and doors are currently under installation and painting will be completed later in 2023. One of the two latrine blocks at Lower secondary is complete, and the other block is ongoing. 10,000 litre water harvesting systems have been installed at both primary and Lower secondary sites. These will provide water at hand washing stations, at the menstrual hygiene management facility (MHM), and provide safe drinking water. There is also a plan for teacher accommodation at the lower secondary school.

While these facilities will prove a great benefit to the 726 students and 27 teachers, it is important to note that there is another class of locals who have been greatly profited by project sekoly: Sarisambo. These are the local/village construction casuals. Sekoly Sarisambo is a 12-month project (January-December 2023), longer than any other sekoly projects, which are usually six months long. As a result, the local casuals have received a lot of training from SEED’s construction technicians and thus developed their construction skills. Some of the local casuals will join the pool of construction technicians, from which SEED will consider for future works in the community. Sekoly Sarisambo has provided not only short-term job creation in the community, but opportunities for further employment which could potentially continue for years to come as has been the case for many others in the technicians’ team. SEED is grateful for all donations channeled towards this worthy project.

Roof repair at Sarisambo primary school

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Jul 11, 2023
Developments of WASH and Onsite Activities

By Lauren Carrick | Programmes and Office Assistant

The three-classroom building at Sarisambo is complete! The additional two-classroom build is underway, with the first layers of foundation having been laid. Alongside this, work on the on-site teacher accommodation has commenced.

In Madagascar it is estimated that 6,900 Malagasy children die annually from water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) related diseases. 81% of schools in Madagascar have no water service, and a staggering 97% of the Anosy population do not have access to basic sanitation. By providing safe, clean water and sanitation, SEED’s Sarisambo Project works to improve both education and WASH, helping reduce disease transmission, decrease teacher and students absenteeism, increase academic achievement, and help young girls improve their menstrual health and hygiene management, allowing for a positive and dignified learning environment.

As such, SEED’s WASH construction activities at the lower secondary school are also underway! April saw five new gender-segregated latrines and a MHM facility constructed at Sarisambo Primary School, helping to reduce the student-to-latrine ratio to below national ministry guidelines. May welcomed the completion of one of two new latrine blocks, whilst construction of the second block anticipates completion in July.

After a successful pilot in Mandiso Lower Secondary School, Programme Sekoly now includes reusable pad-making sessions and MHM education in all projects at the lower and upper secondary levels. In March these sessions were delivered in Sarisambo Lower Secondary School and enabled female students to make three of their own cost-effective, durable, and sanitary menstrual pads.

The expansion and improvement of education infrastructure alongside comprehensive education sessions on menstrual health, STIs, contraception, puberty, and other key topics, helps provide an environment conducive to learning for the 726 students at Sarisambo Primary and Lower Secondary schools. Thank you for your support!

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