The Thitmira School project has been entirely conceived by the local community and its ambition of supporting its children to attend school. Overcoming the obstacles that many children in the region face in attending school was a priority for the community, especially for its young girls. Not only do children often walk long distances, but on average, girls miss three to four days of school each month due to menstruation and lack of facilities at school sites. This school provides them with the facilities they need.
The building of sanitation blocks and dormitory space to include wheelchair accessibility will contribute directly to ensuring students from the wider catchment area can attend. Planned sanitation blocks include dedicated space to wash and dry sanitary pads: facilities to overcome a barrier girls face to attendance during their menstrual period. In this second building phase, a kitchen and facilities will be provided for a volunteer-run cafeteria to provide a full meal to students during the day.
Access to safe and clean drinking water has also been secured at the school site through the installation of a borehole and hand pump.
RSK Chief Executive Officer Alan Ryder said: “Nothing is more important than education but we recognise that there can be many reasons why some young people don’t have the opportunity to attend school and this has been an important focus of this project.
“Working closely with the local community to create a school that, as part of its architectural design, creates an environment for girls and boys to learn has been a rewarding experience. We know that, armed with this education, the pupils from this school will go on to make their community proud and contribute to it with all they have learned and go on to learn with further studies and training. We hope that this approach to school building can be replicated to give everyone the opportunity to learn and realise their full potential, their dreams.”
