Cap Anamur Builds Secondary School in the Central African Republic
In order to enable children in the Central African Republic to obtain a higher level of education, we have built a secondary school at our project location.
There are too few secondary schools in the Central African Republic
By now, the number of primary schools in the Central African Republic is well advanced In the last three years alone, we have built or extended four elementary schools in the province of Bossembélé.
Until now, boys and girls from the region had to attend the only secondary school in the provincial capital to obtain a higher level of education. A daily transfer is not possible as the distance is far too great. The pupils therefore have to be accommodated in the provincial capital.
This poses many problems, as the mostly very young schoolchildren are then left to their own devices. Many families are also unable to afford the cost of accommodation and their children are therefore unable to attend this school.
So far, 113 pupils can attend the new school
We built the new secondary school in Lambi, a town 50 kilometers from Bossembélé. This means that after completing primary school in their home villages, pupils can now go on to complete their secondary school certificate or Abitur.
So far, two of the four planned buildings have been completed and were inaugurated on October 30. Construction work has been delayed due to armed unrest on the outskirts of Lambi. As we didn’t want to expose our construction team to any dangers, we had to put the construction work on hold for several weeks.
In August, we continued the construction work with a larger team and were able to welcome 113 girls and boys into the two completed buildings at the start of the school year.
The school will soon be able to accommodate up to 400 children
When all four buildings are completed, a total of 400 pupils will be able to attend the school. Lessons then take place in two shifts so that as many children as possible have the opportunity to obtain a higher education qualification.
The Ministry of Education has also fulfilled its promise and provided the staff for the newly built school. In addition to four teachers, a director, a deputy director and a financial officer were hired.
30 boys and girls are among the current schoolchildren who had to drop out of the previous secondary school in Bossembélé because their parents could not afford to pay for their accommodation in the provincial capital. Now they can travel to their new school every day and take part in lessons. This is a good example of how important it is to offer children in the region the opportunity to obtain a secondary school leaving certificate or even an Abitur through the new secondary school.
The two other buildings are currently being completed at full speed so that the school can be fully operational in the near future.