Andranonahotra Primary School
inauguration: October 28, 2024 🎉

📍Location: The village of Miadana,

                       Rural commune of Miarinarivo II,

                       District of Miarinarivo,

                       Itasy Region.​​

💡Objectives: 

• To improve access to primary education and increase capacity 

• To improve teaching/studying conditions

• To contribute to the alleviation of poverty

• To provide a healthier working/studying environment; to motivate the teachers, and give the pupils a greater sense of wellbeing

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Built by Jean-Luc RASOAMIARAMANANA's team.

Cost​

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1/ Three Classroom building: Ariary 111,109,550 (£ 22,222)

2/Classroom furniture; 30 locally made school benches, 2 teachers’ desks and chairs ; bookshelves and cupboards; Pre-school furniture; 32 locally made small chairs; 8 small tables and 1 teachers’ desk and chair ; bookshelf and cupboard and educational toys:

Ariary 17,119,130 (£ 3,424)

3/ Latrines; Three compartments with boys’urinals: Ariary 11,153,850 (£ 2,231)

TOTAL GRANT REQUESTED:  Ariary 139,382,530 (£ 27,877)

PROJECT OUTLINE:

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The school was built in 1979  by the villagers with funds raised locally – drawing on their own meager resources.  The building was a simple structure, with only 2 classrooms and made from uncooked mud bricks. The classrooms were currently in a pitiful state. The walls were cracked and we were told during the visit that it was feared to collapse anytime. Unfortunately the community were forced to tear down the building in 2023 as it represented a big danger to the children and the teachers. This brings the school to 2 classrooms remaining.

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The remaining building was built by a religious organization “Saha” in 2000. One classroom accommodates pupils from 2 different grades :   The pupils from grade 1 and grade 2 – respectively 26 and 24 are taught in the same classroom as well as the ones from grade 3 and 4 – respectively 26 and 35 in the other room, grade 5 are taught in a temporary  room newly built by the community, the preschool children are taught in a squalid room. Lessons are normally held only in the morning.  But children preparing for their Certificate of Primary Education exams are also taught in the afternoon.  But this is far from ideal, particularly during the rainy season (December to March). When it rains the noise is deafening, and if violent thunder storms are forecast classes are suspended and the children have to be sent  home early.  Conditions at the school are far from acceptable and fail to meet the government’s own standards.  

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 The roof leak badly and leave flooded classrooms in rainy season. Due to lack of space, the classrooms are crowded and not well ventilated.  

Like most children in rural areas, the pupils of Andranonahoatra Miadana Primary School suffer great hardship during the inter-season period, (December to March) when both money and food are in short supply.  There is a water point in the school yard but unfortunately children have only access to safe, clean water in December and January, The rest of the year,  on their way to school they collect water in discarded plastic bottles from the rice fields.  But they are heavily polluted, when animal and human waste is washed down into them from the surrounding hills. According to the head teacher the water pressure is weaker as  the water network covers a big area, the location of the school is higher and longer distance from the spring compared to the other hamlets who benefited from the water network.

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The school has 5 teachers with 3 civil servants and paid by the government and 2 others paid (in principle) in cash and in kind (cassava and sacks of rice) by the Association of Parents of children who attend the school, and receives a small subsidy from the government 

The 149 pupils registered at Andranonahoatra primary school find it hard to study in such poor conditions, and are clearly demotivated. Most parents make their living from agriculture, and are low earners.  For this reason the Mayor, Village Head and the community turned to MDF for help in finding funds to improve conditions for the children and increase the school’s capacity.