Expansion project reduces classroom shortage in Gambella township
In rural Ethiopia, the most highly prized “possession” that anyone can have is an education. Children will walk miles to attend school even if it means squeezing into a small classroom with 120 others just as eager to learn.
The Ilay School in Gambella provides a great example of just how important an education is to these children.
In 2001, the school’s eight aging mud-block classrooms were literally falling down around the students’ ears and yet it was forced to turn away hundreds of children who wanted to enroll. In spite of its condition, the school already had more than 900 students.
Gambella is the capital of Gambella Region and it has a rapidly growing population so the school’s administrators knew the situation was only going to get worse. They approached the Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation Fund (ESRDF) asking the organization to add an expansion project for the school to the list of proposals it would present to A Glimmer of Hope for 2002.
They did and the project was approved. In 2002, two new brick classroom blocks were constructed allowing the Ilay School to increase it’s enrollment to more than 1,120 students; typically, there are four classrooms to each block.
In 2005, Gambella’s steadily increasing population demanded that the school be added to again and three additional classroom blocks were constructed giving hundreds more children a chance to go to school.
According to Principal Diriba Wodago, the school has had quite an impact on the local children.
“This project has reduced our shortage of classroom space tremendously,” he said. “It has also made a significant difference in the lives of those children who would otherwise not have had the opportunity to get an education.”
The total cost of the Ilay School Expansion Project was $125,000. Community participation in the project was substantial with much of the labor being provided on a volunteer basis by locals.