Desks for Comfortable Learning Class Project
Date Published:
Stimulus for Transformative Development (STRADE) has proposed the name of the project to be “Desks for Comfortable Learning Class Project”. Chibanja Full Primary School has been chosen because it is within its catchment area where we operate. There is also strong spirit of participation to developmental projects as shown in the program the organization is facilitating within the surrounding communities. Furthermore, STRADE has not yet identified any other partner to cooperate in improving school learning environment at Chibanja Full Primary School.
The school is situated in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Kampingo Sibande in Mzuzu area of Mzimba District. The school is about 5 km away from Mzuzu (Central Business District). It is a full primary school according to Malawi’s education system since it has classes from standard 1 to 8. The infrastructures at this school comprise 4 double classroom school blocks, an administration office. This school provides learning opportunity to 1304 learners 600 girls and 704 boys coming from the surrounding communities. There are 24 teachers (14 males, 10 females) who were trained and are being paid salary by the Malawi Government. It has 1 watchman who is being paid salary by the school Development committee. The Malawi Government provide no support towards school furniture such as school desks.
What challenge facing the beneficiaries does the project aim to solve? *
he Malawian education system is plagued by several factors, including: the lack of classrooms and overcrowded classrooms, a shortage of qualified teachers and a profound scarcity of teaching and learning materials, including school furniture. The scarcity of furniture and supplies has severely impeded Malawi’s educational system by decreasing the participation of children in school.(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/18/malawi-school-desk-shortage_n_798580.html).
In the case of Chibanja Full Primary School, it is not spared from the shortage of school furniture especially desks. It has only 48 desks in few senior classes of standards 7-8 accommodating only 96 learners since they sit in pairs. The rest of learners sit on the floor representing 93 % of learners siting on the floor.
There is lack of comfort among learners during classes. Most learners sit on the floor hence feel uncomfortable due to extremely cold cement floors especially during winter time. It is also more challenging for girls to attend and finish primary school due to their lack of comfort in siting on the floor. They fail to sit in a learning friendly posture and do not pay attention to the lessons since they feel that their dignity is not respected when their boy counterparts mock them to sit properly. As a result, girls drop-out of school before they even reach senior classes. Furthermore, during menstrual period times girls fail to attend to classes as they are easily recognized by boys when they sit on the floor.
Stimulus for Transformative Development has been working with Chibanja Primary School in its keeping girls in school project. In the first visit to this particular school, the organization conducted a meeting with 3 important structures at the school; School Management Committee, Parents Teachers Association and Mother Groups. It was it this meeting that the need for a school classroom Desks was raised by the community members. Later on, after one of the staff at Stimulus for Transformative Development attended the briefing meetings with the community to conduct a need assessment. All the community structures were mobilized, the 3 mentioned above and also the ADC, VDC, Chiefs, Youth club and the Village Health Committee. Two issues were identified, a shelter for youth club and desks at Chibanja Primary School. The Committees voted for Classroom desks as priority. This is how the issue was identified in the community. Women were also involving as Mother Group is the structure that comprise of women only who look after the welfare of girls in school and also there was a 50:50 representation of women in all the structures that have been mentioned above.
The goal of project is to contribute towards comfortable learning class environment at Chibanja primary school in order to improve learners’ performance and reduce school drop-out and absenteeism rates by 60% especially for girls. The main activity is procuring of 140 Desks for 280 learners.
• To reduce desk pupil ratio at Chibanja Primary School by 35% (280 learners will use the new desks out of 782) by December 2023.
• To reduce absenteeism of pupils in school by 35% (280 learners adhering to classes)
• To increase number of pupils completing primary education by in the next two years
STRADE in collaboration with Chibanja Primary School Development Committee will source three quotations from Furniture making shops. The STRADE Internal Procurement Committee and School Development Committee will approve the chosen quotation and making of the desks will commence. The making of the 140 desks (2 learners on each desk) will be completed within three months. Upon the receiving/collection of the desks, they will be checked of its quality and compared to the purchase order and invoice. The supplier’s copy of a goods received note will be signed once the desks have been checked. Invoices, delivery notes, receipts will be passed to the Accounts Officer for accounts records.
STRADE will work with School Development Committee of Chibanja Primary School which is formed by volunteers within the communities surrounding Chibanja Full Primary School. The committee comprises of 10 members (Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Secretary, Vice secretary, Treasure and 5 committee members. The School Development Committee will make sure that all the desks are made and delivered and ensure safety of the desks at the school.
The project will procure 140 Desks at MK25,000 each (20.25 GBP). The total Amount requested is MK 3,500,000 that is equivalent to 2,834.00 GBP.The headmaster and school management committee has agreed to use part of the school development fund to carry school desk from the furniture shop to school. There was an interface meeting between STRADE, School Development Committee the Chibanja WARD Councilor and headmaster where it was agreed that transport will be sourced from the school development fund during proposal development process. The procured desks will be kept in classrooms with doors to ensure that they are kept safely.
The following are expected outcomes of the project
• Increased enrolment and retention of girls at chibanja Full Primary (F.P) School from 30 percent to 60 percent
• Reduced drop-out and absenteeism rate of learners from 50 percent to 20 percent
• Increased project ownership and sustainability through community involvement
the following indicators will be used to measure progress of the project
1. Number of desk procured. the target is 140 desks within three months
2. Number of learners enrolled girls enrolled at Chibanja F.P School by next academic calendar in January 2023. The target is to increase enrollment from the current 600 girls to 800 by the next academic year thus January 2023.
3. Number of school development committee members involved in the project
4. Number of girls selected to secondary school in the next academic year in September 2023.
The school is situated in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Kampingo Sibande in Mzuzu area of Mzimba District. The school is about 5 km away from Mzuzu (Central Business District). It is a full primary school according to Malawi’s education system since it has classes from standard 1 to 8. The infrastructures at this school comprise 4 double classroom school blocks, an administration office. This school provides learning opportunity to 1304 learners 600 girls and 704 boys coming from the surrounding communities. There are 24 teachers (14 males, 10 females) who were trained and are being paid salary by the Malawi Government. It has 1 watchman who is being paid salary by the school Development committee. The Malawi Government provide no support towards school furniture such as school desks.
What challenge facing the beneficiaries does the project aim to solve? *
he Malawian education system is plagued by several factors, including: the lack of classrooms and overcrowded classrooms, a shortage of qualified teachers and a profound scarcity of teaching and learning materials, including school furniture. The scarcity of furniture and supplies has severely impeded Malawi’s educational system by decreasing the participation of children in school.(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/18/malawi-school-desk-shortage_n_798580.html).
In the case of Chibanja Full Primary School, it is not spared from the shortage of school furniture especially desks. It has only 48 desks in few senior classes of standards 7-8 accommodating only 96 learners since they sit in pairs. The rest of learners sit on the floor representing 93 % of learners siting on the floor.
There is lack of comfort among learners during classes. Most learners sit on the floor hence feel uncomfortable due to extremely cold cement floors especially during winter time. It is also more challenging for girls to attend and finish primary school due to their lack of comfort in siting on the floor. They fail to sit in a learning friendly posture and do not pay attention to the lessons since they feel that their dignity is not respected when their boy counterparts mock them to sit properly. As a result, girls drop-out of school before they even reach senior classes. Furthermore, during menstrual period times girls fail to attend to classes as they are easily recognized by boys when they sit on the floor.
Stimulus for Transformative Development has been working with Chibanja Primary School in its keeping girls in school project. In the first visit to this particular school, the organization conducted a meeting with 3 important structures at the school; School Management Committee, Parents Teachers Association and Mother Groups. It was it this meeting that the need for a school classroom Desks was raised by the community members. Later on, after one of the staff at Stimulus for Transformative Development attended the briefing meetings with the community to conduct a need assessment. All the community structures were mobilized, the 3 mentioned above and also the ADC, VDC, Chiefs, Youth club and the Village Health Committee. Two issues were identified, a shelter for youth club and desks at Chibanja Primary School. The Committees voted for Classroom desks as priority. This is how the issue was identified in the community. Women were also involving as Mother Group is the structure that comprise of women only who look after the welfare of girls in school and also there was a 50:50 representation of women in all the structures that have been mentioned above.
The goal of project is to contribute towards comfortable learning class environment at Chibanja primary school in order to improve learners’ performance and reduce school drop-out and absenteeism rates by 60% especially for girls. The main activity is procuring of 140 Desks for 280 learners.
• To reduce desk pupil ratio at Chibanja Primary School by 35% (280 learners will use the new desks out of 782) by December 2023.
• To reduce absenteeism of pupils in school by 35% (280 learners adhering to classes)
• To increase number of pupils completing primary education by in the next two years
STRADE in collaboration with Chibanja Primary School Development Committee will source three quotations from Furniture making shops. The STRADE Internal Procurement Committee and School Development Committee will approve the chosen quotation and making of the desks will commence. The making of the 140 desks (2 learners on each desk) will be completed within three months. Upon the receiving/collection of the desks, they will be checked of its quality and compared to the purchase order and invoice. The supplier’s copy of a goods received note will be signed once the desks have been checked. Invoices, delivery notes, receipts will be passed to the Accounts Officer for accounts records.
STRADE will work with School Development Committee of Chibanja Primary School which is formed by volunteers within the communities surrounding Chibanja Full Primary School. The committee comprises of 10 members (Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Secretary, Vice secretary, Treasure and 5 committee members. The School Development Committee will make sure that all the desks are made and delivered and ensure safety of the desks at the school.
The project will procure 140 Desks at MK25,000 each (20.25 GBP). The total Amount requested is MK 3,500,000 that is equivalent to 2,834.00 GBP.The headmaster and school management committee has agreed to use part of the school development fund to carry school desk from the furniture shop to school. There was an interface meeting between STRADE, School Development Committee the Chibanja WARD Councilor and headmaster where it was agreed that transport will be sourced from the school development fund during proposal development process. The procured desks will be kept in classrooms with doors to ensure that they are kept safely.
The following are expected outcomes of the project
• Increased enrolment and retention of girls at chibanja Full Primary (F.P) School from 30 percent to 60 percent
• Reduced drop-out and absenteeism rate of learners from 50 percent to 20 percent
• Increased project ownership and sustainability through community involvement
the following indicators will be used to measure progress of the project
1. Number of desk procured. the target is 140 desks within three months
2. Number of learners enrolled girls enrolled at Chibanja F.P School by next academic calendar in January 2023. The target is to increase enrollment from the current 600 girls to 800 by the next academic year thus January 2023.
3. Number of school development committee members involved in the project
4. Number of girls selected to secondary school in the next academic year in September 2023.
