School building project - Myanmar (Burma)

Following Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, WJR is working with local partners in Myanmar to rebuild communities, focusing on building a school. The aim is that children will be able to continue their education in a safe and healthy environment, where they can also receive support and counselling following the trauma. The school is due to be completed in April 2009.

Following the cyclone, 4,106 schools in the Ayeyrarwady and Yangon Districts were damaged or destroyed. Access to education has become a major issue for more than one million children. Building schools is now a real priority. Most schools are without furniture, water and sanitation facilities in schools have been damaged or destroyed, and many teachers were lost in the disaster. More teachers now need to be trained - not only to provide basic education, but to help the children to cope with the trauma they experienced.

WJR will fund the complete construction of a new school. The school will house six classrooms with water and sanitation facilities for around 3,000 pupils. This school is one of a series that will act as model schools for the country.

The schools will be built in places where no other schooling is currently available, and will provide places for children to play as well as classrooms for lessons. Latrines and hand-washing facilities will also be installed to encourage good hygiene practices and ensure children are healthy in their school environment. Education supplies will include furniture, blackboards, text books, pens and paper. Funds will also be used to train teachers so that the schools can open as soon as construction is complete.

The children attending these schools will receive pyschosocial support as well as basic education to help them overcome the trauma they have experienced and look more positively towards the future.