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The Mnarani Primary School

The state primary school is just a stone’s throw from the Manta Resort in Northern Pemba. Like so many state schools in Pemba the Mnarani school is under-resourced and lacks facilities

 

The Mnarani Primary School



The state primary school is just a stone’s throw from the Manta Resort in Northern Pemba. Like so many state schools in Pemba the Mnarani school is under-resourced and lacks facilities, as a consequence, children frequently play truant and can be found helping their parents in the fields or about the house. One look at the attendance boards shows that there is an alarming rate of truancy.

In true Kwanini spirit we are more interested in finding out ‘why’ kids don’t engage fully with learning rather than assuming quick fixes. Our brilliant champion of education, Sele, not only runs his own school but is also a governor of the primary school. In his opinion we need to engage the kids in more interesting ways of learning and he is one of the main architects of our plans to link education, conservation and environment – the three basic concepts of Kwanini. In Sele’s own words:

‘So for me I’m very interested because Kwanini is looking for improving the educational standards and it’s also cooperating with the community to conserve the environment for the future of Pemba. Besides, Kwanini and The Manta Resort are helping with the improvement of energy, water and waste management. I think with the Kwanini foundation everything will be well managed and under control’.

Some time ago the Foundation provided support to help build an additional schoolroom, which at the time was considered a priority, but now our plans are to understand and support the school and the government policy in different ways. The Foundation does not wish to conflict with government policy in education, nor take on the role that is clearly for government, like funding teachers’ salaries which has no sustainable end goal. Instead our aim is to provide support and initially, at least, to tackle the problem of truancy. To help kids engage more with the school, we are supporting the school football team and are exploring possible ways of helping the girls engage more with education. Eventually we will link with Sele’s school and extend our conservation and environment programme of learning for the children to reconnect them with nature and their surroundings and help them towards a more sustainable future through our living with the sea and living with the forest practically orientated projects.

Here’s how you can support:

Donations for furniture, blackboards, tablets and stationery and other teaching aids

Donations towards our ‘living with the sea’ and ‘living with the forest’ projects

Financial support for the extra curricula activities such as sport, art and science

Our Projects - Main Page
 
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