Roncador Primary School is in the tiny community of Roncador, sandwiched between the busy coastal highway and massive monoculture African oil palm plantations and is in a desperate situation. What was once a small school, it has been increasingly growing without the building space to keep up. Now, classes are held daily in the kitchen. To give the children of Roncador the space they need to learn and grow, GVI Quepos is working with local community members to build a classroom.
The 3-room schoolhouse has just enough classroom space to teach the 6 elementary grades; however, they do not have a separate school kitchen/cafeteria. In order to continue to receive government funding for school lunches (often the children's main meal each day), it is mandated that those meals must be cooked on school property (as opposed to a neighboring house). As such, the school had to split one of the classrooms into part classroom, part kitchen. Not ideal or safe!
The school has a small space available on the property but lack the funds to build. The GVI Charitable Trust will provide those funds, to be combined with a small contribution from the school, and build them the needed classroom! Currently, there are open gas flames being used, exposure to hot pots and pans, and of course a refrigerator, stove, storage, food and other elements taking up half of their classroom. This project will provide a much safer environment for the children.
Working in partnership, this project will improve facilities and the quality of education available to children in the community. At our key partner schools, goals include developing facilities where teachers and volunteers can organize workshops, provide extra assistance and collaborate on a sustainable English education program which will improve linguistic skills for both children and adults, creating more opportunities for stable employment benefiting generations for years to come.
