This project will build a library and e-learning centre for vulnerable children at Siansowa Primary School along the shores of Lake Kariba, in rural Zambia. The centre will provide over 700 children with a new library that will house a rich supply of books, provide access to computers and a safe space for the children to study after school. Over 400 of the children at the school are girls, which is critical when female literacy rates in Zambia currently stand at less than 60%.
Siansowa Primary School in rural Southern Zambia, currently has the lowest literacy rates out of all 10 of School Club Zambia's partner schools. In 2020, less than 10% of children at the school passed their grade 7 exams, compared to 95% at neighbouring Kariba South Primary, a school that we have supported since 2012 and where we constructed a library in 2015. The school desperately needs more learning spaces as it currently has just 5 classrooms, for 710 children in nursery to grade 10.
This rural school is in urgent need of a dedicated space for the children to learn computer skills and read in their free time. In 2015 School Club Zambia built a library and e-learning centre at a neighbouring school and this is now being used as a space for children without electricity at home to complete their homework after school, to read at their own pace, as well as learn and practice their IT skills.
The library and e-learning centre will provide over 700 children from an extremely disadvantaged background with access to a computer lab and library for the very first time. The building will be built from bricks that have already been moulded by the community, who are desperate to provide their children with improved education facilities. We expect that within 5 years, the school will have 95% of children passing their grade 7 exams, comparable to improvements at neighbouring Kariba South.
