The Choma community in Malawi is far from the electricity grid. Recent exam results are disappointing and the community has decided that for two months prior to the Standard 8 exams, the children camp out at their schools to get extra tuition in the evenings. When it is dark any tuition ceases. The Rotary Project will provide solar charged battery lighting for classrooms, offices and a Girls' Hostel as well as portable, rechargeable lamps put in sunlight by day and used in rooms by night.
There is no electricity for classrooms, offices or hostel so schooling ceases when darkness falls. To improve disappointing exam results, the community wish pupils to get extra tuition but this stops when it is dark as Choma is nowhere near the electricity grid.
By providing solar powered lamps and solar powered battery lighting for rooms, the pupils can receive extra tuition after darkness falls. The project will use a combination of fixed lights installed with roof-mounted solar panels for the classrooms and portable rechargeable lamps that are carried out into the sunlight during the day to light the rooms, smaller offices and the Girls' Hostel.
Providing such solar powered lighting will have an enormous impact on the education of the students in the Choma community. Poor reading skills and poor examination performance can be addressed by extra intensive tuition. Such tuition has to take place after the normal school day and the lighting will allow this to happen. Six classrooms, the 10 room Girls' Hostel, the staffroom and offices at the school would all benefit from lighting allowing staff and students opportunities to excel.
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).
