SHUMAS Education program

By Ndze Elizabeth Berinyuy

P.O. Box 5047 Nkwen BamendaTel: (+237) 77 75 56 30

Email: shumas_ngo@yahoo.comWebsite: www.shumas.org

Program Overview

1. Introduction2. The Problem3. Objectives of the program4. SHUMAS intervention strategies

– School construction– Scholarships– School environmental project– Water and Hygiene– Women empowerment

5. Challenges6. Future Plans

IntroductionEducation is the key to unlocking a

country‘s potential for economic growth (UNESCO)

Investment in education could result in raising income, improving health, promoting gender equality, mitigating climate change, and reducing poverty

Education is also the key to women‘s rights, self expression and civic engagement etc

The problem

Children living in rural communities in Cameroon face a number of problems which include:

Lack of study space for (underprivileged) childrenNo opportunity for education for out of school

childrenLack of sensitivity to emotional needs of these

childrenLack of interest in poor parents about the

education of their childrenLack of water and toilet facilities in schoolsIncrease in child birth and maternal mortality due

to ignorance

Objectives of the ProgramTo contribute towards the achievement of

the universal education for all by giving the opportunity to every child to be able to complete at least basic elementary (primary) school as enshrined in MDG number 1

To provide basic literacy to all the underprivileged children so that they can understand various schemes being run by the government and how they can benefit from them

Intervention StrategySHUMAS contributes in solving these problems in the following

ways:

• Construction of school infrastructure Rehabilitate and equip dilapitated infrastructure in rural and peri-urban

schools• Construction of toilets and stores

Scholarships Provision of scholarships to underprivileged children Provide voluntary training to women groups through workshops

• School Environmental Program Establish and provide equipments for school gardens and school farm

• Water and hygiene Provision of drinking water to schools Provision of wash hand facilities and drinking pales

Women empowerment Skills upgradation, enhancement of income through these skills and

curtailment of expenses from health etc

Who are the beneficiaries

Underpriviledged (of single parents and from very poor parents)

Children infected by HIV/AIDS

Orphans

Women groups

School constructionConstruct classrooms in both private and

public schools nation wide at primary and secondary level

SHUMAS has constructed and rehabilitated over 600 classrooms in nine out of ten Regons nation wide

We also construct head teachers‘ offices in cases where none is existing

We construct toilets and wash hand facilities in these schools

SHUMAS has cnstructed 87 toiletsSHUMAS equips classrooms with 4000

benches, tables, didactic materials and in some cases first aid boxes

St Joseph Catholic Comprehensive College Lassin

(Nkor Noni)

Situation before Situation after

Goverment School (G.S.) Nkartsen

Situation before Situation after

Catholic School (C.S.) Mali

Situation before Situation after

Overcrowded classrooms with bare and dusty floors

Overcrowded classrooms

Dusty classroom floors

Islamic Primary School (IPS) Vekovi

Situation before Situation after

Government School (G.S.) Nsek-Makop

Situation before Situation after

Toilets constructed in schools where no toilet

facility existed

Skeletal toilet (situation before)

4 compartment toilet constructed

Equiping of classsrooms and provision of didactic

materialsSHUMAS provides benches and tables to

some of the schools that are constructed

Didactic and first aid materials to schools that do not have

We also provide tables and chairs for teachers in classrooms where none exists

Classrooms equiped, didactic material and first aid boxes

provided in schools

New benches provided in schools

Didactic materials and first aid box

Scholarships This program started in 2009 These scholarships are awarded to

underprivileged childrenOur funders include Martin Lynch the

founder of the scholarship scheme, Market Makers and others from Building Schools for Africa

Priority is most often given to the girl child

Why underprivileged children?

Underprivileged children live with their parents and this is their biggest problem

Orphans can easily get free food, education etc, but poor children living with their parents can NOT easily get

This is because children from such background think it‘s the duty of their parents (Poor) to provide for them

Orphanages in the cities are overflowing with genuine donations, but these poor children are not getting even two meals a day

We are thus making efforts to develop an alternative platform where these poor children can also get some donations

School Environmental Project

SHUMAS incorporates the aspect of environmental protection and conservation in schools

We offer training to students on the establishment of native school gardens

We provide garden tools to schools to ensure the sustainability of such projects

Women groups in these communities are fully involved in these projects as they assist the students in forming their ridges while assisting in teaching the students different methods of cultivation.

Sample school environmental project

School tree nursery School garden

Water and Hygiene in schools

Another acute problem in rural schools is the lack of water in school premises

Students/pupils spend precious time carrying water to dampen their dusty classrooms

Pupils often suffer from water-borne illnessesAll these problems and many others lead to

poor performance of students/pupils in schools, hence increase in the rate of school drop-outs; which have many other repacautions on the children

Water and Hygiene in Schools

SHUMAS construct stand taps in schools We provide wash hand facilities in these

schools

We also provide buckets that are used to collect water from the stand-taps to drink or water from the rain which could be use to dampen their floors; water their school gardens during the dry season

Stand-tap and buckets provided to schools

One of the stand taps on campus

Drinking pales for each classroom

Women empowermentSHUMAS has a cooperative of women called

FIOH (Future in Our Hands) womenWhy women?Women living in rural areas have no say in

family matters, important decisions taken in their families and communities

The situation in urban areas is marginally justThe basic reason for this is poor literacy and

poor earning capacities of the rural woman.

Women empowerment

The aim of our cooperative is therefore to make the rural woman literate and financially independent.

We provide basic literacy and vocational training to women in groups

We teach them about the nitty-gritty of loans, advances, record (book) keeping etc.

Challenges Insufficient operational cost e.g payment

of salary for staffLimited and obselete working facilities

like computersPoor road networks to enclaved areas

especially during the rainy seasonResources are limited as the number of

applications are always too manyInsufficient funds for the scholarship

scheme as the number of applications double each year

Future plans

SHUMAS plans to reach out to many more communities in need nation wide

SHUMAS plans to start a rural electrification program in communities where schools are being constructed

Subsequently, we plan to institute computer program in these schools, this will support the government‘s initiative of adding computer studies in the school curriculum in Cameroon

Reinforce its income generating capacities