PROBONO has been promoting school partnerships in Africa since 2004. This includes the Martyr’s Secondary School in the southern Uganda village of Buyoga. Foun­ded in 1984, the school provides secon­dary school edu­cation for 424 students. 84 of these students currently  live in make­shift dor­mito­ries. These rooms are urgently needed and it’s essen­tial that they return to their original function as class­rooms. The beds, some of which were built by the pupils them­selves, are closely spaced and often shared by two students.

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Girls in particular are traditionally bound by their families to a large extent into the house and field work. Hence, as ex­tern pupils, they often have no time to study. When these girls live in a boarding school, per­for­mance levels improve and drop out num­bers decrease. These facts lead us to support the con­struc­tion of a boarding school building for 100 girls. We also support the offering of child pro­tection work­shops and improve­ment of the drinking water supply through the instal­lation of rain­water tanks.

 

Promoting education, especially edu­cation for girls, is a crucial to fighting poverty in Uganda where half of the popu­lation is under 15.