Completion of the Kamal School in Jaitiya

We can now give you the good news that the Kamal School in Jaitiya, where 100 boys and girls are having classes,  is now  completely finished!

Jaitiya is a remote hamlet far from any important centre and not covered by aid from other NGOs. The district of the “untouchables” is separate from the rest of the village.  Practically none of  the children had schooling before..  The Dalit community with which we work owns no land; they work as labourers in the fields or in the building sector, all poorly paid and with no guarantee of permanent work.  The majority of them live in mud and straw huts, with no running water or sanitation.

After giving classes to a group of children for a number of years,  first in the village community centre, then in rented rooms and finally in the shade of a tree, at last we were able to rent a piece of land to build our school for the 28 pupils we already had and also admit another 64.

Building of the Kamal School was started in May 2019 when we were anxious about the arrival of the Monsoons and the children not having a place to study where they would be protected from the rains.   We owe the start of thiis work to the generous donations received from Lucía in Palma de Mallorca and from Sam in Taiwan.  With their help we did  the most important parts of the school and then with certain fund collections and other donations we have been able to complete it during the month of July.

The School was constructed with local materials such as mud, straw and bamboo; we tried to use as little cement as possible.  The pupils´ parents were  the volunteer labourforce in the building of a school for their sons and daughters

The School has 64 children who were admitted last years plus the 28 older boys and girls who are now in secondary education with support every afternoon at the Kamal School. There are two teachers.

The Kamal School is situated in a very clean, open area at one end of the village, protected by an enormous mango tree and a bamboo plant ,both helping to keep the air cool. The building is fully floored to avoid mud and water during the Monsoons but spaces have been left as gardens so the children can learn to take care of  plants.  It has bathroom facilities to help teach them hygiene, bearing in mind there are no toilets in the hamlet at all.

Happy faces in  Kamal School´s new classroom, all ready to begin to learn with their new books.  .

The children take care of the garden in the Kamal School l

The School is also used as a Meeting Place for the Women´s Self-Help groups, with frequent informative talks as well as the distribution of food, blankets, clothing, etc.

With the construction of the new Kamal School we have consolidated our presence in the village of Jaitiya.  We have  created an interest among the families to allow their children to study, but also through the School and its pupils, we can reach  the rest of the population and inform them on hygiene, human rights, Government programmes available, the Women´s Self-Help groups, micro-credits as well as a variety of talks on different subjects such as the environment, etc

To all those who have contributed in one way or another for this project to become a reality, we send  our warmest thanks; for this community the presence of the Kamal School in the village is of great importance.