In preparation for the proposed RURAL SCHOOL OUTREACH in September, our team embarked on a pre-outreach survey to St. Timothy RCM Primary School in Amuloko Village, Isokan South LGA, Osun State on Thursday, July 25, 2019.
SITUATION REPORT BASED ON THE PRE-OUTREACH SURVEY
The indepth interview with the teachers of St. Timothy RCM primary school, along side personal observations, revealed the following heartbreaking conditions, which calls for urgent intervention:
- A poor and non-conducive learning environment with dilapidated structures and leaking roofs.
- Lack of learning infrastructures as there are no tables and limited chairs for the pupils. Chairs are bent over for students to sit and write.
- Lack of teaching materials for teachers, hence no curriculum followed in teaching.
- Lack of stationery as over 80% of the pupils use only 2 notebooks for the 8 subjects offered.
- Over 75% of the pupils cannot afford a school uniform.
- Students absenteeism; by observation, only 41.4% were present in school. The headmistress stated that the school enrollment was 58 pupils but only 24 were present on the day of our visit.
Conclusively, the teachers identified the need for teaching materials, stationery for students, as well as learning infrastructure (tables and chairs) as the three major felt-needs of the school.
In response to the problems above, we will be executing solution based outreaches in two phases. The first outreach will be embarked upon in September while the second phase will come up next year. The September outreach will feature the following charity activities:
- Provision of teaching materials for teachers
- Provision of back-to-school packages comprising of stationery and other school needs for the pupils
- Provision of school uniform for students
Other engaging activities include:
1. Rural Creativity Challenge
(Craft: broom and basket making)
(Art: drawing and reading competition)
**Gifts will be given to Winners
2. Time out with parents to help them better understand the significance of education, while seeking to tackle pupils’ absenteeism.
Proposed outreach date: Friday, September 20, 2019
N.B: issues pertaining to learning infrastructures (tables, chairs and building renovation) will be addressed in the subsequent outreach.