Let’s paint more Happy Classsrooms
Is it possible to make a large-scale improvement to Malawi’s primary education with as little as K85 per child? Yes it is. boNGO (based on Need-driven Grassroots Ownership), a Blantyre-based NGO has proven it can be done.
boNGO came with an idea of painting primary school classrooms with pictures that reflect the school syllabus and make the classrooms a colourful, exiciting, and child-friendly space. Not that the idea was a first of its kind but boNGO, unlike others in the past, have been extremely consistant in implementing it.
Pupils learning inside the Happy Classrooms enjoy school more – they understand easier what the teacher is explaining, they concentrate better and even absenteeism has been reduced. Teachers, on the other hand, find it easier to keep the attention of the students, they can use a broader variety of teaching methods and don’t have to hand-make the “teaching charts” that get easily destroyed and are an extra expense for the schools.
So far 40 Blantyre-based companies – banks, industrial, commercial and telecommunication companies, insurance providers, hotels, transporters and other businesses – have supported this successful project. Some funded the decoration of one classroom, others two, and some even 20 Happy Classrooms and more! The advantages were obvious. Apart from contributing towards a meaningful cause, they could choose a primary school of their liking (a school where their employees or customers send their children) and have their company logo painted on the wall. Some businesses even chose to hold a press conference for the media in their sponsored classrooms.
The Happy Classrooms project has also been supported by several wealthier and influential individuals who simply wanted to “give back” to the primary schools in their home villages. Recently Concern Universal, a world-wide charitable organization, has partnered with boNGO and together they are painting 86 Happy Classrooms in Nsanje.
Since 2011 boNGO has painted over 800 Happy Classrooms. With an average of 150 pupils per class the project has impacted over one million children! The decorations last a minimum of 10 years before repainting is required. The project is growing at an alarming rate yet many more partners are needed so that as many schools as possible can be reached all over the country and not only in the Blantyre district. Based on enquiries, boNGO is ready to spread it’s wings to other areas of Malawi.
To transform one ordinary classroom into a Happy Classroom boNGO currently needs approximately K125 000 (about $400). It covers a complete overhaul of a classroom; the time needed to introduce the project to the teachers, headteachers and Primary Education Advisors of each area, maintenance of the old walls, painting and all the administration. This cost is applicable in and around the Blantyre area. Extra transport expenses will need to be covered when the projects are away from the Blantyre district.
Publicity for the Project is done through newspapers, internet and also singing – boNGO’s Managing Director Tereza Mirovicova brings attention to boNGO and its projects through singing in Chichewa.
If you feel the urge and are committed to education in Malawi, join the Happy Classrooms movement by contacting boNGO at malawi@bongoworldwide.org. A 3-minute video about the project can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRiI3cyagnU
More information about Bongo visit at www.bongoworldwide.org
