AN AFFORDABLE AND HIGH QUALITY CHAIN OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS

SCHOOLS FOR UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN

Location: Masulita, Uganda, East Africa

Tel: +49 174 314 45 17 +49 171 268 57 62

E-mail: info@ntalehilfs.org

Project Cost: €125,000

MISSION

To provide quality, low-cost education to students in Uganda, empowering them to lead socially responsible and economically productive lives.

PROJECT SUMMARY

Kirabo Academies is seeking a grant and donations to build a three-classroom kindergarten and seven-classroom elementary school for over 500 underprivileged children from the poorest families who cannot afford to pay for quality education in other schools.

The goal is to fund low-cost, high-quality schooling for the underprivileged children that will equip them for the future. The funding in the amount of 125,000 will be used for the building school at its first location.

STATEMENT OF NEED

There are currently about 2.7 billion people in the world living on less than 2€ per day. In their communities, there is a huge gap between the education available and the needs of the population. Too often, the schools available to them do not provide the same quality of education that their more privileged peers can receive elsewhere. Teachers are sometimes absent up to 50% of the time, teaching only 2 hours and 30 minutes per day. 65% of these teachers are unable to pass exams based on the curriculum they teach. Not surprisingly, many of the children who graduate from elementary school are not even reading at a second grade level.

To make matters worse, these schools can be very expensive. Even “free” government schools can cost between €12 and €20 per month when all the additional fees (some approved, some not) are added. 60% of families choose private schools instead, but then fear for the stability and sustainability of their choice, as many schools close administration after only a few years due to poor management. Ugandan families are constantly searching for a better school alternative.

By developing a scalable solution, Kirabo Academia will be able to break this cycle. Our academies will be modeled after world-class pedagogy and school management, and will charge fees that are lower than 70% of other low-cost private schools in our communities. At an average cost of just €10 per month, 90% of families in our communities will be able to send all their children – girls and boys – to our academies, and we have a sponsorship program that provides additional support for high achieving children and orphans.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Kirabo Academies is a chain of low-cost private schools designed to serve poor communities in Uganda, particularly slums near urban centers. Girls will make up 60 percent of the student body, and all students will be at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

A partner aid fund will provide access to the schools for orphans as well. The first school will open in July 2024, with a target of 100,000 students by 2034. The goal is to create a viable, scalable, sustainable and replicable model for access to high-quality, low-cost education for low-income families across Africa.

Kirabo Academies is inspired by research showing that there is an emerging market around the world for low-cost private schools that are affordable to parents earning minimum wage. After controlling for socioeconomic background, students in low-cost private schools have been shown to perform better than those in private schools.

It is recognized that the quality of low-cost private schools can be further improved and access expanded by creating a chain of schools in which economies of scale and the ability to share information allow for dramatic improvements in quality while keeping fees as low as or lower than existing low-cost private schools. An innovative “pay-as-you-learn” model with flat weekly fees fits into the daily or weekly cash flow of poor parents and allows many who cannot otherwise afford private education, though they desire it, to avoid having to save enough money for semester fees. The cost of a child at Kirabo Academies is little more than the cost of a child at a government school, where all the extras must be paid.

This innovation, combined with the improvements made through lesson plans, student workbooks, computer applications, and special teacher and management training, will make Kirabo Academies popular with parents. Proof of this is the fact that a new school is usually full within 10 days of opening. Each school is thus self-sufficient almost from day one.

HOW TO SUPPORT KIRABO ACADEMIES

There are at least 3 ways you can support Kirabo Academies:

1. you can give a direct scholarship to the poorest children who will be enrolled in our school. It costs about €150 per year to educate a child (this amount includes tuition, meals, school uniforms, books, assessments, health insurance, etc.).

Our families will make sacrifices in order to pay during the 270 school daysweekly installments (of about 4 €). Your donation would ease the financial burden for these poor families. Your donation will go into a scholarship fund from which we will buy the weekly ticket to the Academy and distribute it to the poorest children in our schools according to their need: one third (50 €), half (75 €) or in the case of orphans, 100% (150 €).

2. perhaps you would like to donate to certain aspects of our work, for example, you can support reading in our school with your donation. We will set up a library so that the children can borrow a book and take it home. Kirabo Academy will be able to sustain the cost of maintaining the library and the librarian. However, we are looking for donations to purchase many books. We hope to awaken the reading appetite of more than 100,000 children as we move into many new locations, and we need help to do that.

3. Finally, with €125,000, you can fund a new school in a poor community that will enroll and educate up to 500 students and directly employ over 25 people from the community.