Nicaragua: Classrooms Built on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua

The building of classrooms that ICEIDA funds on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua has now begun. These are twenty rooms in nine schools in the municipalities of Bluefields and Puerto Cabezas. The schools are being made bigger because they are too small for the number of students. The rooms will be equipped with the main necessities, such as chairs for the students and teachers’ desks. Latrines will also be built and others mended where needed.

“There is a great need for classrooms in this area,” says Grethel García, an employer of ICEIDA in Nicaragua who is in charge of the project. “The schools´ locations are chosen not only so that the children in the town have access to them but also the children in the neighbouring provinces.” Grethel says there are different reasons why the children do not attend school. Some of them have to travel great distances which can be dangerous, especially during the rainy season which lasts from May until December. The road to school can then be impassable due to mud and high river levels caused by immense rain. She also says that many drop out of school during the harvest season because many parents choose to use their children’s labour rather than sending them to school.

Since the present government came to power last year great emphasis has been put on education and one of the government’s first tasks was to abolish fee collection at the primary school level. As a result, there has been an increase in the number of children that attend primary school, especially in the areas where school attendance was poor before.

The autonomous districts on the Atlantic Coast are among the poorest regions of the country and there is great need for infrastructural development. The situation deteriorated further with the destruction of the hurricane Felix that went through the area in September 2007. It is believed that 90% of the classrooms in the districts were damaged. The trace of the hurricane is still apparent in many places. In some of the schools that the employees of ICEIDA visited earlier this month (August 2008), classrooms had been set up outside with only plastic to shelter the students from the strong sun and rain. Because of poverty, many parents choose to send their children to work instead of school and in addition, over-crowded and poorly-equipped schools increase the number of those who drop out. The building of the classrooms therefore contributes to increased school attendance and improved conditions of the children.

The building of the classrooms is cooperation between ICEIDA, the Ministry of Education and the municipalities of Bluefields and Puerto Cabezas. The project will benefit 3,700 children and the classrooms will also be used as shelters in emergencies, for instance during natural disasters since hurricanes are common in this area. The planned ending of the project is in November this year.