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Schools3, in collaboration with the local communities and the ministry of education, produce schools primarily in the Sahel (at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert). Schools3 funds the schools and provides the school designs; volunteers from the local communities build the schools (with a contractor and a few paid laborers); and the ministries of education provide and pay for the teachers, school furniture, and school supplies. The NGO's Building with Books and Save the Children have overseen the actual school construction for Schools3 in Mali and Honduras, respectively.

Schools3 is a program of the Development Engineering Research Institute (DERI), a tax exempt, non-profit (IRS 501(c)(3)) organization without religious, political, or governmental affiliation. It was founded in 1994 with the mission to use all relevant engineering and technical means to aid development and to reduce poverty in developing countries. DERI will provide assistance where there is the need for, and the desire for, that assistance without consideration for the location of that developing country of for the political structure of its governing body.




The Sahel (primarily the countries of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger) have the lowest educational statistics in the world. The illiteracy rate is 74%. Boys can expect 2 years of schooling; girls, only 1 year. Only 29% of all primary school aged children have a school to attend. Some other statistics of the area are 1) average per capita GNP is US$217 (it is US$34,260 in the United States), 2) 87% of the population live on less than US$2 a day, 3) life expectancy is 45 years, and 4) the under 5 mortality rate is 228 per thousand. These are the poorest statistics, in general, for any region in the world (World Development Report 2002, The World Bank, Washington, D.C.)

The need for schools is huge. In Mali alone over 8,000 schools are needed before very child has a school to attend. This region is so poor, they simply cannot afford to build the schools themselves.

School buildings, of course, do not make quality education by themselves. However, we work closely with the ministry of education to make sure that we build schools where they have determined the need to be the greatest, and where the ministry of education promises to staff and supply the schools with university educated and government credentialed teachers (if we provide the school buildings). The ministry of education has staffed the schools at a faster rate than promised. Again, the school buildings do not make quality education by themselves, but they are the catalyst for the implementation of a complete public educational package, open to all children without cost.

Most of the schools produced by Schools3 have been in Mali. Schools3 has also produced schools in Honduras (one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere).




A typical school is a permanent, 3-room primary school with an office/storage building, and a latrine. It is made of concrete blocks, it has a metal roof and roof structure, and it is beautifully plastered inside and out. It is a public, primary school by day, an adult school by night, and when otherwise not in use, a community center. In Mali, the total cost of such a school, including a maintenance fund, is approximately US$11,000. In Honduras, the same school would cost US$22,000





Schools3 received a nice recognition in the U. S. Senate Appropriations Committee report on Foreign Operation (Report 107-219, July 24, 2002). The entire section in the report on Children's Basic Education is included below:

"CHILDREN'S BASIC EDUCATION       Educating children in developing countries is fundamental to long term development. The Committee believes that USAID should significantly broaden its support for these activities, and provides $200,000,000 should be made available for children's basic education in fiscal year 2003. The committee expects USAID to emphasize programs that expand access and quality of education for girls, enhance community and parental participation in schools, improve teacher training, and build local management capacity. USAID should ensure that it has sufficient education specialists to manage this increased emphasis on basic education.       The committee supports the work of Schools3, a private voluntary initiative to build primary schools at low cost in developing countries."

You can help by making a donation (hopefully an annual donation) to Schools3. Any amount would make a child in the Sahel very happy. One hundred percent (100%) of all outside donations to Schools3 are used for school building projects. Internal donations from Schools3 personnel cover all non-project overhead expenses.

You can also help by introducing Schools3 to your friends who might be interested in our activities.




Schools3
Jon D. Raggett, PhD, Director
BOX DD
CARMEL, CA 93921 USA
Phone: 1-831-883-1534
Fax: 1-831-883-1535
Email: mail@schools3.org