St. Agness Community School

Location	St Agness, Kapiri District, Zambia
Project start	January 2009
Project finish	December 2009
Trainees	12
Beneficiaries	9,600
Key Details	Two classroom school, teacher’s house and latrines

Full Project details

St Agness School is a rural school in the Mkushi District of Central Province, Zambia. Until 2008, it catered for over 250 children in three dilapidated mud brick classrooms. In December 2009 Build It International completed a new two classroom block using our original hexagonal design and our familiar Parry roof tiles and stabilised soil blocks.

As a direct result of the new school building and teacher’s house, St Agness School has been re-graded by the Ministry of Education. This is very significant as it triggered three new trained teachers, more desks and 1000 exercise books.

A new Head Teacher, aptly named Agness, was sent to the Community School in late 2010 by the Ministry of Education. Agness is living in a new house built by the trainees as part of the project.

Project Trainees

12 trainees undertook training at the school and were amongst the first of our trainees to take the national TEVETA trades tests. Seven successfully completed their training and all passed the test. Five dropped out for a variety of reasons.

Since passing his training, trainee Given Chimutasho has been able to use his experience and secure two high value building projects. His new skills are proving invaluable; ‘I am able to build my own house and build for others to enable me to earn a living’ .