Education is the foundation of a brighter future, yet for many children in rural Zambia access to quality learning remains a challenge. Malundu Community School provides essential education to children across five villages in Chisamba District in the Central Province of Zambia. Around 2,000 people live in these communities, with children and young people making up an estimated 60% of the population.
Despite the school’s vital role, the school faces critical infrastructure shortages that hinder learning and limit opportunities. With your help, we can change this.
The challenges
Malundu School was established in 2002. The school currently has only classroom, after the second was deemed unsafe. This classroom is now just a pile of bricks as community members took it down before it collapsed.
Despite this, over 300 students continue to attend the school. They are taught by just three dedicated teachers. With just one classroom in operation, some lessons are held in the nearby church hall. Other children learn from underneath the trees that form the boundary of the school grounds.
Children at Malundu crowd around the Build It team as they scoped out new facilities for the school
In the background is the classroom that supported the youngest pupils. In the foreground is the old classroom that has been taken down.
PTC Committee Member Patricia Chikankata shared: “With the construction of a new classroom block, I’m certain our children will begin to perform better. As it is at the moment, when they approach examination classes they are transferred to another school that is far. Many drop out. The few that continue, find it difficult to adapt to the distance and environment which results in low grades. So if they can be here for their exam classes, I believe they will do better.”
Inadequate facilities and no secure examination room means Malundu Community School can only accommodate students from Grade One to Grade Five. Students must then transfer to other schools to complete their education.
Some students continue their studies at Malombe Primary School, located about a 90-minute walk away. Others travel to Luamabwe School, which is a 2-hour walk away. Pupils who move to other schools often find it hard to continue because of the longer distance they must cover. As a result, many children only attend classes from Monday to Wednesday.
The school only had a single pit latrine shared by all students and staff. Improving sanitation was a vital issue.
Malundu Community School has been transformed. With your support we have:
- Constructed three new classrooms to improve the learning environment for the pupils
- Plus one room to establish a library to help improve literacy, with options for holding ICT lessons
- Built a staff room, to support lesson planning and marking
- Provided a head teacher’s office with a secure strong room to store exam papers
From the foundations, a new school has risen!
- Constructed separate latrines for pupils and teachers
- Trained 17 young people from the local area in construction skills, equipping them with opportunities for future employment.
PTC Committee Member Patricia Chikankata with her daughter Exhildah, who trained with us on the project, and daughter Mweene in Grade 6.
With new classrooms to learn in and safe sanitation facilities to support their wellbeing, the young learners at Malundu can focus on what matters most – their future.
And through hands-on training, young people like Exhildah have developed skills and opportunities that will stay with them long after the project ends.
Thank you for being part of this transformation. Thank you for #BuildingBrighterFutures for young people in Zambia.
