The BINGO Environmental Foundation of Lower Saxony, Germany, is investing in education in Malawi through the construction of class rooms in rural districts.

The foundation has announced that it will invest €26,000 towards the construction of Primary classes in the Southern Malawi district of Mangochi.

The money will go towards the construction of new school blocks in Chilinda Village, a Mangochi village next to the Mozambican border. The facilities are expected to increase the chances of pupils to learn in modern structures.

It is also hoped that the new classrooms will help reduce classroom congestion and the practice of learning under trees.

The school, which will carter for 300 pupils between the ages of 4 and 13, is the first school in the area as, currently, children walk as long as 10 kms to access primary school education.

The project will be implemented through The ” Travelling Work-School Scholen" of Diepholz County, LowerSaxony, in Germany. It involves German pupils, who attend this school having failed in public Secondary Modern Schools in the European country.

“It is encouraging that these German students are willing to contribute towards quality education in Malawi by investing their energy in building school blocks. This is one of the reasons Bingo Foundation finds it plausible to help financially.

“This also serves as an opportunity for young Lower-Saxonians to experience life conditions in one of the poorest countries in the world,” said Michael Von Studnitz, Chairman of The Travelling Work school.

He said working in a developing country like Malawi helps European citizens understand the enormous problems faced by fellow students in poor countries, as well as helping European youths reflect on their opportunities and lives.

“The experience to work for the welfare of relatively poorer people without being paid influences their lives and helps European youths become responsive world citizens,” he said.

The school construction projects will also include filming, sound production as well as scriptural reflection, in the process helping European youths reflect on their African experiences once they arrive home.

”We expect that school meals, which will form part of the project and belongs to project beneficiaries, will help improve the nutrition status of pupils as well, and help them become active in class. A higher number of kids will also go back to school.”

The Travelling Work School has successfully realized 13 of such projects abroad, five of them in Malawi.

The Lower Saxonian Bingo-Environment Foundation helps in projects on environment and nature conservation as well as the development and protection of historic monuments.

The Foundation is financed by lottery-taxes as well as revenues generated from the Bingo

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