Mt. Tulu Welel (10,900 ft.), Western Wollega, Ethiopia
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The aim of this project is to establish two model schools that will inspire other rural communities to establish their own schools. And that has happened! Since the two EREP schools opened in 2006, three communities built school buildings and adopted the EREP learning methodology for their students. But there are still many rural areas that have no schools at all.
EREP model schools are located in Aleku, north of Dembi Dolo, and Gaba Arbi, east of Dembi Dolo. Families in these communities had no access to schools. Built in the summer of 2005, each school building consists of two schoolrooms separated by a centrally located storage room. Each schoolroom is an individual teaching/learning unit.
Classes began in October 2006 with kindergarten and first grade instruction. In the 2007-2008 academic year, 107 pupils attend Aleku School and 138 attend Gaba Arbi School. Larger numbers have attended in each succeeding year. We urgently need $6,000 to develop Grades 3 and 4 curriculum. Our intent is to teach K-4 which is considered permanent literacy level.
In addition to the two model schools, three other schools adopted the EREP curriculum. These schools are located in Dembi Dollo, Kake, and Chanka. Our goal is to help rural communities throughout Western Wollega to establish schools based on the EREP model.
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EREP administrators, who developed the curriculum materials in 2004 and 2006 at the Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Research (RIVER) in India, hired and trained four teachers for the model schools in September 2006. Six educational experts from RIVER provided additional training at Dembi Dollo in November 2007. In addition to the four EREP teachers, teachers from neighboring schools participated in the two-week training workshops. Altogether, 21 teachers received training.
The pictures below show the teachers in the November 2007 training workshops.
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