For Better Schooling

Project description:
The school in the Osamsko hamlet is located some 10 km from the town (Bratunac Municipality). Prior to the war, over 100 pupils attended this school while today they are only 15 children in the classrooms. This dramatic change took place due to several reasons- migrations and displacement but also dramatic material conditions at the school premises-absolutely not fit for children. While the school building consists of ten classrooms, only three are being used for the pupils in grades 1-5. The rooms are heated with old wood stoves which produce so much smoke indoors that the walls became black. The stoves warm up so much that the floor isolation beneath them melted and walls become too hot. All this creates danger of fires in the school and stops parents from sending children to classes during the winter. What is worse, while great quantities of wood need to be used, temperature at the school is never optimal due to old windows and doors providing no isolation.

During and after the war, the roof was partly damaged and this led to rain and snow water leaking which produced ceiling parts dropping down. In two rooms ceiling bricks fell off- luckily this happened when children were not in attendence.

School bathrooms are more often than not out of use as the old sewage pipes get blocked and water pipes break during the winter. In such times, children are forced to use the school outdoor playarea as bathroom, no hands wasching facilities are available. There is no warm water at the school at all.

For these reasons, many parents (those who were able to afford it) were forced to relocate their children to schools in the town area. Children have to walk great distances in all kinds of weather to reach the town as few of the families have cars and can drive them. Children have to get up very ealry and get home late.  Even for those who have cars, this is additional cost as majority of adults lack proper employment. Education, which in itself is expensive to many, becomes even more expensive for parents from remote areas. This creates fears of dropouts as parents cannot provide resources for education.

It is necessary to renovate the school and create safe, warm learning environment for children. The roof needs to be renovated as well as the ceilings and the walls in the classrooms. Windows and doors need to be partially replaced as to secure proper isolation. It is crucial to install safe and effective heating system where children do not run around hot stoves. Bathrooms need to be completely re-done as to offer basic sanitation and hygiene crucial for children's health. Ideally, if funds allow, benches and chairs used by the children would be replaced with new ones as the one in use now are over 40 years old. This way we could secure proper environment to the poorest children to learn.

Renovation of the school would create conditions for new pupils to enroll. It would show the parents that education of their children is important and that they can send them to a building that is safe and located nearby rather than send them to schools located far away. This would make it financially easier on the parents and the children who could be home for lunch, befor dusk. Young families would see that conditions are good for them to have children and educate them there rather than migrate to towns as many people do due to schools.

Sustainability:
Funds for ongoing operation of the school are provided by the RS Ministry of Education and Culture. Bratunac Municipality contributes when possible with additional money. Renovated building would be much cheaper in exploitation  and the money planned in the annual  budget for heating could be re-directed for purchase of equipment or educational material.