United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), a UN refugee agency, has handed over four new, fully equipped classrooms in the Dzaleka Secondary School in Dowa.
The classrooms were constructed with funding from the European Union (EU).
UNHCR Representative Kouame Cyr Modeste commended EU for the support it has provided to enable refugees and the host community children to have access to education.
“This is a milestone in advancing protection and empowerment of refugees and their host communities, as more children in the camp will now be able to enroll in the school,” she said
Education Division Manager in the Ministry of Education, Billy Banda, expressed gratitude with the support from development partners in filling the gaps that the government cannot do due to resource constraints.
“The statistics show many children are not able to enroll in school, so we need to ensure there are enough classrooms and provide them with quality education,” he said.
However, each new classroom can accommodate up to 60 secondary school students, meaning that as many as 240 new students will now be able to enroll in the school.
According to the agency, the classrooms are equipped with Wi-Fi connection, desks, seven toilets, and a changing room for girls, as well as 500 tablets for students.
The new facilities will help ease overcrowding in the Dzaleka Secondary School, which serves not only refugees and asylum-seekers but also students from the host community.