By Ousmane Coulibaly, Operations Manager

Imagine a classroom crammed with 100 or more teenagers. Really picture it in your mind.  Three or four students sit at desks designed to hold two kids. The room created to hold 20 or 25 desks now holds 30 or 35. There are not enough textbooks to go around. Students near the back can’t see the board over the heads of all the other students. The noise level, even when the students are calm, is disruptive…and when the kids get loud – well, no one is learning.

This is a typical situation in Mali’s schools and is the current situation in Mali Rising’s Leon W. Pete Harman Middle School in Tentoubougou. Until everything is changed thanks to a new Mali Rising village school.

Thanks to an anonymous donor, a partnership with Build a School in Africa, and many other Mali Rising supporters, a new school awaits the children of Tentoubougou. Their current school is home to more than 600 teenagers but now the students can spread their arms wide in new classrooms.

As we finished the new school, I stopped by to talk with the principal of Pete Harman Middle School, said Abdoul Asiz Cisse. Mr. Cisse stressed how valuable the new school will be for his own school:

"We face many problems when the classrooms are crowded. Even though we had a training on how to manage large class sizes, we still encounter problems. For example, it is very difficult to assess students 2 or 3 times in the month, because it will be difficult for the teacher to check and grade all the sheets. Thus, overcrowded classes may prevent teachers from giving more homework to students.”

Mr. Cisse continued to explain the challenges, ” With crowded classes, it is difficult for students to follow and understand the teachers' lessons. For example, if a class has 50 students, the teacher has time to explain the lessons well. But with a class of 100 students or more, it is very difficult to know the level of each learner...”

But Mr. Cisse felt powerless to change the overcrowding situation on his own. He said, “But the solution to this problem would be to ask our partners Mali Rising Foundation or the government to build more classrooms... This would be the only solution to solve this problem.”

Now that construction is complete at the new school, it will provide space for all the children of Tentoubougou to learn and grow. It will also help dedicated teachers as they are freed to really give the students the individual attention they need.  The new school will open for the 22/23 school year.

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