Jennifer, left, and Happiness, right, 9th graders at Orpalagilagi Junior Secondary School. Both girls will be able to attend a new high school next year thanks to an affordable new secondary school we’re helping build in Orpalagilagi.
New Day Schools In Progress: Orpalagilagi and Nkouash
We were able to visit two new day secondary schools in process on our recent trip: Orpalagilagi and Nkouash. Both schools lie just north of the Tanzanian border and serve numerous remote villages. Nkouash is slowly approaching their fundraising goal and hoping to break ground on the first classroom early next year, and Orpalagilagi is currently completing three beautiful new classrooms. This school will create an especially crucial new option for affordable secondary education: Many parents already struggle to pay the cost of junior secondary (7th-9th grades) education in this region, yet enrollments are rapidly growing. This means more and more children are in need of a more affordable alternative to expensive boarding schools to continue their educations past 9th grade. When the new day secondary opens at Orpalagilagi next term, Jennifer (pictured at left in the photo below), Happiness (pictured right), and their fellow 9th grade peers will be able to seamlessly transfer onto high school. Fast on their heels will be the 102 students filling Orpalagilagi's 8th grade classrooms this year.