1.1 Introduction

AHAZAZA Independent School was founded with the initiative of a small group of people living in Muhanga in October 2005 to provide education of high quality to children coming from rural areas. The school opened in January 2006 with only one primary class with 17 students, five of which from poor families with a scholarship. After that, the school built two classes, an office and some latrines. It has been legally registered as a non-profit organization recognized by the ministry of education in Rwanda.

1.2 Current situation

Today, the school has 439 students, 89 of which come from poor families and benefit of a sholarship. The school recently opened a day care centre (1-2 year olds).

Currently the number one school in Rwanda (in academic performance) according to the ranking of the ministry of education, Ahazaza runs a trilingual programme where children learn in both French and English besides the mother tongue.

Ahazaza’s scholarship programme since its inception has helped more than 300 poor children to access good education. Some of our first students have successfully been accepted in universities in Asia and Europe.

1.3 The objective of the project

The AHAZAZA Independent School is in need of new computers to replace the worn-out and malfunctioning ones. Moreover, we do not have enough computer to cover our needs.

1.4 Problem statement:

Ahazaza computer laboratory has 26 very old computers. Out of these, 16 are old versions of HP desktops, the other 10 are laptops. Out of the 26 computers, 6 desktops and 5 laptops no longer work. This leaves the school with only 15 old computers for the teachers to use to conduct computer lessons. On average, we have 30 children at a time during computer lessons which we conduct in the computer laboratory. Teachers almost need double the normal time they would spend if there were enough computers and each pupil had access to a computer. Moreover, the 15 old computers have to be shared between the teachers, some members of the school administration and then, the children. In the past, Ahazaza has had to borrow laptops from a neighbouring public school which accepted to help on a use-and-return basis. Whereas all government schools receive free laptops, even if we are an NGO with many poor children on scholarships, we are excluded from this assistance because we are a private school.

Computers for Ahazaza

The publications