The Santa Clara school is located in Ciudad Darío, less than one mile from SOL’s Learning Resource Center. The school was originally designed to be a community kitchen and dining room for local children. Eventually, it was transformed into a temporary school building. In 2011, Seeds of Learning partnered with the community to further adapt the dining room and kitchen space into more classroom space and in 2012, we continued this project by building three additional classrooms.
Due in large part to the improved educational conditions, enrollment at the Santa Clara school has more than doubled in the last five years. The classrooms are now extremely overcrowded and inadequate for the number of students. The existing preschool space (originally the community kitchen) is currently in poor condition, and in need of repairs.
In 2018, Seeds of Learning will work alongside the Santa Clara community and international volunteers to expand and repair the school. With the generous support of the nonprofit organization Students Offering Support, we will build two new classrooms to accommodate the increased enrollment. In addition to the new classrooms, we will rehabiliate the existing classrooms, which are generally in good shape but need some touchups (such as new paint, etc.). The school lacks sufficient desks for both students and teachers, so we will build and repair up to 100 desks and tables. Teachers have also requested bookcases and books, as they currently have very few educational materials available. Finally, we will install a chain-link fence around the school grounds, which will improve school safety. We are excited to continue working with the Santa Clara school community so that students can continue to have optimal learning conditions within their own community.
7/24 Update: Due to the current unrest in Nicaragua, this project has been postponed until 2019.