Cap Vert 2013-2015

SUSTAINED SUPPORT FOR ANTÓNIO HIGH SCHOOL SILVA PINTO DE RIBEIRA DAS PATAS

Antecedents

Since the 2007-2008 school year our school has set up, in close collaboration with the asbl Comité Spencer, a school assistance project for children of Cape Verdean origin. This project certainly aims to help students of Cape Verdean origin in their schooling, but it also aims to bring together two cultural communities living together in the Grand Duchy.

Thanks to the links thus created, a group of students from the Athenee, accompanied by three teachers, had participated, during the Pentecost holidays 2012, in a school exchange with the high school “Escola Secundária António Silva Pinto” of Ribeira das Patas of Cape Verde. During their stay in Cape Verde, the young people, together with high school students from Ribeira das Patas, planted trees and shrubs in this arid region of Cape Verde. This initiative was designed as an action to raise awareness of nature protection, sustainable development and citizen empowerment.

Our students felt challenged and decided to go beyond this symbolic gesture of solidarity and launch a real cooperation project. By mutual agreement with the management and the educational team of the António Silva Pinto high school, it was decided to focus our support on the educational, social and ecological aspects.

Our partnership project consisted of setting up educational, didactic and social facilities to offer real professional prospects to young people in the region of Porto Novo, Santo Antão, and development opportunities for the entire region.

Results of the project which ended in December 2015:

• Support for school fees, as well as fees for uniforms and sportswear for deserving but needy students.

• Funding for the purchase of textbooks for an entire class.

• Equipping a school canteen to provide a hot meal to students and covering the salaries of two ladies in the kitchen.

• Financing of a van for school transport to mountain villages.

• Purchase of a ventilated chemistry cabinet to store hazardous products.

• Equipment of two computer rooms with computers and staff training in library management

• Installation of a water pump to improve hygienic conditions in the kitchen and sanitary facilities.

• Equipping the school with photovoltaic panels to remedy recurrent power cuts and to improve teaching and administrative working conditions.

The project had a total budget of €155,596.30.