In the early years of SCSRN, our local Comité quickly established that one of San Ramón’s areas of greatest need was access to education. In San Ramon, there are presently 78 rural schools. These rural schools offer K-6 education for San Ramon’s school-aged children, with student populations in each school ranging from 25 to 200. Imagine the most basic of facilities: one or two cinder block buildings, some with running water and electricity, some without, and a latrine or composting toilet. Some schools also have a kitchen with a wood stove, where the mothers take turns cooking the children’s lunch, which is always rice and beans. The Ministry of Education uses its paper-thin budget to provide the teacher’s salary, a few sacks of rice and beans each semester, desks, a whiteboard, and a few books for the teacher.

Over the years we have completed 37 school constructions, which include classrooms, kitchens, and libraries. Working with the Ministry of Education, we are proud to say that we’ve had a hand in making sure that every child in San Ramon has access to primary and secondary education.

Our last four constructions were in the 2018-19 Fiscal Year. We completed the construction of two high school classrooms in the rural school El Horno 1. El Horno 1 is the largest rural secondary high school in San Ramón, with approximately 25 rural elementary schools that feed into it. In addition, we completed two pre-school classrooms and two school kitchens in the communities of Sabana Grande and Jicaro 1, and a completely new school in the community of El Flores, where students once received classes in the open air. They now have three classrooms, a school kitchen, and two latrines.