Coitapa is a small rural village a little under two hours drive from Dili toward the Indonesian border and around 15 minutes inland.
The Timor-Leste Ministry of Education has identified Coitapa as being the highest priority for assistance, however, it does not have the resources to do the work needed to improve school facilities in the foreseeable future.
Pictured top: The existing government school with 120 children and 4 teachers at Coitapa village.
The existing school building is a lightweight wooden construction that is in extremely poor condition and should not be used. The toilets are unusable, so there are no toilets for the children or teachers.
The existing school building needs to be replaced by a new building with four classrooms and one teacher’s room, plus a new toilet block with three toilets.
After months of evaluation, the Rotary Club of Hall members voted unanimously to fund the construction cost of the school via a partnership with Spend It Well.
Spend It Well has managed 12 school infrastructure projects in Timor Leste since 2009 and the organisation will cover all other costs associated with the construction, including the wages of two project managers, staff transport and support.
The Rotary Club of Hall’s ‘whole of school’ project in rural Timor-Leste will replace and transform the existing school infrastructure.
