SOS Schools in Equatorial Guinea

SOS Nursery School Bata

The SOS Nursery School, our centre for pre-school education, has been serving the community since 1996.  It is the longest running facility of the organisation. There are six classrooms, each with a capacity for thirty students, which address the needs of boys and girls three to five years old.

Enrollment for the year 2007/2008 reached a peak at 183 students, and that number was maintained for the 2008/2009 school year.  The number of SOS children is nine: 2 females and 7 males. The mission of the nursery school is to provide the children with a preparation which allows them to transition into primary school studies, with particular emphasis in the areas of psychomotor skills, communication and mathematics and logical thought.

Activities of the nursery school are perfectly integrated with the other pedagogical units, the SOS School and the SOS Children’s Village Bata.

The scholastic aptitude of the students is calculated at more than 90%.  Sixty children have graduated from the pre-school to the Primary School, among them, two children from the Village.

An important component of the SOS Nursery School is the student dining room, which is maintained by way of the economic collaboration between the students’ parents and SOS, and which provides each student with a daily snack during recess.

Our financial strength, together with the support from the parents, has provided for the placement of tiles on the walls of the classrooms this year.

Other extracurricular activities include:

• Synchronizing celebrations with the School for International Day of Peace, Health and Hygiene Week, the Day of the Rights of the Child, the Day of the African Child, and Teacher’s Appreciation Day.

• Informational seminars for parents, and training courses for educators.

• Exchanges with other educational centres such as “La Salle de Bomudi”.

• The end of school year celebration, with the participation of the National Coordinator, the Village Director and the Educational Advisor.

The quality which characterises of our nursery school has been recognised by the neighborhood residents and the Ministry of Education and Science.  The demand for placement in the nursery school is so high that many potential students have had to be turned away for lack of space.

SOS Primary and Secondary Schools

The Primary and Secondary school with 12 classrooms. Enrollment for the 2007/2008 school year reached 758 students, 82 of which are residents of the Village. Of these, a total of 670 students passed from one level to the next (approx. 89%).

The School has provided economic support to 45 children from financially challenged families, paying a percentage of their school fees in the form of a grant.  All scholastic materials have been provided free of charge.

The student enrollment for the 2008/2009 school year is 764: 500 in the Primary School and 264 in Secondary School. There are 86 students from the Village.

The School has developed numerous extracurricular activities: the Seventh Cultural Week around the time of International SOS Day (23 June), Book Day, the Rights of the Child campaign, Peace Day, Environment Week, Health, Hygiene and HIV/AIDS Week, student excursions, all of which are open to the public. Training sessions for Parents have also been held, three in total over the course of the year. The Certificate of Primary Level Studies has been earned by 80 (91%) students, 12 from the Village.  The educational staff have also participated in continued education courses.  This year’s focus has been on the Human Resources manual, the “Pédagogie de la Maitrise” and curricular reform.

For students with learning difficulties, classes have been organised to provide personalised attention to these students. A summer review course has also been developed by our professionals.

The School has also had an influence in the other units of the Village, above all in the family services through awareness campaigns, informational meetings, training sessions for SOS Mothers and Aunts. Additionally, the SOS School has had a positive impact on the surrounding neighbourhood as a result of the awareness activities.  This has resulted in an increase in students in the school. All school placements have been filled, and due to the maximum limit allowed, 70 potential students were turned away.  This positive impact is also reflected in the praise for the school received from the students’ parents, the Mayor of Bata, the Ministry of Education and other educational institutions in the country, as well as important personalities in the country. We have received important visits from representatives of organisations, associations, institutions and companies.  This recognition has culminated in a donation in the amount of 4,500,000XAF from one of the student’s parents who has been very satisfied with the work of the organisation and would like to contribute to the construction of a multi-purpose hall for the School.

Other important donation include: various scholastic support materials from the Ministry of Education, books from the CCEB (Centro Cultural Español de Bata), support from individuals towards the development of extracurricular activities, partnership with “Coca Cola”, etc.

The School maintains a close, cooperative relationship with the educational authorities and institutions and other schools; inviting them to activities, festivals and training courses; in addition to other cultural institutions such as the UNICEF and the Spanish Cultural Centre. It can be observed that the fundamental difference between other schools and ours is to be found in the quality of our services: the number of students per classroom, the material, preparation of personnel, supervisory methods, comfort and security of the facilities, schedule and work calendar, activities with parents and participation in community events. We participate actively in the preparation of the Primary and Secondary Education Curriculum. We are on the list of the few schools that implement correctly this new curriculum.

The SOS school was a finalist for the National Federation of University and Scholarly Sports (FENADUE) trophy, in both the feminine and masculine football categories.

We have managed to establish a firm educational basis for our SOS Secondary School. This year 62 students sat the Degree Test and 59 of them (95%) passed, thus earning the Secondary Studies Certificate, including two children from the Children's Village.