Educational environments can help or hinder a child’s ability to thrive in school.
Research has shown that learning environments, such as seating organization, lighting, noise and color, can all play a critical role in students’ success. For instance, students do not tend to absorb information in environments that are uncomfortable, loud or present a significant amount of distractions.
In 2015, approximately 430 children were attending school in one large building, without any walls to partition age groups into classrooms at the Castra Child Development Center in Haiti. Not surprisingly, the teachers struggled to keep the attention and focus of the children, and because of the noisy, distracting environment, students lost interest and school attendance began to decline.
Frustrated by the lack of appropriate facilities, families began opting to send their children to adjacent neighborhoods to attend school. Walking long distances to schools with better facilities limited the amount of time the students were able to spend in the classroom and sending children outside of their neighborhood for school was a drain on the community.
Recognizing this huge need, The Venverloh Family Foundation partnered with Compassion International to construct a six-classroom school building for the children in Castra.
The new building’s concrete construction is built to withstand earthquakes. It is also well lit and ventilated for the comfort of the students and children. Investing in the school building in Castra did more than just provide a new educational environment, it also resulted in better student performance and boosted the children’s self-esteem. No longer required to make long walks to far away school, the new school allowed families to spend more time together and the community to reconnect.
