Three RET centres for education have recently benefited from reparation work. Indeed, due to Chad’s very hot climate and the significant rainfall in summer, some of the schools’ equipment has been damaged. Based on the education delegate’s needs’ assessment, the RET logistics team has defined a priority list and started the refurbishment work in April.

More specifically, the roofs of both the Treguine camp RET centre and the Hadjer Hadid local community school have been replaced. “Without the current work, classrooms would have been flooded during the upcoming rain season,” explains a Treguine student. In addition, new latrines have been built in the Bredjing camp RET school. To maintain optimal learning conditions, it is pivotal to consider quality teaching and logistical requirements as two equal elements of the same endeavor. As the logistical officer Ahmat Nadjo has mentioned, “we should bear in mind that the quality of the facilities provided goes along with the students’ degree of commitment.”

As the maintenance of the schools is partly the responsibility of the community, both refugees and school students got involved in the work. “The involvement of everyone creates a sense of professionalisation in the activities and makes education the focus of all,” specifies Nadjo. In the Treguine centre, for instance, this participative process took the form of every student taking old bricks from the site under reparation as their contribution to the project. In addition to the individual effort that learning requires, this type of action enables the students to work collaboratively to make their school a better place.