San José de Joca Educational Center Project
Background
La Yamaya is a town in the province of Elías Piña , located in the border region of the Dominican Republic, located at a height of 2,670 meters of altitude and has an estimated population of 5,955 inhabitants.
More than 75% of households live in extreme poverty and, due to the isolation they are in due to the lack of adequate communication channels, they have little access to basic services such as energy, health and education. The main economic activity in the area is agricultural production.
The educational reality in this area was similar to that of other mountainous areas of the country: educators attend only two days a week at educational centers, resulting in disenchantment and subsequent desertion of students. Additionally, children are promoted compulsory course, according to the regulations of the Dominican educational system, without learning to read or write correctly; levels only go up to 4th. or 5th. grade so that once the boys and girls automatically finish, they end their school life, girls or adolescents marrying and the boys inserting themselves into the agricultural work of their parents.
It should be noted that girls who continue their studies in the city are often assigned to the domestic service of the families that host them, finding it very difficult to continue their school year normally and taking advantage of the school year.
Faced with this reality, the construction of the Environmental and Vocational Education Center "San José", focused on offering the 5th. until the 8th. grade as a semi boarding school.
Currently, 70 children and young people from the closest communities live from Monday to Friday, taking 4 hours to walk from the center to their homes.
The educational complex consists of 12 buildings that comprise the area of: classrooms, administration and administration, teachers' dormitory, Library, student dormitories (one for girls and two for boys), community bathroom system, dining room - kitchen and multipurpose room. It will also have a sports area and an area for agro-ecological and artisanal practices, which includes: vegetable garden, bio-garden, earthworm - compost, agroforestry nursery, farm, and workshop area for crafts and joinery.
Due to the remoteness of this community, the Educational Center does not have conventional electrical energy services, so the conditions for both teaching and living are not ideal.
NPF Intervention Proposal
Goal: Improve the living conditions of children and young people living in the educational center by installing a photovoltaic energy system. To provide energy to the educational center, we installed a Photovoltaic Solar Energy System with the capacity to supply electrical energy for 12 continuous hours, with all the electrical equipment operating simultaneously.
