Get Involved

Ways To Give

The primary role of Opportunity Education
is to supply the educational tools that will
enable children to learn core subjects and
skills and to provide a way for them to
receive assessment and feedback on
their performance. Donors can be
a vital part of this mission by
helping to meet the basic needs
of both the children and the
schools in developing countries.

Food

Children who do not have enough to eat cannot
concentrate on learning tasks. Only a few of the
schools we support can afford to provide food for their
students without charging additional fees but very few
of the parents can afford to pay these fees. The result
is that many children do not eat at all throughout the
day. In those schools which do provide food, it is not
uncommon for that meal (normally porridge) to be the
only food the children get each day. Click here to see a
comparison of the food for a family for a week in different
parts of the world.

Clothing

Similarly, in many cases, the school uniform is the only
outfit in good condition that the student owns. Particularly
in rural schools, students often walk long distances to
school over rough dirt roads without shoes.

Monetary Donations

Monetary donations to the schools (see to right), earmarked
for food or clothing, will enable them to provide more of
the basic needs to their students and vastly improve the
students' ability to learn and benefit from the materials
provided by Opportunity Education.
The schools themselves also have many needs. Some of
these are obvious: books and school supplies, such as
paper, pens etc., are hard to come by. It isn't uncommon for
only a small percentage of the students in a classroom to
have pencils and paper and books are treasured because
they are so rare. Other items that teachers in the developed
world take for granted, such as globes, dictionaries, art
supplies and basic science equipment, are unheard of in
many of the schools.

School Supplies

School supplies can be sent directly to the schools at their addresses shown on the website. Donors
should not be concerned that this is usually a post office box as this is the well-established and, in many
cases, only means of delivery. When supplies are sent, contact should be made with the principal of the
receiving school so that he or she will know to expect a package. Packages should be clearly marked
as containing school supplies of limited value and of no resale value. Donors should utilize the services
of a shipper such as UPS or FedEx and obtain a tracking number which should be provided to the
principal of the receiving school when notice is given that a package is being sent.

Dependable Power Supply

Electricity outages, particularly in Uganda and Tanzania, are common. Without a reliable supply of
power, schools cannot use the equipment and programs provided by Opportunity Education on an
educationally effective schedule and the benefits are diminished. A generator with sufficient capacity to
power the Opportunity Education equipment can be purchased locally for approximately $250.
This, however, requires the school to purchase fuel which is very expensive and which puts an
additional strain on an already tight budget. An alternative is a solar energy system which is used
to charge a battery to power the equipment. A solar energy system with sufficient capacity costs
approximately $1,500. Although this system has a higher capital cost, its ongoing operating costs
are much lower and this is more beneficial for the schools.

Additional Classrooms with Desks and Chairs

Because the need and desire for education in the developing world are so great, the average class size
in many of the schools is over 100. There are simply not enough desks and chairs for all the children.
Many children sit on the floor and balance their books, if they have them, on their knee or on a rock.
This uncomfortable situation makes it difficult for teachers to work with the students and for students to
concentrate on their lessons. A new classroom can be built and equipped for approximately $1,000.

Beds for Boarders

A good night's sleep is crucial to prepare students for learning but in the boarding sections of many of
the schools, children sleep in overcrowded dormitories on a thin foam mattress on the floor. A bed can
be purchased for $25.

Accommodations for Teachers

Rural schools have difficulty attracting qualified teachers because of a lack of suitable accommodation.
Many teachers live in overcrowded thatched huts or, in several cases, in a curtained -off area at the rear
of their classroom.