An A-level block for Butiru secondary school

On 12 August 2026 the new rooms were handed over to head teacher Simon Masaba and his team. It is the holidays right now, and only the two exam classes are in school: Senior Four, heading for O-level, and Senior Six, the A-level class. As soon as the whole upper school is back, more photos will follow.

Next to the door hangs the sign of the BINGO Environmental Foundation Lower Saxony, which funded the building.

The new block is U-shaped, with classrooms and two offices. There is also a latrine block with an underground septic tank. The Butiru schools' carpenters made the furniture and the welders the doors and windows – alongside the building work, so that everything was ready on time.

Most secondary schools in the area only go up to O-level. With the new block, young people with good results – including from the smaller schools around – can do their A-levels at an affordable school nearby. The upper school is therefore likely to keep growing in the coming years.

Most parents here are smallholders living from hand to mouth and cannot pay for expensive boarding schools far away. The fees in Butiru include porridge and lunch and can be paid in instalments or in kind.

Work started in early June 2026, right after the grant was confirmed: with the digging for the latrine block and the brick-lined septic tank. The school's old cowshed was still standing on the site. It was taken down and rebuilt outside the school grounds – at the end of June the cows moved.

Then things moved fast: by 9 July the concrete foundation slab was finished, and by 15 July the walls had reached the ring beam. On 23 July the first windows went in and the roofers started on the roof trusses. Foreman was Paul Wefafa from our team. By 8 August all the furniture was ready, and after the painting the rooms were cleaned and furnished.

The weather was good, and all the materials could easily be brought in from the area. There were no major difficulties.

On behalf of the Board of Governors, the school administration, the pupils, teachers and parents, we warmly thank the BINGO Environmental Foundation Lower Saxony and everyone who made this extension possible.