This week the school year 2012 – 2013 opened in the Philippines for the public schools. Non-government schools opens this and next week. Star of Hope school in Taytay opens June 13 and will welcome some 2,500 pupils.

The Department of Education in the Philippines welcomed 21.49 million students in public schools for the opening of classes on June 4. Last year, the actual enrolment for public schools was 20.48 million. That is an increase with 1 million students from last year. With a population growth in 2011 of almost 2 million people, the need for more schools, classrooms, and qualified teachers is always growing.

Of the expected enrollees this year, 5.76 million are secondary, 14 million are elementary, and 1.73 million are kindergarten; they will be accommodated by over 45,000 public schools nationwide.

771 schools with heavy congestion (extremely overcrowded) was expected to be trimmed down with the number of school building construction to be finished in the second half of 2012.

The Star of Hope School is be running since 1989 and is regularly renovated to keep it in good standard. This post includes some pictures from the school at Taytay.

I am very pleased that Star of Hope is building a new school in the Bois Negresse which lies about 100 kilometers from Port-au-Prince. For the old school, it takes about three hours to drive, then at least an hour to walk. The school is situated in a valley among high hills, and many of the children have far to walk to school.
The school was founded in 1987 and Star of Hope support began in 1992. Besides the regular support Star of Hope funded the construction of the school in 1994. We have also supported several development projects in the village at various times. The school has 324 students this academic year.
Parts of the school was destroyed when the four hurricanes and tropical storms Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike swept over Haiti in autumn 2008. As the new school will come in handy.
Here was the school after one of the storms. Just a few seats remained.

The colour pictures were taekn in February 2011, when I visited the school.

Star of Hope has worked in Ghana since 1983 and was officially recognized and registered as a relief organization in the country by the Social Welfare 1998. This made the Star of Hope one of only five official non-governmental organizations in the country. Today there are thousands.

Star of Hope has been funded by among others Swedish government to start and implement several projects in the country. These have been the building of schools, community development programs in different fields: agriculture, water safety, small enterprise for women, health, development of personnel in various fields, teacher education.

All projects with pre-school center and Star of Hope has worked with all groups within the municipality to strengthen the whole community.

Here are some 'blackboard' pictures from various schools in the country that Star of Hope support.

The time to get to school in Bois Negresse to outsiders will be significantly reduced when the new school is ready for the school start in September. It will be easier to visit, easier to help. I'll be back with some posts to the Bois Negresse shortly. I'm just going through the material from my three or four visits to the school. And that project is really special to visit.

I today start with a few portraits of some children who are helped by the Star of Hope. In this remote place, I get to me that people look a little different than other projects that Star of Hope supports. Do not know what it is but hope to return to the matter soon. Is it due to the cooler mountain climate? These pics are from my first visit in 2009.

Under latest news on the website, you can now see pictures of food shopping in Northern Ghana.

One of the reasons that the Star of Hope began working in Bolgatanga area in northern Ghana in late 1997 was precisely the widespread hunger and malnutrition.

Star of Hope also made a major relief effort during the spring and summer of 1998 when there was a severe famine in the area.

Bolgatangas feeding center have received monthly support from the Star of Hope since 1997.

The pictures in this post is from Queen Elizabeth School in Bolgatanga.

The new classrooms at Star of Hope School in Infanta in the Philippines are getting ready. They should be fully ready for the new school year starting June 13. Construction began in March. The above picture shows how it looked then. The new classrooms are added at the far left in the picture.

Star of Hope School in Infanta was inaugurated in 2009 and has five classrooms, toilets, running water, a library and a nice playground. During the academic year 2011 - 2012 the school had about 80 students in elementary school grades 1-5.

Infanta was severely hit by a typhoon in 2004 and claimed 2,000 lives and robbed survivors of the few possessions they had, as houses and livestock. Star of Hope went in with emergency relief assistance to 1,500 families. In 2006, Star of Hope built 300 houses in Infanta and later a school. Star of Hope has continued to support the community ever since.

 Below are some pictures from the school in Infanta: