Pre-Construction Meeting with Pa Thaung Community

On July 25, 2019, the Studer Trust team, consisted of Cho Cho and Le Le, head of mason and carpenter, met with the Pa Thaung school committee including the chief administrative officer of the Pa Thaung village members and Pa Thaung communities to discuss about a school building construction plan.

Around 47 people participated and most of them took a great interest in planning and implementing a new project. Both Studer Trust and the participants from Pa Thaung village discussed in depth about a possible collaboration to meet the goals during the implementation period. We also discussed about the issues that could arise and how to tackle them.

We also checked the proposed school construction site which is on the same school compound. We then set the date, October 22, 2019 for our ground breaking ceremony and start the construction.

With the core school committee members, our Studer Trust construction head team discussed about the construction materials which are available to buy in Pa Thaung and Myeik, the nearest businesses town. The decision for buying materials were made and assigned to a subcommittee group. Required wood will be purchased from a local lumber yards under the supervision of Studer Trust head carpenter and a couple core school committee member's. Needed cement bags will be purchased from a retail shop in Myeik and it will be supervised and checked by our Studer Trust head masons and the school principal. Locally made bricks will be purchased from a local brick manufacturer that is situated about 20km away. The Studer Trust team and a few core school committee members visited the local brick factory, checked the quality and placed an order for 50,000 bricks.

The school construction is expected to be completed by February 2020.

Thanks to our donors' generosity, labor contributions and commitment from Pa Thaung school committee and Pa Thaung community, we are able to continue the mission of our founder, Peter Gautschi, to educate children in Myanmar.

A brief history about the Pa Thaung School

Pa Thaung school provides education for 676 students (369 girls and 307 boys). Majority of the students are Myanmar Muslims. There are 17classes for 11different grades, Kindergarten (5+) to grade 9(14+). The school was established as a primary school for Kindergarten (5+) to grade 4(9+) in 1947 with the support from the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Pa Thaung community. There is an urgent need for a new school building which can provide a safe and healthy environment for both students and teachers and of course quality education. The urgent need was requested to Studer Trust by Pa Thaung community and school committee. This request was closely and carefully assessed by our local team memberin cooperation with the school committee.