Korea International Volunteer Organization (KVO) in collaboration with Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) staged a science fair and donated texts books and other similar supports to five primary schools in Bishoftu city, Oromia region following the celebration of New Year-2023.

KVO was founded in 1988 to help developing countries with medical service welfare activities, education, emergency relief, domestic welfare, culture, and the environment, has been operating in Ethiopia since 2007 on various project areas taking on the responsibility of providing quality education to impoverished public schools in Bishoftu. The city administration of Bishfotu has named a road after KVO’s name as “KVO Korea Road”.

The textbooks were donated as part of the “One Thousand One” project the organization initiated, which aims to supply one thousand textbooks for eighth graders for five targeted schools the organization supports. Each school received 200 books of the following subjects: Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Mathematics, English, and General Science.

The project aims to address the textbook shortage that existed in this academic year as a result of the new curriculum and low production.

Aside from the textbooks supported by KVO, the organization have also provided specific learning materials for blind and intellectually disabled children, such as an LCD writing pad for intellectually disabled children and braille boards and braille paper for blind students.

This was given as a gift in celebration of the New Year.

They have also offered these schools a variety of bright and graphic reference books imported from Korea, Afan Oromo story books, and a tool to aid in the teaching and learning of science.

In addition to the support, top students from the five schools, which included Bekelcha, Biftu, Kera Hora, Hora Arsadi, and Babogaya Primary Schools, were chosen to submit science projects and ideas for the competition held in KVO Bishoftu Center.

Each student’s ideas and designs were displayed, in which representatives from Bishoftu City Administration Office of Labor and Skills and Education Office judged each student’s prototype pitch and ranked the best designs.

The students’ designs were created using materials that were readily available to them, such as cardboard, paper, dynamos, wood, plastic, and batteries.

The majority of the students built automobiles and airplanes, but there were also drones, tractors, an artificial hand, blenders, and other similar creations.

Mikias Girma, KVO’s country director, stated at the event that he expects more from the students and hopes to see them come up with fresh and unique solutions to help solve problems in their community and country in the future.

He went on to say that their achievements today should serve as an incentive for them to work harder in the future, and that they should not stop working hard just because they won the competition.

He claims that the training and education provided at the event are intended to help students expand their knowledge of science and technology with the goal of helping Ethiopia build a better future.

Tsehay Zeleke, the head of the Bishoftu city administration’s Women and Children’s Affairs Office, noted that KVO has done a lot of good for the city of Bishoftu, but it has also done a lot of good for Ethiopia as a whole.

She went on to say that KVO has played a significant role in the country’s educational advancement, citing as an example the work they have done to guarantee that students participate in their education through the help they have provided for 600 students this year.

She believes that the competition will let students apply what they have learned in theory, which will increase their knowledge of science and technology.

According to Tsehay, the particular help provided to blind and intellectual disabled children guaranteed that they were not left behind in the teaching and learning process and offered them a sense of inclusion.

Tsehay stated that the office will collaborate with KVO to broaden its reach and assist as many students as possible.

In 2021, they began the second phase of their project in five schools in Bishoftu, where they have been rebuilding facilities such as toilets and ramps for handicapped students, training teachers for a better way of presenting educational materials, and providing meal packages for children from low-income families.

They’ve also developed a pilot program in which top performers from all five schools were chosen for a one-of-a-kind summer program.