The Acronis Cyber Foundation is excited to announce the construction of a new school for the children of Caño Los Martínez in Nicaragua, together with our implementing partner buildOn. The school was made possible with the generous donations raised during the Acronis Global Cyber Summit 2019.

The project has broken ground in late August. Donors gave more than USD30,000 which is sufficient to finance the construction of this new and much needed school. Many of them had planned to participate in the construction process this May. Unfortunately, the covid-19 pandemic interrupted our plans and the community is still locked for external visitors. It was only possible for the construction crew to commence work in August and break the gound for the new school.

As one of the poorest countries in Latin America, Nicaragua has struggled to invest sufficiently in the education system. Although the situation has improved since 1979 under the Sandinista government, significant issues remain. These include a high number of out-of-school children, especially in rural areas, low levels of student learning outcomes in regional assessments and low quality of preschool education, particularly among disadvantaged rural households.

The village currently has a school built several decades ago. It has one classroom and one temporary classroom; three teachers conducting lessons. The enrollment at the school is 77 learners with 7 grade levels that include 1 pre-primary class. This facility is not enough to house all the pupils, and we hope education in the new school building can increase the students’ ability to lead a happy life, participate in society and restore peace and stability.