RUHANGO – Located deep in the rural Amayaga region of Ruhango District, Gashike Primary School portrays the image of an old colonial outpost.Constructed over 70 years ago, many of the school’s mud and wattle buildings are derelict. Of the 13 classrooms, only seven are in use.Even those in use have gradually developed deep cracks due to old age.Two of the classrooms have no doors and windows with benches taking the place of desks. This condemns students to take notes while kneeling down. Also noticeable are leaking roofs in some of the classrooms.On Thursday, staff members and brand ambassadors of MTN Rwanda, the country’s premier telecom operator, participated in the launch of the refurbishment of three classrooms at Gashike school as part of the company’s ‘21 Days of Y’ello Care’ campaign.The company will spend Rwf2.3 million on the renovation activities set to be concluded by the end of July. The event marked the conclusion of the campaign countrywide.According to Jean Pierre Habimana, the school head teacher, the poor state of the school has prompted its management to put some of the classrooms off limits for fear that they might endanger children’s lives.Habimana told The New Times that due to the current situation, pupils are compelled to share rooms which results in overcrowding."Students are transferring to other well-built and decent schools in the neighbourhood,” the headmaster said.Statistics indicate that the number of pupils at the school have dropped from 657 last year to 546 this academic year."Our school has been performing well with the rate of students passing to join secondary school standing at 80 percent. But due to the poor state of our classrooms, we are losing students”.He appealed to well wishers to help revamp the school’s infrastructure.Pierre Butamire, 75, a local resident and parent, expressed disappointment about the poor state of the school."Since this school was built, its buildings have never been replaced,” he said. "We wish these old buildings are replaced with new sturdy and modern ones for our children to study in a better environment.”Gashike Primary School was constructed in 1942 by white missionaries and since then, no repairs have been undertaken. According to the Vice Mayor in charge of social affairs, Jolie Germaine Mugeni, the district has been unable to mobilise enough funds to rehabilitate the school.She said the district ‘has prioritised the construction of classes meant for the 9 and 12 Years Basic Education programme’.Last year, 108 rooms meant for the 9&12YBE education, were constructed in the district while over 40 others are to be put up this year."But we have not forgotten schools in such deplorable conditions. We are moving step by step although we cannot do everything at the same time,” Mugeni said."We are discussing with partners to see if they can offer any form of support,” she said. "If MTN is here today; it is because we got in touch with them. This gives us hope that in the nearer future, our partners may get involved in the reconstruction and refurbishment of old structures.”‘21 Days of Y’ello Care’ is an MTN Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) annual employee volunteerism initiative launched in 2006 with the aim of ensuring high levels of participation by the company’s staff in social projects that highly impact on local communities.Speaking at the school, MTN-Rwanda’s CEO, Khaled Mikkawi, pointed out that the company chose the universal education theme to help improve education standards this yearHe pledged more support to the school to improve its state."We will do much more to ensure that the school gets back all the students that left,” Mikkawi promised."This is a promise we are making and we will make it real”.