On June 8, 2017, the International School of Djibouti (ISD) finished its first full academic year! With the humble beginning of 19 students in 2016, ISD is responding to the vision of the President of this small country in the horn of Africa to “Anglicize” the K-12 public school system. REI staff have led in this effort by partnering with the Djiboutian non-profit “ISD Association” to launch ISD in the fall of 2016. Promoting the REI vision of Building People to Build Nations, ISD is looking to become a place to train local Djiboutian teachers in an English-based curriculum and learning environment.
Characterized by a family feel developed through multiple grades in a classroom, and using the internationally recognized Calvert curriculum, ISD considered its first year to be a modest success. After a move halfway through the year, the students and teachers busily settled into their permanent location. Two short-term volunteer teams traveled to Djibouti to support the school and staff, but the students themselves are pulling together to build their playground equipment and decorate their school. Numerous after-school programs and extra-curricular activities are drawing in the community and creating a diverse learning environment.
As if establishing a school was not enough, REI staff in Djibouti are partnering to provide education materials, night courses in English, donated books and supplies, and tutoring in English and French.
ISD is looking forward to a bright future with two more couples en route to come alongside the teaching and administrative staff for 2017-2018. Although there is a long way to go in the fulfillment of its mission to:
provide students in Djibouti a world class education in English
focused on Discovery, Creativity, and Problem Solving
to develop noble-hearted, global citizens
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