The Primary School in Rași village, Sălcioara commune, Ialomița county, was recently inaugurated after a consolidation and rehabilitation project carried out by the BookLand Association. The works took place between March 2023 and June 2024, and the abandoned building benefited from complex interventions, including structural interventions, to become functional again.

The total value of the investment was EUR 350,000, of which EUR 100,000 was the contribution of the Sălcioara Town Hall. The rest of the amount was covered by the 54 partners of the project - companies and associations that support BookLand's rural educational mission.

Actors Valentina Fătu and Vasile Muraru, BookLand ambassadors, attended the inauguration event.

Rași Primary School was built at the beginning of the last century and served the local community for almost a hundred years. Today, it is part of the Rași School Complex, alongside the Rași Normal Program Kindergarten and the Rași New School (a container-type structure), which BookLand also renovated and equipped last year.

"Consolidating a school is harder than building it. We can confirm this regarding the Primary School in Rași, the most complex renovation project we have undertaken. […] For almost a month, we worked only on cleaning the school from everything that was ultra-damaged: the roof with all the wooden structure, ceilings, weathered bricks, floors, and all the existing debris," said Mihaela Petrovan, president of the BookLand Association.

Through the program "Renovation of rural schools" started by the BookLand Association, 80 schools and kindergartens in Romanian villages were rehabilitated between 2020 and 2024, benefiting over 15,000 students annually.

In 2024, BookLand will take the next step, focusing not only on the buildings where rural children learn but also on their actual education. This summer, the association plans to kick off the construction of its first dual Professional Pre-University Campus in the countryside, in the Vulturești commune, Argeș county. The project's aim is to train, starting in 2025, skilled workers that Romania needs.

Those who want to support the BookLand Association's projects can donate EUR 2 per month by texting CONSTRUIM to 8845 or by purchasing the BookLand Mouse.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: BookLand)