Project Background and Objectives

village.school focuses on the building and energy design of small schools, including building structure, economical energy supply, use of digital methods, and feasible and locally adapted energy concepts. A methodology will be developed on how sustainable energy concepts can be implemented in rural areas in Germany and Morocco while preserving cultural identity and local building traditions.

Background

School is to be regarded not only as a place of learning, but also social interaction and a center of village life. In both countries, the upgrading or preservation of rural life is a key issue. While the function of the village (elementary) school is basically the same in both countries and the challenges (maintaining and strengthening infrastructure) are similar, the initial situation (especially energy availability and social structure) and technical realization (climatic conditions, user expectations and operational safety) differ significantly.

In Morocco, elementary school comprises six years of schooling from the age of six, followed by three years at secondary school. However, only half of 15-year-olds are still in school. Morocco's school system is considered outdated and overburdened. Shortcomings in the school system are seen particularly in the lack of teachers, overcrowded classes, and need of renovation [Court of Audit of the Kingdom of Morocco, 2017]. In this context, the gap between rural and urban schools is very wide in Morocco. Rural schools suffer from poor infrastructure in their areas; some lack even basic facilities such as fences, sanitary units, libraries, internet access and teaching materials. Most offer only the bare-minimum infrastructure: a blackboard, student desks and chairs, without heating and sometimes without electricity, drinking water or even a desk for the teacher. Only 43.7 % of rural schools are connected to drinking water. Although 89.4 % are connected to the electricity grid, many rural areas regularly experience prolonged power outages due to poor infrastructure [Moroccan Ministry of Education study, 2016 and 2017].

In the 2016/17 school year, there were approximately 33,500 schools in Germany, which was 8 % or 2,800 schools fewer than ten years earlier. Around 46 % or 15,500 of them were elementary schools. Since elementary schools are established close to the place of residence and usually comprise only the first four grades in Germany, they tend to be small schools compared to other school types, but as a result represent a high proportion of the total number of schools [Federal Statistical Office, Schulen auf einen Blick, 2018, and Deutsche Vernetzungsstelle Ländliche Räume (DVS) in der Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung (BLE), 2019]. The central role of elementary schools in academic and social education itself, but also in cultural and social bonding, is indisputable. Yet, small elementary schools are repeatedly under economic and political pressure; time and again, controversies arise over closures or infrastructure issues.

This is where the village.school project comes in, focusing on the school building. A sustainable building and energy concept is the expression of an attractive learning and social environment. Through its upgrading in design, energy supply and digitization, as well as its social function, the school building becomes a point of identification in its local environment. This applies equally to Germany and Morocco, even if designs – based on local and traditional models – and technical configurations will be different.

Objectives

The aim is to first develop success factors for good concepts from the complex requirements for school buildings. By comparing the situation in the two countries, experiences can be shared and unconventional concepts can also be developed. Given the very different climatic, cultural and economic situations, two profiles of requirements for the energy concept are to be developed. In the process, a uniform method is to be developed, leading to site-specific conceptual designs

A data model and a digital functional description will be developed so that it can be made available for commissioning and operational management in an easily accessible digital form. We want to use existing infrastructures in both countries to achieve both the highest possible acceptance among operators and fault tolerance in the technical plant operation. Here, too, exciting findings can be expected from the binational comparison.

Three guiding questions outline the objectives:

  • How are such building and energy concepts elaborated in a project-specific and locally adapted way?
  • Which experiences can be transferred from a prototype example to the development of energy-efficient rural schools?
  • How do good and efficient schools contribute to rural development?