Adikentibay Offline Learning Corner

At Adikentibay Complete Primary School in Shire, Meskot is preparing an Offline Learning Corner for about 100–150 children, together with the school, the community and local partners.

A teacher in a white coat at the blackboard of a crowded classroom with corrugated-iron walls, children at wooden desks — A class in one of the school's temporary learning spaces, May 2026.

Host: Adikentibay Complete Primary School, Shire, Tigray
For: About 100–150 children, many of them from displaced families
Where things stand: Being prepared since May 2026, with the school, the community and local partners
Teachers trained: 13
Community members involved: About 100
Meskot's part: Lessons, equipment, teacher training and follow-up. Meskot supports the learning program; it does not operate the school.

The school

Why Adikentibay

A school where many children learn in temporary classrooms.

Adikentibay Complete Primary School in Shire is a large school, and many of its classes are crowded. Its pupils include children from Shire and children whose families have been displaced from their homes, who need a steady place to keep up their education.

The school has permanent classrooms, bright rooms with yellow walls. But much of the teaching happens in temporary learning spaces: rooms of corrugated iron set up in the school grounds, where the classes are large. A learning corner gives children a second place to learn: smaller groups, lessons they can watch again, and a teacher who follows each child.

Children arriving at the school, May 2026. 7 seconds.

Inside a temporary learning space at Adikentibay, May 2026. 30 seconds, with sound.

Children at desks in a bright permanent classroom with yellow walls and large windows, a teacher in a white coat at the side — One of the school's permanent classrooms, May 2026.

A teacher gestures at a full blackboard in a blue-walled temporary classroom, children at desks in front of him — One of its temporary learning spaces, May 2026.

First

Listening to families

Before planning anything, Meskot met the community: about 100 parents and community members took part.

The meeting explained what an Offline Learning Corner is and how it will work, and asked the community what their children need. Families and the school help decide which children the corner should serve first.

Parents and community members seated at school desks in a large corrugated-iron hall, listening — A community meeting about the learning corner, May 2026.

Then

Preparing the teachers

Thirteen teachers took part in an orientation and training on how the corner will run.

Teachers and Meskot team members sitting in a circle outdoors under a tree, papers in hand, while one man stands and speaks — Teachers and the Meskot team during the orientation, May 2026.

They worked through how the corner will run day to day:

playing Meskot's Tigrinya video lessons from USB drives;
guiding children in small groups, by grade;
helping each child choose the lessons they need;
keeping records of attendance and of which lessons are used.

Participants seated around tables in a meeting room with a projector — A training session indoors.

A woman holding a folder stands in front of a blackboard in a corrugated-iron classroom — A session in one of the temporary classrooms, May 2026. Photo: Adikentibay Complete Primary School.

Planning the space

With the school's principal and deputy principal, the team walked the grounds to plan where the corner will stand.

The corner needs a room where small groups can sit and watch the lessons together, close to the classrooms the children already know.

A walk through the school compound, May 2026. 23 seconds.

Two blue temporary learning-space buildings on open ground at the school — Temporary learning spaces at the school.

A long, older single-storey classroom block with grass in front of it — The school's older classroom block.

Who we work with

The corner is built with the people around it.

The community: Families and community members of Adikentibay, who help decide which children the corner serves first.
Adikentibay Complete Primary School: The host school, with its principal and deputy principal, who provide the space and plan the corner with Meskot.
Tigray Development Association, Shire branch: Meskot works with the branch's digital library.

What the corner will bring

A television, printed materials and a trained teacher. No internet.

Lessons on a television: Meskot's video lessons in Tigrinya, played from USB drives.
Printed materials: Worksheets and exercise books for every child.
A trained local teacher: Guides small groups by grade and keeps attendance and lesson-use records.
No internet: No connection or subscription. New lessons arrive when the USB drives are updated.

How Offline Learning Corners work →

A small child in a striped jumper, smiling, against a corrugated-iron wall

children will learn in the corner

Your gift helps equip it, train its teacher and keep it running.

Support the Adikentibay corner

Express interest in volunteering →

Field notes from Shire

Field note ▪ Shire ▪ May 2026
Planning the Offline Learning Corner at Adikentibay
Field note ▪ Shire ▪ May 2026
Before the first lesson: listening to families and preparing teachers
Field note ▪ Shire ▪ July 2026
Back2School in Shire: back-to-school kits for 334 children

Photographs and video: Mikael Kiros and the Meskot Education team.