Clinton, Geldof announce schools boost for Rwanda, Malawi

LONDON (AFP) — Four new teacher training facilities are to be built in rural areas of Rwanda and Malawi under a scheme announced Thursday by Britain, Kigali, Blantyre and charities involving Bob Geldof and Bill Clinton.

The 4.7-million-pound (5.9-million-euro, 9.3-million-dollar) initiative will see up to 4,000 new teachers trained within a decade, cutting existing class sizes and allowing thousands of children to go to school for the first time.

Geldof's Band Aid and The Hunter Foundation, set up by Scottish philanthropist Tom Hunter, will put in the cash to build and fit out the facilities, with Britain, Rwanda and Malawi funding the remaining costs.

Former US president Clinton, Hunter and Geldof were at the launch of the scheme with the ambassadors of Rwanda and Malawi at a ceremony at the headquarters of Britain's Department for International Development in London.

Achieving universal primary education by 2015 is one of the United Nations' eight Millennium Development Goals.

Clinton said the initiative would try to fill "a big hole in a huge need that Rwanda and Malawi have for 20,000 more primary school teachers."