SILVER SPRING, Md.--Continuing their response five years after the devastating tsunami struck Southeast Asia, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has recently completed an educational project that built 20 new classrooms in government-run schools to help tsunami-affected schoolchildren stay in school and improve their literacy rates, in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh in India.

The Promotion of Learning Conditions in Tsunami Schools project, or "PROLEARN", which ended April 30, 2009, was financed by the ADRA Czech Republic office, for a value of more than $262,630.

In each new classroom, students are able to take advantage of the valuable study materials and sports equipment that have been provided, tools that are being utilized to help the schools create an environment conducive to learning, according to Nivedita Deka, programs officer for ADRA India, and to attract other local children who are currently not attending school.

"Through PROLEARN, each student has access to a child-friendly environment that is physically safe, emotionally secure and psychologically enabling," said Deka.

The classrooms were built in nine villages that were devastated by the deadly tsunami. In addition, nearly 35 teachers also received training in activity-based learning methodologies. The project emphasized the establishment and strengthening of school management committees, parent-teacher associations and school-level child clubs, which create a feeling of ownership and foster leadership among the youth.

After the completion of the project, these buildings were then handed over to the gram panchayats, or local governments, and the district's education departments. According to ADRA India, both government officials, and the general local community are grateful for the project.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, (UNESCO) more than 75,000 teachers throughout the region were affected when the Indian Ocean tsunami struck December 26, 2004, destroying hundreds of buildings and disrupting the lives and education of hundreds of thousands of young schoolchildren.

ADRA India was officially registered in 1992. Its current portfolios include Health Care, Emergency Management, Economic Development, Education, Water and Sanitation, Environment, Anti-Human Trafficking, and Gender Equality.

ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race, or ethnicity.

For more information about ADRA, visit www.adra.org.