Pop Diva,
Madonna has built 10 primary schools in Malawi this year, it was announced on
Friday that two years after abandoning a $15m girls academy, the pop diva said
projects this year would educate 4,871 children in the tiny southern African
country.
The projects
were carried out by her charity Raising Malawi and the global non-profit
buildOn.
"I am
overjoyed that my commitment along with buildOn's to help educate the children
of Malawi has come to fruition," Madonna said in a statement issued by her
charity.
"In a
country where girls have little opportunity for education, it's additionally
inspiring to know that more than half the students attending will be young
girls.
"The
fact that more than 4,800 children in Malawi will get to go to school next year
is a tremendous step forward for their individual growth and the growth of
Malawi," Madonna added.
Controversial adoption
The schools,
which had been scheduled to be built over 18 months, were completed six months
ahead of schedule.
The charity
said six of the schools are already in use and all 10 would be up and running
in January 2013 for the first day of school in the New Year.
Madonna is no stranger to Malawi
In 2006, she
adopted toddler David Banda under controversial circumstances and two years
later adopted another child, Mercy James.
Her charity,
Raising Malawi, has poured millions of dollars in support of orphanages and a
network of orphan care service providers.
Malawi is
ranked by the UN Human Development Index as one of the world's 20 least
developed countries and 39% of its 13 million citizens live below the poverty
line, on less than a dollar a day.
Unicef
estimates that only 26% of boys and 16% of girls complete primary school
because of poverty and the long distances travelled to reach schools.
Madonna
controversially stopped the construction of the state-of-the-art $15m Raising
Malawi Academy for Girls - RMAG - in Chinkhota village, 15km from the
administrative capital Lilongwe, after it was mired in allegations of financial
mismanagement.
The academy,
styled on the lines of the one built by TV host Oprah Winfrey in SA, had been
meant to offer 500 scholarships to girls from poor backgrounds and groom them
into future leaders.
In
abandoning the project, Madonna said the academy would not be adequate as
two-thirds of the girls were not educated beyond primary school. Instead, she
said, she wanted to reach "thousands and not hundreds of girls" by
constructing several schools.