Building Tomorrow Founder George Srour

This week, Building Tomorrow has been celebrating a major milestone—we now serve 101,832 students every day through our Building Tomorrow schools and the work of our Fellows.

It’s hard to even wrap my head around the magnitude of this impact, but one way to put it into perspective is to think about some of the individual stories of those children who’ve gotten a chance at an education due to Building Tomorrow.

The first story we shared this week was about a young boy named Ventril, who had dropped out due to the long journey required to reach the nearest school.

Looking back, I remember meeting Ventril several years ago, while I was in Uganda to witness the completion of Building Tomorrow’s second school. Ventril lived with his grandmother just a few steps away from the then-new Building Tomorrow Primary School of Lutisi. Naturally shy, he had been in and out of school several times by the age of eight, and was especially reserved as I met him amongst 250 of his newest classmates.

I remember that encounter, ten years ago, quite vividly. What remains a blur is the time that’s passed between then and now—the countless meetings, trips and brainstorming sessions that have led us to proudly say Building Tomorrow has brought over 35,000 out-of-school students back to the classroom and now works with over 100,000 students each and every day. And each one of these students has a story, just like Ventril.

Ventril, a student at Building Tomorrow’s second school, the Building Tomorrow Primary School of Lutisi.

Such a monumental milestone is a natural reminder of the responsibility we as an organization collectively hold, ensuring each child we impact has access to a quality, inclusive education. The deck isn’t stacked in our favor.

Today, 70% of Ugandan students can’t read at grade level and a similar percentage will start primary school and never finish. These realities have us not only committed to reaching more students, but working to be sure when we do reach those students, no matter from where they’ve come, we’re able to make sure they master literacy, numeracy, life skills and all the other essentials of an education.

We’re excited to celebrate this momentous milestone and committed to ensuring many, many more students come to benefit from the work of Building Tomorrow.