Nigeria's Floating School Gives Hope to Poverty Stricken Community

An overview of the Makoko fishing community in Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria on Feb. 29, 2016. Makoko was established as a fishing village hundreds of years ago, but now climate change and rapid urbanization are threatening its way of life.

The Makoko Floating School, pictured above, is a beacon of hope for the people living in the Makoko community. Designed by Nigerian architect Kunle Adeyemi, the school can adapt to changing water levels and was built specifically to withstand the storms and floods that are common in the four-month-long rainy season.

Students travel by canoe to attend the floating school on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria on Feb. 29, 2016.

Makoko Floating School was funded by aid money, and it offers free education to local children, most of whose parents fish for a living.

Young students get off a canoe and climb up a ladder to attend school on Feb. 29, 2016.

The school is capable of holding up to a hundred students.

Blackboards and chalk pieces are used in the floating school.

A student stands on a bench to write on the board inside the floating school in the Makoko fishing community on Feb. 29, 2016.

It took three years to build this school.

A teacher writes on a whiteboard at the floating school on Feb. 29, 2016. 

Two young boys in yellow and blue uniforms are having a discussion during a class at the floating school. 

Students look outside during a break.

A young student sweeps the floor of a classroom before the start of lessons on Feb. 29, 2016.

A woman prepares food on a canoe near the school.

The school's director Shemede Noah, pictured above, said the new site is a major improvement on the old one, which was built on reclaimed land and has been damaged by high tides in the peak rainy months.