A call for 10m new classrooms to educate every child in 100 countries in the developing world was heard by Architecture for Humanity, which launched an international challenge for engineers to design sustainable rural classrooms.

The winners were young engineers from the UK-based environmental consultancy Gifford and their rural classroom is easy to build and low cost, which makes it better and easier for rural communities in Africa to construct. Their design will be aimed as an outline to build classrooms for less than $3,000 each.

“Our design focuses on community involvement with a building that can be easily built from local materials by local tradesmen at low cost,” said member of the Gifford team, Chris Soley.

The classroom has a sustainable structure that aims to offer a comfortable, safe and motivating learning environment. It can also be scaled up to build larger structures with classroom units fitted together.

The non-profit organisation Building Tomorrow, which was formed for the project, estimated that if all 10m classrooms get built, all children of the developing world could be in education by 2015.

Over 1,000 creative teams from all over the world participated in the competition, and every idea was evaluated for feasibility, innovation and sustainability.

Mr Soley said: “As engineers we have a passion for design and are thrilled to have done so well in an architectural competition.”

The competition was arranged by Architecture for Humanity with the Open Architecture Network. Architecture for Humanity is a non for profit design services firm that with the help of 40, 000 volunteers brings construction and development where it is most needed. It has, according to its website, helped 10,000 people every year through sustainable construction.

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