Seminar invitation from Dept of Education
I have been invited to attend a seminar at the Provincial Dept of Education. The theme is something about creating a project to improve local schools. Very important. Much improvement needed, but ruts are deep and this might give them a push to help them out.
I'm invited as an "Educational Partner"... the other 20 participants are school directors, district supervisors, inspectors, etc. I've been placed in a group to study the reality of a village school about 50km from Tete: The complete primary school of Mufa-Caconde. I was interested in this school because it is one of 6 schools in the province that have bilingual education in Nyungwe. Kids are learning to read and write in Nyungwe and then transition to Portuguese by the 4th grade. I wanted to know what really happens in these Bilingual programs.
I'm learning a lot about Mozambican schools! We have been analyzing the current "reality" of the school. Filling in questionnaires about the physical conditions and the teaching challenges... the community involvement and local partnerships... numbers of students and teachers and desks and doors!
Can I tell you about Mufa-Caconde Primary School?
12 classrooms in the main school, 2 in the annex 7 km away! 4 of the classrooms are new, built by UNICEF... they are secure and have desks for 50 children in each room. Only one other classroom has desks, so 7 groups of 50 kids each sit on the cement floor to study. That is in the morning... there are full classrooms in the afternoon as well!
When we looked at what needed improvement, they mentioned a new incentive to put up posters in classrooms to decorate and teach... to "make the walls talk" to the students. Fair enough, lets do it. Problem is, if they put stuff on the walls, the next day the papers are gone. Why? The classrooms don't have doors!
I was all excited about finding them money to put desks in the classrooms, but I didn't think to ask WHY they didn't have desks. Ok, let's get them some doors! They can't keep papers in the rooms because someone will steal the paper for use in the latrines, I imagine. They don't have anywhere to lock up books either. School rooms are basically concrete boxes with a blackboard. Not very stimulating!
I imagine it is frustrating for teachers in this situation to learn new teaching methods... and see ideas of how to liven up the classroom, but they can't do any of it because they can't close the door. 7 doors on 7 classrooms. Locally made and installed by local builders. It is a step in the right direction!
Not all is bad at Mufa-Caconde, the school has the distinction of being certified "free of fecal material on the school property." You may wonder why they need to make these declarations! (I know why... even the street where I live in town can't be declared free of human waste. And I live in a good neighborhood!) The school has latrines... the kids are taught how to use them, and they are doing it! This is something they can't learn at home since most homes do not have a toilet or outhouse. Tradition says to just "go far... in the bush..."
There is also a well with a pump. But the water in the well is "salty"... it can't be drunk and it isn't good for watering plants. That makes the new government goal of "a tree for every child in the school" a little difficult to manage. 1000 kids in Mufa-Caconde need to plant and care for a tree this year, but they can't use the water on the school property. Let's hope it rains!
It is Heroes Day in Mozambique. No seminar tomorrow. But, On Thursday I will join the Mufa-Caconde group again and we will make a plan for school improvement together. I'm hoping that we will get into some good planning for the Nyungwe teacher training program. That is something I can really help with. I'll let you know what they want to me to do with them.
I'm invited as an "Educational Partner"... the other 20 participants are school directors, district supervisors, inspectors, etc. I've been placed in a group to study the reality of a village school about 50km from Tete: The complete primary school of Mufa-Caconde. I was interested in this school because it is one of 6 schools in the province that have bilingual education in Nyungwe. Kids are learning to read and write in Nyungwe and then transition to Portuguese by the 4th grade. I wanted to know what really happens in these Bilingual programs.
I'm learning a lot about Mozambican schools! We have been analyzing the current "reality" of the school. Filling in questionnaires about the physical conditions and the teaching challenges... the community involvement and local partnerships... numbers of students and teachers and desks and doors!
Can I tell you about Mufa-Caconde Primary School?
12 classrooms in the main school, 2 in the annex 7 km away! 4 of the classrooms are new, built by UNICEF... they are secure and have desks for 50 children in each room. Only one other classroom has desks, so 7 groups of 50 kids each sit on the cement floor to study. That is in the morning... there are full classrooms in the afternoon as well!
When we looked at what needed improvement, they mentioned a new incentive to put up posters in classrooms to decorate and teach... to "make the walls talk" to the students. Fair enough, lets do it. Problem is, if they put stuff on the walls, the next day the papers are gone. Why? The classrooms don't have doors!
I was all excited about finding them money to put desks in the classrooms, but I didn't think to ask WHY they didn't have desks. Ok, let's get them some doors! They can't keep papers in the rooms because someone will steal the paper for use in the latrines, I imagine. They don't have anywhere to lock up books either. School rooms are basically concrete boxes with a blackboard. Not very stimulating!
I imagine it is frustrating for teachers in this situation to learn new teaching methods... and see ideas of how to liven up the classroom, but they can't do any of it because they can't close the door. 7 doors on 7 classrooms. Locally made and installed by local builders. It is a step in the right direction!
Not all is bad at Mufa-Caconde, the school has the distinction of being certified "free of fecal material on the school property." You may wonder why they need to make these declarations! (I know why... even the street where I live in town can't be declared free of human waste. And I live in a good neighborhood!) The school has latrines... the kids are taught how to use them, and they are doing it! This is something they can't learn at home since most homes do not have a toilet or outhouse. Tradition says to just "go far... in the bush..."
There is also a well with a pump. But the water in the well is "salty"... it can't be drunk and it isn't good for watering plants. That makes the new government goal of "a tree for every child in the school" a little difficult to manage. 1000 kids in Mufa-Caconde need to plant and care for a tree this year, but they can't use the water on the school property. Let's hope it rains!
It is Heroes Day in Mozambique. No seminar tomorrow. But, On Thursday I will join the Mufa-Caconde group again and we will make a plan for school improvement together. I'm hoping that we will get into some good planning for the Nyungwe teacher training program. That is something I can really help with. I'll let you know what they want to me to do with them.
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