School life

The first couple of days at school were spent in a bit of a haze. I observed lots of classes and my initial impression was that the kids were getting a fairly good education. The class timetable is printed and displayed on the wall had a mixture of classes that I would expect 9-11 year olds to be studying. Maths, english, science, social studies, music, and art. According to the timetable classes run from 8.30 until 3.30. A pretty similar day to a typical NZ primary school day. The P4 teacher is good. She encourages questions which isn't very common here and I wondered what the point of volunteering in a school was when I'm not a trained teacher. My skills could be much better utilised elsewhere.

However having observed for a week the huge differences between education in NZ and Uganda are becoming all to clear, as is the role of volunteers.

First, school starts at 7.45am and finishes at 5.30pm. After school breaks in the evening the kids clean the classroom and fetch water from a nearby well for the next day. Many people here believe the longer kids spend in school the better. However I'm sure you can imagine what a 9 year old is like at the end of a 9+ hour school day.

Second, the children don't ever seem to get the opportunity to be creative. Art or drawing only ever seems to involve copying a drawing from a book. Children learn everything by rote learning. I took an art class yesterday and the kids didn't really know what to do with themselves.

The classes are large (35 or so) and kids that aren't keeping up just don't get the help they need. Likewise the bright kids spend half their time in class just waiting for the other kids to finish their work.

Nalusse School is a good school. It is 'private' in that parents pay fees each term (of up to about £18 for the P7 class). State schools have classes of around 150 kids with one teacher so a lot of schools charge fees where the quality of education is much better. Having said that it is clear some families are struggling. Last week those children whose parents hadn't paid fees for the term yet got sent home until the fees have been paid. Some kids still haven't returned to school.

Caning is another thing that has been difficult to get used to. While I haven't seen any of the teachers properly cane the children (they do hit them if they don't line up properly in the mornings) it does happen. Some of the teachers cane and I am sure some parents to do. I saw a woman caning her toddler in a property just adjacent to the school last week which was hard to watch. It is hard thinking about those kids that will inevitably get caned by their parents if they don't do well at school too. However I can't change these things and one always must accept differences in culture are sometimes hard to accept. Perhaps there are a few kids in NZ and the UK who could do with being caned! (controversial I know, but children here are very respectful, as is the whole society, the problem comes when power is used in the wrong way).

The lack of resources and physical environment that the children work in is probably the most difficult thing to accept as the only thing standing in the way is lack of money. The P4 class of 30+ are crammed into a tiny classroom (I guess about 10 by 5m?). There are no windows, no electricity, a tin roof (which is really loud when it rains). In terms of school resources, most of the books are as a result of volunteers. My portion of the program fee that went to the school was used to purchase a new set of English books for P5. The kids know the reading books off by heart as there is literally one set which are periodically read aloud. They all share exercise books for english and maths between 3 or 4 students. For science and social studies only the teacher has a book. There is no P.E/sports equipment, music equipment or craft materials. Having said that the kids do seem on the whole to be happy. They have the most gorgeous smiles and there is a lot of laughter.

In terms of volunteers, i have decided that they have a number of roles. First they bring money allowing new resources to be purchased. We also bring a different way of thinking and learning, which encourages children to think more laterally rather than just rote learning. We encourage questions. We give children and teachers alike something to be very proud of. People really are proud to have a mzunga teacher. We also bring love and encouragement. Of course, I am learning immensely more from the children here than they are learning from me. But at least we are all learning something.