Back to School

10 November 2007

For the past month or so, I have observed classes at the village school. There are 440 children in 6 grades with 6 teachers and 6 classrooms. The teachers are 3 men (including the director) and 3 women. The school was built by an NGO a few years ago and is therefore relatively new and very nice. The teachers instruct on all subjects, including phys ed, and classes run from 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning to 5:00 at night with a break in the morning and a three hour break for lunch.

Nonetheless, this elementary school system is very different from anything I have known. The largest class, let's call them fourth graders, numbers at almost 100 students in one packed classroom. The smallest class, only two years ahead of this one, has dwindled to 17 students. This reflects the fact that elementary students often repeat grades and drop out. In my sixth grade there are 6 girls and 11 boys.

It is even harder for these kids to move on to junior high than it is for them to reach sixth grade. In order to attend junior high, children must first pass an end-of-the-year exam. If they do not pass, they repeat sixth grade or drop out. If the child passes the exam, the father must find housing for the upcoming school year. The closest junior highs and high schools are 40 and 50 kilometers away. For fear of bad behavior among other things, it is unlikely for a village father to send his child, especially his daughter, on for more school.

When students read aloud in class, they identically sound as if they are chanting or singing. It makes me wonder if that's not how they learned to pray. The kids are not quick. They have trouble making simple connections. In the fifth grade class, for example, the students were doing a fill-in-the-blank exercise with only four blanks and four choices. But many students missed the objective; some students used the words from the instructions, like fill-in while others did not fill in anything at all.

When the teacher or any adult walks into the room, the kids all stand. When a teacher walks by them outside of class, they bow with their arms crossed and their arms their elbows bent out - think cross between pre-teen angst and I Dream of Genie. Bonjour, madame is barely audible. In fact, often the bonjours can't be heard at all as students mumble and hussle to bow inconspicuously behind teachers' backs.

To speak in the classrooms the kids raise their hands, snap, and cry moi, Monsieur, moi! When they speak they stand up but often double over their desks and sometimes wrap their arm(s) around their head and neck while squirming and mumbling. Girls are painfully shy and often silent in the classroom setting. Corporal punishment is illegal but the not-so-tacit understanding is that it happens everywhere, anyway. If you don't hit the kids, they will never listen and never pay you respect.

School was suppose to start on October 1st, nationwide. In major cities , it certainly did. In my village, the start date may as well have been in November. The first day that more than 10 kids arrived on the premises was October 22nd and the teachers probably started new lessons in earnest around November 1st. Children were too busy, prior, helping their families with the harvest. At this time of year, working hands are indispensable. Plus, there were weeds four feet high covering all the space in front of the school. Classes could not start until the children cleared this space. Otherwise, they would be in danger of bites from snakes.