The reality of class sizes in the schools I work with

Mboole - a Grade 1 class (only about 2/3 or a half of the class is pictured)

I’ve collected some data that I want to share with you about my 8 basic schools that I work with in and around Choma, Zambia.  Each school has Grades 1-9.  The difference between a “basic” school and a “primary” school is that “basic” includes grades 8 and 9.  “Primary” is only up to Grade 7.

Before you get “bogged down” or “interested” (depending on your personality and love of data!) a bit of background information based on what I hear from the head teachers (principals) at these schools: Zambia has been one of the countries to offer free primary education to all. The reality of this is that the populations of schools have exploded but there has not been enough money to 1) expand the infrastructure of the schools (ex: more classrooms, more desks) and 2) to train and hire more teachers to help with the increase in students. Schools also are still allowed to charge a PTA (Parent Teacher Association) fee which still discourages some families from being able to send their children to school.

8 basic schools, Grades 1-9

The total number of students is 6,811

(The reality is probably a bit more as at least one school told me 1000 + and not an exact number)

The total number of teachers is 169

That makes the average pupil to teacher ratio 40:1

A break down (see more details following) for rural / urban schools as well as Mboole Basic school - the school that has the biggest challenge in this area of “my” schools.

                                          Rural         Mboole            Urban         Total

Number of schools:       6                 1                    2                  8

Pupils:                      4437         1000            2374          6,811

Teachers:                  94                 15                    75                 169

Pupil to teacher ratio:     47:1         67:1            32:1          40:1

I did notice that the two urban schools had the most pupils but also a significant amount more teachers too - Nahumba Basic, which is in Choma has 1000+ students and 42 teachers.  The ratio pupils to teachers at this school is a pleasant 24:1 (though it doesn’t even out this way in the actual grades!  Some have more and some less).  The other urban school, Batoka, (though not nearly as Urban as Choma) is located about a 30 minute drive down the highway and is right on the Lusaka - Livingstone Highway.  They have the most pupils of all my schools at 1374.  As for teachers, they have 33. Their ratio is still 42:1 because of the high population at this school despite having more than double the number of teachers than the rural schools.

By far the school with the biggest challenge when it comes to student to teacher ratios is Mboole (a rural school) with a whooping 67:1 ratio.  This school has 1000 students and only 15 teachers.  One of the challenges they face is trying to get enough desks so students can share 3 to a desk instead of the current 4 to a desk.

A few students outside at Mboole school

*One thing I’ve noted is that paying school fees for children does not guarantee them getting a quality education. I really appreciate MCC Global Family’s Program as a community-based education program and I can see the difference it’s making in the quality of education within the schools I work with.  It’s been slow but I see progress - especially now after being here a year and a half! (See more about that below).

*Another thing I believed in the first few months of being here (even up to year even!) is that if students get a quality education and pass both the National Grade 7 & 9 exams (in English) that they have a chance for a better life. The reality is that, in a way this is true as passing the Grade 9 exam is a reality for a small percentage of students, however it’s NO guarantee that they can continue through secondary school (Grade 10-12) as secondary school is not “free for all” and the K1000 per term (currently exchange rate makes this about $135 US) is impossible for many students and their families.

If this post stirs a desire in you to “do something” consider giving to MCC Global Family’s Program:

http://mcc.org/learn/what/education/globalfamily/programs

*If you specifically want to help with my project choose Zambia and BIC schools: 

http://mcc.org/learn/what/education/globalfamily/programs/brethren-christ-schools

(the following was copied from MCC’s global family site - see links above)

Why does Global Family use community-based education?

There are a few reasons including:

• Cost: Connecting individual students to supporters takes money and time. By reducing administrative time, we are able to put more of your money toward education.

• Quality: By investing in teacher training, classroom supplies, school meals or library books, Global Family improves education for every child in the program. Instead of only helping students go to school, we make sure they receive high-quality education once they get there.

• Sustainability: Community-based education is a long-term solution. Getting local principals, teachers and families involved means the whole school system will change, not just individual students. Those changes will benefit the community for years to come.

• Impact: Community-based education benefits more children than individual sponsorships.

Grade 1 class photo at Macha Mission school (ratio at Macha Mission is only 30:1!

Grade 8 (?) at Nakeempa school (Nakeempa's ratio is 46:1)

Playing in Preschool

Euranda Mwiinga (left) and Ruth Hachitema stringing beads at a fine motor skills center

I was invited to help out and mentor the teacher of the preschool at Hamoonde Basic School. Last year I had done a preschool teachers workshop for a group of about 15.  I pretty much had to plan again and review what I had done for that. Good thing too as I’ve been asked to do the same workshop again during the term break coming up here in April for another 10 or so preschool teachers. It is the Brethren In Christ Church Children Development Center (BICC CDC) that has requested me to do this again for them. In turn I’ve asked the director to present the idea of a Child Protection Policy to the head teachers for the schools MCC funds through Global Family.

But back to the fun stuff!  I had a great time planning some play based learning centers for Hamoonde preschool whose teacher asked for me to come do some teaching (mentoring through example) as well as meeting afterwards to do some mentoring.  It was great because I got to show with children how play based learning can work in the classroom as well as answer questions and concerns about it afterwards. I was lucky as this class only has 16 students (only 13 that were actually there on Monday). I’m not sure what her reaction to it was or if she will do the learning centers again as it’s a big leap from what teachers are used to doing in Zambia.  I left supplies so she can do at least some of the centers again (play dough, beading, building boxes, paint - which will only last a couple more days as it was homemade, coloured chalk, lacing card, and math games). 

So, let me have the pictures do the rest of the talking. Especially since I forgot to take any photos when I did the last preschool workshop! (It’s more fun to see the kids instead of the teachers anyways!)

Gift Chilwalo (left) and Namakau Haluumba finger painting (most likely their first time ever)

Euranda Mwiinga (left) and Ruth Hachitema playing a math game: "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear"

Phanuel Malumani looking through his building
"boxes" (blocks) creation

Gift Chilwalo (left) and Namakau Haluumba playing with play dough

Euranda Mwiinga (left) and Clarina Mudenda finger painting

Phanuel Malumani stringing beads

Gift Chilwalo (front) and Namakau Haluumba playing at the
writing station (drawing pictures on the chalkboard)

Namakau Haluumba stringing beads

Lukondo Hachisaala show off her
building blocks creation

Ruth Hachitema playing with
building blocks (boxes)

The job is faithfulness, not changing the world

A praying mantis

We've hit 1.5 years in Zambia.  This sums up my thoughts perfectly for being halfway through our 3 year term. I hope you enjoy it too!

Archbishop Oscar Romero Prayer: A Step Along The Way

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. 

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent

enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of

saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the Church's mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an

opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master

builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw 

*This prayer was composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw, drafted for a homily by Card. John Dearden in Nov. 1979 for a celebration of departed priests. As a reflection on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Bishop Romero, Bishop Untener included in a reflection book a passage titled "The mystery of the Romero Prayer." The mystery is that the words of the prayer are attributed to Oscar Romero, but they were never spoken by him.

Taken from:

http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/prayers/archbishop_romero_prayer.cfm

I had a TIA (This is Africa) day last Friday!

Lilac Breasted Roller (they are beautiful and probably the bird I see the most often)

It started with another flat tire, but since we saw it was flat on Thursday before heading to bed, once again it wasn’t a huge deal.  Andrew put on the spare on Friday morning and took it to the tire place while I enjoyed a cup of coffee, checked work e-mails, and stayed with the kids. The rim of the tire was bent (same one as 3 weeks before) but in no time at all (close to 10am) I was on the road and heading for one of my schools. I had communicated (text message) with the head teacher (principal) about being a bit late due to the flat tire. I know he received my message as I got a short response.

Andrew changing the flat tire
 (this was the first Friday)

On the way I had to slam on the brakes so I didn’t hit a baboon. TIA. (Trust me - I thought about hitting it - I have about the same opinion of them as a gopher - but they are quite a bit bigger). I had seen another one dash in front of me, but these two must have been hiding in the bush just waiting for the car to get closer.

A small mammal also ran across the road in front of me (no brakes needed this time). I’ve decided to just tell myself, “it was a mongoose” so I don’t keep getting frustrated about not being able to ID it. (I’m 90% sure it wasn’t a mongoose!)

I showed up at the school a bit after 11. (No animals were harmed during the mornings travels). The head teacher (principal) proceeded to tell me that all his Grade 1-4 teachers (the ones I came to see) were at a workshop at a nearby school.  TIA.  After we discussed that yes, when you contacted me this morning it would have been okay to let me know and reschedule. TIA. And oh, there was one teacher who would come at 1:00.  But the kids have an “assembly” at 1:00 so perhaps it would be better to come at 1:20 or 1:30. Okay, so I’ve been in Zambia for a year and a half now so this didn’t phase me.  I figured I was supposed to be mentoring this one teacher specifically this time. I also realized I didn’t want to sit there and get stared at by the head teacher or the pupils for 2 hours. So, off I went to the next town, where there happens to be a private BIC school that I check in on once in awhile as time allows. Plus lots of new missionary friends who have recently come to work at this school.  I hadn’t planned on driving the extra 15-20 minutes down the really badly potholed road (takes 5-7 minutes usually during dry season) but who makes plans?  TIA.  I was welcomed at the school and jumped into helping serve hot chocolate to almost the entire school (they came in shifts, a couple grades at a time). 

A bit after 1:00 I went back to the first school. The Grade 2 teacher welcomed me into her classroom warmly and together we set up a word wall (in Chitonga) in her classroom. I was even able to teach a bit.  It made me realize how much I actually miss teaching.  In typical fashion the class was sitting quiet and still in their desks while we put sticky tac on letters and put them on the wall.  As I was putting the letters on the wall I heard whispers “F...... G..... H..... I...... J”  I took the teachable moment and I started to hold up the letter and ask them what letter it is. (The teacher translated at first, but then we got into a pattern). What is a word that starts with (this letter)? When they were silent I was able to provide a word in Chitonga, though my pronunciation was off, I’m sure!  We eventually started putting up words on the word wall and I had fun going around the class asking them to read the words (which most of them didn’t know) and then sounding it out until they recognized the word.  Then the whole class would say it. I’d pretend to put the word on the word wall under the wrong letter, and the class would say “PEEPE” (NO!) loudly. I’d move it to another wrong letter and once again “peepe!” Finally I call a student to come and help me put it in the right spot.  We had fun. 

Driving home later that afternoon (with only the usual animals: cows, guinea fowl, chickens, goats, and sheep) I realized that I had had a really good day.  

Because THIS IS AFRICA.

A cow wandering near a school (safer to take a photo of this instead of while driving!)
They sure look different compared to the cows we see in Canada! Eh?

Work that is keeping me busy these days!

Teachers at Macha Central making resources for their classroom out of recyclables

It's term 1 here (January - March) and this has been the beginning of a new school year.  The Zambian system starts in January and ends in December (unlike our September - June system).  There are 3 terms with approximately a month break in between.  Things start slowly at the beginning of the term as schools get organized, classrooms get cleaned (usually by the students), and things start up again.  This year school's "Opening Day" was January 12.  Things ended up starting even slower this year because Zambia had an election on January 20th.  I believe all (or at least almost all?) of my 8 schools were polling sites.  The government also trains teachers (for extra pay) to work at the polls for the election day.  It was declared a holiday, so there was no school.  Leading up to it and a couple days after the election were slow days for my work as the schools were very busy with lots of election things on their minds!

Now I'm into the full swing of things!

My Feb. calendar of work visits!

I've been visiting all my schools with the goal to get in 3 visits each this term (it won't happen at all schools - the elections bumped things back more than I expected). I go out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. (Tuesdays and Thursday I do prep/ office work from home / homeschool Kate). During my visits it's my goal to do follow up with my previous workshop from term 1 last year (see link: http://offeringupmylife.blogspot.ca/2014/03/my-first-workshops.html) since many teachers "shifted" (were transferred / moved) I'm just making sure that there's at least one teacher who is confident and willing to re-teach the BINGO and phonics songs to the new teachers.  If not, I demonstrate them again and I am delivering at least one copy of each of these per grade. The one set I gave out last year mainly sat in an office in my bin to "keep safe." :(  A few head teachers (principals) made a few copies, but mainly they were not getting used unless the teachers had drawn their own BINGO games themselves.

On top of handing out the BINGO and song phonics resources I am also bringing cardboard, scissors, glue, markers, crayons, yarn, a single hole punch, glue gun, and materials to make sock puppets.  It's been a really exciting time for me to watch a roomful of people who haven't had the opportunity to craft be given that opportunity!  Some teachers need me to walk them through each step to make a sock puppet (I have 5 examples) and most schools just copy the other samples I brought if they make teaching resources: lacing (sewing) cards, an "African Adventure" game (Candyland!), a number game called "lucky 6s", and an Uppercase / Lowercase letter matching game (many of these I leave one copy behind for them).  Other teachers start off cautiously and then whole heartedly make teaching aids that will help them.

Lacing / sewing cards (pre-writing skills - you have to hold
the thread like a pencil. It's also good fine motor skills
practice

African Adventure Game
(Candyland: teaches colours)

Sewing Card, Lucky 6s game, and ABC/abc matching
Along with the book "It Costs Almost Nothing" which gave me many
(not quite all) of these ideas!

Sock puppets (Bonster the Monster, 3 girls, and
a blue elephant

I do find that most teachers (not all by far) make teaching aids that will go on the walls as opposed to making games the children can play. Understandable because 1) the District Education Board (aka: school district) has a checklist for observing teachers and a big one is how decorated the room is with teaching aids.  I've seen a huge jump in this because of their checking up. When I first came there were maybe 2 hand drawn posters on the walls. Now, teachers have almost no wall space - it's all covered with hand drawn posters.  Almost to the point where in Canada they would be telling me to take them down as it was too much visual stimulation! 2) Secondly, because of the sheer volume of students in each classroom.  I'm hoping to post another post (when I get time!) about the realities of the school system in Zambia. But almost all of my schools have between 40-60 students in each class. It makes it a daunting task to make that many games so the students could play at the same time.  Possible - but a lot of work if you are teaching Grade 1 but know next year you'll be teaching Grade 2, and the following year Grade 3.  It's possible you won't teach Grade 1 again until you loop after Grade 7.  So why make the games?  Maybe one or two but not 30!  Besides there is no where to store them for that long unless you pass them to the next teacher. They won't last long with that many kids!

One of the head teachers (principals) came in to check out what we were doing and exclaimed "This is really going to help us with our goal of reducing absenteeism!"  (Many students at this school skip school to sell things to the passing vehicles, market style, to make money).

For the rest of my post I'll let the photos do the talking.  I'm having a hard time taking photos in the dark schools with the bright sunlight in the windows - so here's my apology for some not so great photos but at least they still show a picture (I also only had my iPhone at one place...)

A checkers (Draft) board a
Grade 5 teacher made

Making puppets at Batoka

Making a puppet at Batoka

Using a glue gun for the first time!

Playing with her newly made sock puppet!

Making an African Adventure game board

Colouring her Alphabet Jive

Preparing the hair for a sock puppet at
Macha Central!

Crafting!

Making teaching aids (photo 1) 

Teaching aids (photo 2)

Almost finished colours teaching aids (photo 3)

Making teaching aids (letter, syllable, word cards) at Macha Central

Drawing letters for teaching aids
at Macha Central

Making puppets at Nahumba

I can't believe this is blurry!
Misozi Banda Ndenduloa at Nahumba 

Colouring Alphabet Jive books

This is what I'm starting to work on now for my second visit to each school: (following up on my term 2 literacy workshop on phonemic awareness from last year: http://offeringupmylife.blogspot.ca/2014/07/phonological-awareness-workshops.html)

We spent most of the day cutting these letters out (I did lots ahead of time, but I have 8 schools with at least 4 classrooms each, plus English AND Chitonga!)

Then we put them up.  This is the Grade 1 room at Mboole (all the walls were full of posters already - so she opted to put the word wall under the board).

Mboole has been my "guinea pig" this term as they have been very keen to have me and have been the first ones to ask me to come so I'm learning as I go too!

I have a school visit on Friday and Monday and then all 8 schools will have had me once. I gave myself a prep day next Weds. before I start doing the second round of visits - handing out words walls and doing follow up for my term 2 workshop.  I'll continue to bring cardboard and supplies to make resources and the schools that are gung-ho I'll really try to squeeze in that third visit for (before they start exams).  Term pretty much ends at the end of March (there's a week and a half in April but with exams and Easter I know the schools will be busy). By Easter my life (work) will slow down a bit as I prepare for term 2.

Word Wall we put up yesterday in the Grade 1 class in Mboole

She put on about 5 words the kids know already! Words will continue
to be added over the school year (if the teacher likes it and is finding it helpful
she might end up moving it somewhere else in the room so it can get more space!?)

Gecko in the Bathroom

This was a month or so ago... there is one in our living room now.  (Maybe the same one - I scared this little guy pretty badly!)

When discouragement hits... encouragement!

A small snippet from one of my school reports.
Guess I'll stick around a bit longer.... ;)

But for the times when I don't get the encouragement and I don't feel like I'm making a difference in this world, I remember this quote.  It's my encouragement:

"I suspect I’m not the only one who forgets that the assignment is faithfulness—not winning, not fixing, not changing other people, not changing the world."  Rachel Held Evans

The sunset in our backyard last week! (No photo editing was even done!)