Apen Conference Day one

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Woke up today for the APEN conference, and like many things in Africa, it was a exercise in waiting. We were picked up at 7:30 for a conference that was about 15 minutes away, and supposed to start at 9:00 am but actually started about 9:30. I also met my co-presenter, John Lobban from ISASA—Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa. He is a wonderful long-time schools person—he has seen lots from many angles, both inside of schools and for his association.

Some differences between this conference and the usual:
1. As everyone was coming in—rather than play muzak—they played LOUD inspirational Christen music (“This is the day, this the day that the Lord has made, Let us be glad, Let us be glad and rejoice in it)
2. Program began with the Nigerian national anthem.
3. Occasionally flies are attached with scarves, books or even pens
4. Some murmurings of conversations during the keynote address as well as the other presentations
5. GREAT passion from the teachers and schools leaders. They are fighting for recognition of private schools as valuable for society and a way to educate their youth.
The day consisted of 3 pieces—1) key note address from Dr. Akin Oyebode—a lawyer with degrees form University of Keiv, Harvard, and York University in Toronto, Canada 2) Presentation about the role of partnerships and school associations and 3) Presentation about state of Nigerian education with (missed her first name) Adefisayo. Plus lots of Q&A by the audience of 100 or so.

The big themes seem to be that private schools get taxed by the state government, but they don’t get very much in return for those taxes. The government is unhappy that there are 11,000 private schools in the region, with many not really classifying as “schools.” And the legitimate private schools need more from the government than just inspections and red tape.

Just more examples of smart, well meaning educators all over the world who want to do their jobs better, have more of an impact, but see the great challenges of education before all of us: access, quality, accountability, and cost. We need to be having this conversation with more sectors of society—businesses, government, k-12 schools and universities. Right now we are all in our separate silos, and lobbing rocks at the others, but few community, state, or national leaders are putting the money up to bring all these groups together.

Had dinner with John tonight, and of course he knows Kim Bouldin-Jones. He has even met her at John Burroughs. Who hasn't met Kim. Here I am in Nigeria with a guy from South Africa and he knows Kim. ~~peace and love to all!!

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Comments

[Jim Stuart]

Greetings
Hi Matt, Great post. Sounds like an interesting conference. And yes, who does not know Kimn Bouldin-Jones???

[Phil Scott]

Africa
Your Blog is excellent, and I really feel your are getting a huge amount of solid experience with this conference and trip to Nigeria. Look forward to hearing more about this in person. Meanwhile, Cecilia and I visited the Dallas World Fest where upon recommendation I just had to try Kingfisher beer from the India stand....! Pretty much ok!