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Published: December 11th 2005
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Since they didn’t have much of a program planned for our time in Mbamb, we asked to visit the elementary school. It’s located in the outskirts of the village. When we got to the school, the kids were about to go on break. The principal invited us three Americans, as well as Absa and Mirama, into his office. We sat down on the only five chairs in the school, while the teachers stood in the doorway. The principal asked us to introduce ourselves and to tell him what we were interested in hearing about. After we responded, he told us some about the school. There are 260 kids, and almost half are girls. This is way better than the national average. The principal explained the both the teachers and the village women’s organizations have campaigned hard to get girls in school. Only five of the seven teachers were there today; the two female teachers were absent.
In the last year of elementary school, all Senegalese students take a national exam. They have to pass it to continue to middle school. The principal told us that last year, 8 out of 29 kids passed the test. The year before, 24 out
of 31 passed. We thought we’d misunderstood him; that’s a big difference. He explained that the performance varies from class to class depending on whether a particular group of kids consistently had teachers. Teachers are badly paid so they have a tendency to not show up or to quit mid-year. The school system is inefficient and under-funded, so it takes absurd amounts of time to get replacements. As a result, classrooms go for long periods without a teacher.
Even if a student does pass the exam, there’s no guarantee that he’ll continue his education. There is no middle or high school within walking distance. So for kids to keep going, they have to move in with someone who lives near a high school. Unless they are lucky enough to have family in the city, they have to try and find a house with room for a boarder. Since boarding costs money that few villagers can spare, most kids stop their education after elementary school.
If a family can only afford to send one child off to school, they’ll probably choose a boy. There are three main reasons for this. First, males are seen as the breadwinners, so it’s
seen as more worthwhile to educate them. Secondly, the money the parents invest in the boy is more likely to come back to them. This is because a boy stays with his family after marriage, while a girl joins her husband’s family. Finally, families are more willing to send their boys off to school in a different city than their girls. Girls need to be kept at home, safe from corruptive influences (like boys!).
Before we left the office, I asked the teachers why they chose to teach. The principle told me that it is a practical choice. Teaching may not pay well, but it’s relatively easy to find work. Since Senegal has a 48% unemployment rate, this is a big deal. The principal says he teaches to support his family. One of the teachers interrupted to say that some teachers are there because they enjoy teaching. He said he teaches because educating children is important to him.
We also asked about the biggest challenges to education in a rural setting. The clear answer was poverty (rural Senegal is much poorer than urban Senegal). A lot of kids come to school in shabby clothes; some come hungry. Many
families don’t have money to buy school supplies. Sometimes there’s only one pen per family. One of the teachers said that occasionally he’ll ask the students to copy something, and one of them will hop up to go next-door to get the pen from his sister.
We got to attend class the following morning. I went to the class with oldest group—the ones who’ll take the exam at the end of the year. They learned some French grammar (a versus à and et versus est) and how to turn measurements into decimals. With 50 students, the class was huge by my standards. They were very obedient though. They worked quietly and did the exercises they were assigned. Senegalese kids get really animated when the teacher asks a question. Instead of raising their hands quietly like we do, they jump up, raise their hands, snap their fingers, and repeat Monsieur Monsieur Monsieur until the teacher picks someone.
The lesson ended a few minutes early, so I offered to answer any questions the kids might have about the US. I was expecting questions like, “What do you eat?” or, “What do you wear?” Instead, I got: “Who’s the president?” “How many states are there?” and, “How many people live there?” I had to look up the last one when I got home (296 million); at the time I said, “a lot.”
At 10am, we sat around and ate peanuts with the teachers while the kids took a half hour break. When the break was over, the students filed back into their classrooms. The teachers, however, remained in the schoolyard. They proceeded to have a 2-hour meeting (in Wolof), while the kids just sat in their classrooms. The three of us were very confused. We wondered how often the teachers actually teach. Since we were unoccupied, we made an unsuccessful attempt to teach math to kindergarteners. We left the school that afternoon with a lot of doubt in the Senegalese school system.
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