One of my respoinsibilties here in Nairobi is furthering a relationship with the public school down the street that First Love sends most of our primary kids to. This school has been very supportive of our ministry by welcoming 60 of our kids! Even though it's a public school, that doesn't mean they are given all the finances and supplies that are needed from the government. In fact in this k-8 school there are more than 1,300 students and only 30 teaching staff!! Can you believe it! That means class sizes are packed and are short in space, money, supplies, staff, and time.
When you first walk in a Kenyan school the first thing that hits you is the vast amount of kids. Desks are nearly piled on top of each other, and in the baby classes (3-4 year olds) they literally have two kids sitting in each chair.
There is also a shortage of money. These teachers are overworked, having to not only teach all of these students but they must mark all of their papers, tests, and homework... it's exhausting. They are also not given any money to supply their classroom with updated textbooks or basic supplies for their classroom. In result of this, many teachers are found to be charging their students unfair fees that are pocketed or never reported. Trying to get a receipt for our payments is like pulling teeth!
Because of the sheer number of kids in classrooms there is no way they are able to have a student based learning approach, therefore everything is lecture. But primary kids can only listen to lecture for so long, so they teach each subject in 30 minutes increments and then teach subjects multiple times throughout the day, with a 10 minute break between every two lessons. It sounds crazy, but I can now see that at this point it's the only way they can get through all the curriculum they are given. But with all these lectures and breaks it makes for a very long day. The kids leave for school at 6 30 and don't arrive home until 5pm!
Being a teacher myself it breaks my heart to see an educational system in such a place. This is a developing country still and I pray that they are able to make necessary changes. But it has truly been a wake up call to this little private school teacher!
One amazing thing that I love about the Kenyan school is that prayer is not absent. Students are often seen praying for meals, for their beloved country, teachers, and families. It's really amazing to see a public school able to pray to our Lord and Savior!
When you first walk in a Kenyan school the first thing that hits you is the vast amount of kids. Desks are nearly piled on top of each other, and in the baby classes (3-4 year olds) they literally have two kids sitting in each chair.
There is also a shortage of money. These teachers are overworked, having to not only teach all of these students but they must mark all of their papers, tests, and homework... it's exhausting. They are also not given any money to supply their classroom with updated textbooks or basic supplies for their classroom. In result of this, many teachers are found to be charging their students unfair fees that are pocketed or never reported. Trying to get a receipt for our payments is like pulling teeth!
Because of the sheer number of kids in classrooms there is no way they are able to have a student based learning approach, therefore everything is lecture. But primary kids can only listen to lecture for so long, so they teach each subject in 30 minutes increments and then teach subjects multiple times throughout the day, with a 10 minute break between every two lessons. It sounds crazy, but I can now see that at this point it's the only way they can get through all the curriculum they are given. But with all these lectures and breaks it makes for a very long day. The kids leave for school at 6 30 and don't arrive home until 5pm!
Being a teacher myself it breaks my heart to see an educational system in such a place. This is a developing country still and I pray that they are able to make necessary changes. But it has truly been a wake up call to this little private school teacher!
One amazing thing that I love about the Kenyan school is that prayer is not absent. Students are often seen praying for meals, for their beloved country, teachers, and families. It's really amazing to see a public school able to pray to our Lord and Savior!
The other day I was in my 4th grade english class and I wanted to be able to show you how crammed these kids are!
No comments:
Post a Comment