School Visits

As stated in the Typical Week entry, we have been following a two-day rotation at each of our schools. Most of the first month was spent observing various classes and continually informing the teachers that we cannot teach their classes for them and that we are not government spies. Peace Corps strongly encourages volunteers to focus their time and efforts on sustainable projects so that the volunteers can eventually work themselves out of a position. Therefore, volunteers should be helping to empower and inspire community members to engage in projects that will last long after they have left the county. This is sometimes difficult for our schools to understand, as the teachers and learners are excited to have us take over their classes. We patiently explain to the teachers that if we teach classes by ourselves we would all be missing out on an incredible opportunity to exchange ideas and methods of teaching. We excitedly explain that we would love to team-teach lessons and aid in lesson planning, but have yet to have anyone take us up on our offer as teachers have been busy administering and grading tests and exams.

Through our observations, we have gotten a good feel for the school system and the culture of each of our schools. Although there are many more similarities than differences between the U.S. and S.A. school systems, we would like to share a few interesting differences:

- The school system is run by a national Board of Education, with provincial and regional offices in each of the 8 provinces. Thus, there is a national curriculum along with national exams. To the frustration of the teachers, the department has put out three different curriculums over the past 12 years. After reading through the latest curriculum standards, we are inspired by its progressiveness and focus on subject integration and continuous and varied forms of assessment. However, to our dismay, most teachers see it as extra paperwork and unrealistic due to the lack of resources. This is mostly the result of minimal training given to the teachers (a three day workshop) on all of the new curriculum changes. Through workshops and team-teaching, we hope to inspire teachers to embrace this curriculum over the next two years.

- Principals and Vice Principals are responsible for teaching regular classes. Because their jobs also mandate that they keep the school running smoothly, these classes are often left without teachers. When we asked a representative from the Board of Education about this, he explained that the Department feels that it is necessary for the principals and vice principals to teach classes in order to be kept up-to-date on the latest curriculum changes and to be able to emphasize with their teachers.

- We’ve been told that about 90% of the schools in S.A. have declared themselves Christian. Although the new constitution protects an individual’s freedom of religion, each school’s SGB (school governing body made up of parents, administrators, teacher and students) is allowed to designate a religion for the school. As all of our schools are declared Christian, therefore, each morning begins with an all-school assembly in which all of the students stand in class lines singing and praying. This is also a time for school-wide announcements made by the principals and teachers. It is also common for teachers to lead their classes in a prayer before lunch break. Furthermore, many staff meetings and workshops begin with a prayer and teachers will come together during the hour long lunch break to sing and pray.

- All of our schools mandate that the students wear school uniforms, and this seems pretty common across the country. Each school has designated colors and the uniforms, jumpers, pants, button-down shirts and sweats in the winter, conform to these colors. You can easily tell which school a learner attends by the colors of the uniforms. As a school fundraiser, students pay 50 cents to the school every Friday for the privilege of wearing street clothes.

- Although all of our schools are public, they charge school fees in order to supplement the unrealistic budget supplied by the government. This is usually around 100 Rand (current exchange rate is about 7 rand per US dollar) per student per year unless the learner applies for a waiver, claiming poverty.

- All of the schools we have seen offer a school lunch program. Lunches are cooked on site, usually in a shack by local women. The government provides mealy-meal in bulk and the schools are encouraged to supplement the corn staple with produce from school gardens. Furthermore, students must bring thier own plate and utensils, and often share due to lack of resources. Although not part of the school lunch program, it is not uncommon to see teachers and/or students nibbling on some chicken feet (a local delicacy). - Corporal Punishment. What can we say? It is a very complex situation with many layers. Most of our teachers were brought up in the oppressive and destructive Bantu education system and were taught to use corporal punishment in their teacher education classes. When the government outlawed the use of corporal punishment 12 years ago, the department of education failed to offer trainings or suggestions on positive classroom management practices. Cerebrally, our teachers understand that corporal punishment is harmful, however, old habits are hard to break and we have witnessed our fair share of ear twisting, hitting (with belts or sticks) and slapping. Hopefully through workshops and positive role modeling, we will be able to encourage teachers to decrease their use of corporal punishment.

- “It’s our culture.” This is the common response given by teachers when we raise an eyebrow at the implementation of gender roles and power structures. Although both the government and the Department of Education are trying to promote equality and students’ rights through laws and policies, many teachers still reinforce gender roles and power structures in their classrooms. For example, the girls are responsible for all of the cleaning while the boys move furniture. Many teachers have their students wash their cars, fetch them lunch, and bring them items that they could easily get themselves. Like corporal punishment, reinforcing gender-roles and oppressive power structures were integral parts of the Bantu education system that the teachers experienced as students and were trained under as young educators.

- Almost every teacher belongs to one of the country’s teachers unions. These unions are extremely powerful, making it very difficult for the department of education to implement new policies regarding teacher performance. It is almost unheard of for a teacher to be fired, even for gross negligence such as extreme absence and / or tardiness, failing to cover the national curriculum, intoxication on the job, and corporal punishment. The unions often use the overworked principals as a scapegoat, claiming that they have not provided the teacher accused of misconduct with the appropriate training, warnings, and/or guidance to reform from their behavior.

pictures: Our smallest school; Morning assembly; chicken feet