Madam Anges classroom

Spending 3 days at a public school in Ghana gave me a lot to think about.

I spent time at the school while Sofia worked at a hospital nearby. I think the best way to explain it is “organized chaos”. If I wrote from my journal about these days it would start with something like “there I stood uncertainly in the middle of the open school yard with my huge blow up globe (a school after all, is the perfect place to make use of it).  The only instructions I had been given were to “find the Head Mistress.”…. But, that is a long story for another time. So here are just a few thoughts…

I spent most of my time in Madam Anges’ preschool class room learning things like “Y” is for “Yam” and helping to teach colors and shapes.

Madam Anges 

Observing I was reminded of my mom talking about going to school. She would explain they had an “open air school” (meaning every class was just divided by a partial wall) and if the teacher next door was yelling you could hear it, or if the science class Iguana got out, it was possible it came wandering into your classroom. This school was much like that. I could hear the teaching next door. It was a rather distracting atmosphere with things happening like the kids next door throwing some crayons over the wall!

 

There were also many things that surprised me;

– The teachers used switches to keep the kids in line, hitting them on the arm or the head if they were talking too much or falling asleep.

-Everything is taught in English (however it seemed even the older children did not understand much English!)

– One child was trying to use his left hand, he was swatted and told to use his other hand. I felt bad because I myself being left handed, had just used my left hand to draw in teaching them.

– Paper was very hard to come by. For coloring the teacher pulled out a little tin with many pieces of broken crayons handing one to each student. Then the assistant left for a bit and came back with a stack of little scrap pages/book covers, we cut them in half and gave one to each student. (The day I left I brought a small stack of colorful paper that I happened to have as a gift for the class room, and Madam Anges was delighted!)

– Each classroom has about 50-75 children with 1 teacher and 1 assistant. (The preschool class had 70 one day, but 2 days later only about 45 showed up)

-The preschool children ages 3-4 were there from 8am-2pm. As you could imagine just after lunch many of them got sleepy, nodding off. The assistant would walk by and hit them with the switch, startling them awake. When they fell back asleep she had them stand at the front of the classroom. One day almost half the class was standing up front (some were good at sleeping standing!)

Note the child sleeping in the 2nd row , this was late afternoon just before they went home. 

I had a hard time deciding if this was ALL not so good, or if I have just been highly influenced by the “politically correct” western world because there is whole other side to this:

– Until 12 years ago the children of this village had no school (so a crowded classroom with 70 kids is at least an education.)

– The school day is started with an assembly where everyone recites the Lord’s Prayer and the Head Mistress of the school encouraged them to Trust in the Lord and work hard on their studies.

– At lunch time the teacher prayed for blessing over the children and thanked the Lord for the food they were given to eat.

– Most of the teachers seemed to have a huge heart for their students and really wanted them to learn. I could see in them that they really do their best to teach the students the in best way they know how while passing on as much knowledge as possible.

These are just a few thoughts as I look back over my experience there.

I leave you with this quote.

Educating the mind without educating the heart is like no education at all – Aristotle