At the Edge of Learning
One day, while standing in the middle of a school yard in Chibuto, Mozambique, I watched as more than 600 children were taught by the school’s eight teachers in the broad shade of cashew trees. In the case of Chibuto School, and many other schools in Africa, the school yard was the school. There was no building, apart from reed partitions put around a tree to provide space for the school’s administrative office. Students sat on the sandy ground, listening attentively as the teachers delivered lessons orally and illustrated them on painted pieces of scrap plywood tied to the trees and serving as blackboards.
Education conditions in rural Mozambique in 1993 were quite desperate and, while many children were attending schools, many more could not. Much of the expense of operating schools was absorbed by the government but parents were expected to pay a basic fee and cover the cost of a school uniform. Around the edges of the school compound sat clusters of children. I asked why they weren’t sitting closer to their cohorts, and I learned that they were not enrolled at Chibuto School because their parents could not afford the fees. These children, who were unlikely to ever learn to read, write or calculate, were some of Chibuto’s, and indeed the world’s, lost children.
At a UN summit in 1990, nearly 200 heads of state endorsed eight development goals for the new millennium and set time frames for accomplishing each one. The goals are interlinked and mutually supportive, and two of the goals ring particularly true for teachers. The first is the achievement of universal primary education for all children and the second is the elimination of gender disparity at all levels of schooling. In 2000, during the World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, "Education for All" guideposts were established to mark the path toward improving early childhood care and education, ensuring that all children would be able to complete free, good quality primary education, and eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education.
It has been said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The diplomatic efforts of world leaders and the accords they put their names to are unlikely to bear fruit without further prompting from civil society groups and concerned citizens. The Global Campaign for Education (GCE), an international coalition of education and child support organizations, campaigns annually to motivate governments to honour the promises they made. Global Action Week is the most visible GCE activity, and this year its "Send My Friend to School" campaign is involving children from all over the advantaged world.
With help from learning packages from the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, teachers and students construct life-sized cut-outs that represent children who do not have access to schooling (see, "Taking global action—Jasper school tackles poverty," page 6). Some of the cut-outs will be displayed in Ottawa during a CTF meeting with members of parliament. Afterward, the cut-outs will be sent to international meetings where they will be joined by cut-outs from students in other parts of the advantaged world. The will of world youth to see the lives of all children improved through free access to good education will be powerfully presented through this collection of surrogate friends.
There are still children in Chibuto waiting at the edge of learning for their chance at an education. By teaching our students about these realities, perhaps more children can join the circle of their friends and listen to a teacher’s lesson.
© 2010 The Alberta Teachers’ Association
One day, while standing in the middle of a school yard in Chibuto, Mozambique, I watched as more than 600 children were taught by the school’s eight teachers in the broad shade of cashew trees. In the case of Chibuto School, and many other schools in Africa, the school yard was the school. There was no building, apart from reed partitions put around a tree to provide space for the school’s administrative office. Students sat on the sandy ground, listening attentively as the teachers delivered lessons orally and illustrated them on painted pieces of scrap plywood tied to the trees and serving as blackboards.
Education conditions in rural Mozambique in 1993 were quite desperate and, while many children were attending schools, many more could not. Much of the expense of operating schools was absorbed by the government but parents were expected to pay a basic fee and cover the cost of a school uniform. Around the edges of the school compound sat clusters of children. I asked why they weren’t sitting closer to their cohorts, and I learned that they were not enrolled at Chibuto School because their parents could not afford the fees. These children, who were unlikely to ever learn to read, write or calculate, were some of Chibuto’s, and indeed the world’s, lost children.
At a UN summit in 1990, nearly 200 heads of state endorsed eight development goals for the new millennium and set time frames for accomplishing each one. The goals are interlinked and mutually supportive, and two of the goals ring particularly true for teachers. The first is the achievement of universal primary education for all children and the second is the elimination of gender disparity at all levels of schooling. In 2000, during the World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, "Education for All" guideposts were established to mark the path toward improving early childhood care and education, ensuring that all children would be able to complete free, good quality primary education, and eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education.
It has been said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The diplomatic efforts of world leaders and the accords they put their names to are unlikely to bear fruit without further prompting from civil society groups and concerned citizens. The Global Campaign for Education (GCE), an international coalition of education and child support organizations, campaigns annually to motivate governments to honour the promises they made. Global Action Week is the most visible GCE activity, and this year its "Send My Friend to School" campaign is involving children from all over the advantaged world.
With help from learning packages from the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, teachers and students construct life-sized cut-outs that represent children who do not have access to schooling (see, "Taking global action—Jasper school tackles poverty," page 6). Some of the cut-outs will be displayed in Ottawa during a CTF meeting with members of parliament. Afterward, the cut-outs will be sent to international meetings where they will be joined by cut-outs from students in other parts of the advantaged world. The will of world youth to see the lives of all children improved through free access to good education will be powerfully presented through this collection of surrogate friends.
There are still children in Chibuto waiting at the edge of learning for their chance at an education. By teaching our students about these realities, perhaps more children can join the circle of their friends and listen to a teacher’s lesson.
© 2010 The Alberta Teachers’ Association