Saved By the Bell: The African Years

A few people I talked to (just my parents, really...) thought that the most interesting post I have done in a while was where I wrote about my new students. Other than this little bit, I haven't given you an accurate description of the life of a student here in Tanzania, at Ihungo. Everyone has had a different high school experience in the states, especially when you consider generational differences, or those between rural and urban schools (some days I wish I was a Roosevelt 'Rider for life...). Compare your own high school times to what these boys go through, its pretty overwhelming.

I'll start at the primary level. There is universal primary education paid for by the government here, an initiative from the early '70s when President Nyerere (the George Washington of Tanzania) was in power. This lasts for seven years, called standards rather than grades, and is culminated by a general knowledge exam. I wish I had the exact numbers, but I can tell you that no more than 50% of all the kids leaving standard 7 become enrolled in secondary school. This isn't solely due to poor test results, although there are a lot of poor test results. When Nyerere had his master plan, he ignored secondary schools entirely (from what I know) and focused having every child getting at least some education. A few years after his plan came into effect (roughly seven or so), all of a sudden there were too many students, and not enough secondary schools. This is the enduring problem with education here, but now there are schools with no teachers to fill them. The point is, less than half of the entire populace even begins secondary school.

Now, with the secondary schools, they are not paid for by the government. The public schools give subsidizing to a moderate extent, but I would say the primary reason so few students continue their educations is monetary. Once every few weeks, a teacher will come into my class and kick out all the students who haven't paid their fees yet. This is the reason students are always late returning from breaks- they are waiting for their parents to gather enough money to continue their educations. Now, this isn't every student, but I would say an overwhelming majority fall into this category. Every term, a small percentage of students never return from break. There parents couldn't afford to send them back to school.

The public schools are generally boarding schools, allowing a few day scholars to attend. These students who live in our campus dorms are those who I will be describing. The administration has an attitude that they rule these boarders' everlasting souls, and it shows in their daily routines. I suppose the main thing to mention here is the beatings. It is a fact of life, something I can't change. Corporal punishment reigns supreme. I could give you disturbing stories, but let's not do that.

The students wake up around 6am to clean their dormitories and classrooms before the day begins. At 7:30 classes begin, and from what I have seen, anywhere from a third to a half of the scheduled teachers actually show up to teach. But if the students leave, guess what? A beating! So they sit in there classrooms and try to teach themselves, or they stare at the wall. This occurs until 11:30, when they get a cup of hot, unsweetened porridge for breakfast. It is this nutrition that is expected to sustain them for the rest of the class day, until 3pm. The teachers get sweetened tea at this breakfast time, and we have our daily meeting. The breakfast break is 30 minutes, but invariably it lasts an hour or more, so again the students have no teachers. After classes, the students get lunch, which is beans and ugali. Ugali I have already mentioned, that flavorless, nutritionless lump of food. After lunch comes usafi time (when I wrote about the mowers, it was for this). At this time, students are expected to go cut grass for two hours. If the grass is all cut (which it miraculously never is) they have to carry things around and other such inane tasks. This is also the time for sports, but usafi takes precedence and often I find myself with no basketball players. If a students area is not well trimmed, they get a nice, solid smacking. At 6:30pm is dinner, which is... beans and ugali. Same thing for lunch and for dinner, every single day. I would go insane. In the evenings, they are expected to study from 8 to 10:30, and then they are required to return to their dorms. Some go to sleep, others call home, others read or talk. The students I've asked say they get between 3 and 5 hours of sleep per night (which makes me, with my solid 8, feel very lazy). The next day it starts all over again. And then it continues for four years. During this entire time, they are expected to speak only English. They are given a one month training course at the beginning of secondary school, and that's that. If they slip into Swahili and a teacher hears them...bam!

After the second year (form 2) the students have another national exam. Again, few pass. But this time only the result matters, not money. Every year thousands of students repeat form 2 to try the test again. But its two strikes and you're out, there is no third try. Then at form 4 there is the next test. It culminates the 4 years of knowledge, and is analogous to our SAT. Except it is much, much more rigorous than the SAT, and few students pass. Those who don't are called "form 4 leavers" and manage to get jobs barely better than the norm, despite all their efforts. Those who do pass continue on to the advanced level, where its two more years of the same. I think something like 10% of students who start primary school reach advanced level. After advanced level is the fourth and final national exam. If they succeed here, maybe they can go to higher education, but only if they are lucky. The percentage who reach university from primary school? Less than one. The form six leavers usually go to a teachers' training college to become qualified to teach secondary school themselves. That's that. I guess I shouldn't really blame them for throwing rocks, huh...?

I'm not trying to incriminate the system, or the teachers. The problem is too deep-set and pervasive to allow easy criticism. The Ministry of Education tries every year to solve some of the glaring deficiencies, such as corporal punishment, but it will be another generation at the least before things begin to clear up. All I can do is teach as best I can, really. It's just too overwhelming.