Well exams are finished; I’ve finished correcting all of them and submitted my grades. Now all that is left is to complete the report cards by hand, which means writing the marks from each class on each student’s report card. Since it’s the end of the year, the marks also need to be totaled for the year, figure the percentage and recopy the entire thing so there is copy for the student to keep and one to be kept on record at the school; tedious to say the least! Fortunately, this isn’t actually my job but it’s an awful lot of work so I’ll be helping the other teachers out.
We’re getting so close though! As I’ve said before, the school year is almost over and then we’ll have about 2 months off before school begins again in January. This is just one of the ways the Rwandan education system is different than America, so I thought I’d dedicate this entry to explaining it a little more thoroughly.
In general , all Rwandan schools are run pretty much the same, at least all the government schools. There are, however, private schools that have a little more freedom and some are organized quite differently and vary between schools. My school is a government school so this is the system with which I’m familiar.
Here in Rwanda there are 9 years of “free” basic education, which they have recently upped to 12 years. I say “free” because while the government claims it offers free education, all school have school fees. These fees can range from a few thousand francs per term (about $10) to upwards of 50,000 francs (about $80). These fees are used to pay for basic maintenance of the school, small supplies for the teachers (pens, notebooks, chalk) and at my school it pays for room and board for the students. This money is also used to supplement the teacher’s income. Their salaries are pretty pathetic. A primary school teacher with the lowest level of education makes about 27,000 francs per month ($45) and someone with a university degree probably makes about $200 per month. So the teachers each get a small bonus each term.
These fees are a huge issue though. There are many students who can’t go to school because they can’t pay. Sometimes they have to take a year off to work and then return back the following year. This is the reason my student’s ages range between 14-19 years. I’ve walked to class numerous times to see half my class missing. When I ask where everyone is I’m told they’ve all been sent home to get money to pay their fees. Everyone understands the importance of education though, and families make huge sacrifices to send their kids to school. They know the alternative is pretty bleak. Some students who don’t go to school find work as a house boy or girl, helping clean or cook and can make as little as $15 per month.
In America, the school system is divided into 3 levels, elementary, middle and high school. It’s basically the same here but we have primary, lower secondary and upper secondary. There are 6 years of primary school, 3 years of lower secondary and 3 years of upper secondary. At the end of each level all students have to take a national exam which determines if they can continue their studies. So for example, all the students in their 3rd year of upper secondary will take a standardized national exam. If they don’t pass they cannot continue in a government school but can go to a private school if they can afford it, which most cannot. Here’s where things get confusing; because the government is slowly increasing the number of years of basic education (from 9 years to 12) the national exam is not so much about whether or not you can continue your education and more about what type of school you can attend. All the primary schools are basically the same but secondary schools vary. There are schools called “Basic 9” which have both primary and secondary education. The students who fail their exam after P6 go to these schools for lower secondary. My school is considered a secondary school so all the students have passed the exam. I honestly don’t think there is much difference between the schools though, it’s not like the secondary schools have better teachers or more resources than the Basic schools; it just divides the students by those who passed and those who didn’t.
Because the government is increasing standard education to 12 years, in theory the exam the Senior 3 students have to take shouldn’t determine if they can go to upper secondary, just which type of school they will be accepted into. However, the government tends to make big declarations without adequate preparation. In the past, maybe 25%-50% of the students who took the exam passed and continued to Senior 4 and there were enough schools to accommodate them. But now, all the thousands of Senior 3 students need schools to go to, so all the schools are scrambling quickly to build new classrooms, find new teachers, get materials, etc. to accept the new students; my school included. In reality there isn’t going to be enough room for all the students, so some will be rejected. Needless to say, theSenior 3 students at my school (and at every other school) have spent the entire year freaking out over this exam trying to prepare for it.
More about the exam; it’s a cumulative and covers all the information they have studied in their 3 years in lower secondary in 8 subjects; math, English, biology, chemistry, physics, history, Kinyarwanda, and geography/social studies. Then in 1 week they take all 8 exams. Now, if studying 3 years of information in 8 different subjects doesn’t sound bad enough, here’s the kicker, all the exams are in English. Up until last year they were in French, which the students are much more fluent in, but now they’ve changed everything to English. Just imagine trying to take high school level exams with about a 4th grade English reading level. I was asking one of my teachers about how the exam works and asked what percentage is considered passing. He said it varies each year and everyone seems to think this year it’s going to have to be on a huge curve, otherwise everyone will fail. We’ll see.
The daily schedule here is also quite different. There are eight 50 minute periods each day beginning at 7:30, an hour and a half lunch break and then ends at 3:40pm. Here each class has their own classroom. For example, at my school the Senior 2 class is divided into 2 sections, A and B. So there are 2 classrooms where the students stay all day and the teachers go to each classroom to teach their lesson. Each class has about 50 students. I was recently talking to another volunteer and we decided if there was one thing we could change it would be the class size, not the language barrier or the lack of resources, because with fewer students and the time to focus on each of them those problems could be lessened. But now, trying to keep 50 students in order and help each of them is virtually impossible and inevitably some of them get left behind, and it’s usually the ones that need the help the most. With some experience now I’ve found new ways to work with large class sizes but it’s a huge, ongoing challenge.
At my school, thankfully, since it’s a boarding school, my students eat lunch. This is isn’t the case however, at most government day schools. This means the students come to school at about 7:30am and leave school at about 2:30pm having not eaten a thing. I can’t even imagine trying to keep the students attention those last few hours of the day. There is a campaign to get lunch served in all schools, but like everything else, it’s a slow process and requires funds that are not readily available.
Then of course there are the differences in resources. We do have about 8 computers, all of which are used and are from about 2002. There are 2 printers but no copy machine. There are 2 maps, one of Rwanda and one of the world. There is also some equipment for teaching math, (rulers, protractor, etc.) to be used on the blackboard. As teachers we are given notebooks to write our lesson plans, blue and red pens and chalk. That’s all, anything else we want to use to teacher our lessons we must provide. My school does have text books for each subject. Unfortunately they aren’t always used. Sometimes it’s because the teacher chooses not to use it or doesn’t know how to, or because it’s just a bad book written at an English level far beyond any student, is confusing or has incorrect information. We also have a trunk filled with science equipment which also is rarely used. This is my plan for the break; I want to organize the library, implement a check out system and teach the students and teachers how to use what we do have. I also hope to find a way to get some more resources. All lessons are in English and we don’t have a single English dictionary!
So those are the basics of the school system here. It’s taken me a full year to understand all that and there’s still so much I don’t know. Next week we are supposed to have make-up exams for those who are below a certain percentage but I really have no idea what’s going happen. I’m looking forward to next year when I’ll at least feel like I have a clue as to what’s going on and everything won’t be such a surprise.
I’m headed to an end-of-the-year party at school today, I had one yesterday and have another tomorrow. It’s doesn’t matter where you live, everyone is always excited for school to be finished!
All my love!
Annie
p.s. I already wrote a similar blog to this one so sorry if some of the information was repeated.
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