Think back to your school days. Try and remember what your school looked like. How many rooms did it have? How many desks were there in each classroom? Picture all the maps it had on the wall, the crayons and books you had in your desk. That is not what schools are like here.
Today we went to visit the Coffee Bay Junior Secondary School. When we met with Mrs. Mngquibisa at our large meeting on Saturday, she outlined a pretty grim scenario. She told us they had 800 students and only 20 teachers, little materials and not enough desks. Unfortunately this is a very standard educational experience in these parts. Nothing however, can prepare you for seeing these conditions in person.
We got to the school after our meting with the Chief and immediately were struck by the stark contrast of the conditions of the school with the unbelievably breathtaking surroundings. If you look out over the dilapidated school buildings you see ocean view cliffs with white surf crashing on the shore, endless vistas of rolling green hills behind children with no shoes sitting on dirty schoolroom floors.
Here is what the school looked like: Two crumbling buildings with no doors and broken windows, caved-in ceilings and cracked concrete floors that children sit on due to lack of places to properly sit (the school has not benefited from new desks or chairs in over 20 years). Today was the first day of classes for the new term so many students didn’t attend class and yet class size was already reaching 50 per room, although in a week the largest class in expected to be as high as 108.
There is a third concrete building half built standing off to the side completely unusable. This was built by the Department of education, but once their vastly unsubstantial budget ran out, they picked up and left, leaving nothing but another crumbling building that acts as a reminder to these students that they have been forgotten. The students by the way, despite all this mess are incredibly upbeat, energetic and happy to be somewhere, anywhere that they can learn. Unfortunately, without help schools like these will get even worse and cease to exist at all.
Today we went to visit the Coffee Bay Junior Secondary School. When we met with Mrs. Mngquibisa at our large meeting on Saturday, she outlined a pretty grim scenario. She told us they had 800 students and only 20 teachers, little materials and not enough desks. Unfortunately this is a very standard educational experience in these parts. Nothing however, can prepare you for seeing these conditions in person.
We got to the school after our meting with the Chief and immediately were struck by the stark contrast of the conditions of the school with the unbelievably breathtaking surroundings. If you look out over the dilapidated school buildings you see ocean view cliffs with white surf crashing on the shore, endless vistas of rolling green hills behind children with no shoes sitting on dirty schoolroom floors.
Here is what the school looked like: Two crumbling buildings with no doors and broken windows, caved-in ceilings and cracked concrete floors that children sit on due to lack of places to properly sit (the school has not benefited from new desks or chairs in over 20 years). Today was the first day of classes for the new term so many students didn’t attend class and yet class size was already reaching 50 per room, although in a week the largest class in expected to be as high as 108.
There is a third concrete building half built standing off to the side completely unusable. This was built by the Department of education, but once their vastly unsubstantial budget ran out, they picked up and left, leaving nothing but another crumbling building that acts as a reminder to these students that they have been forgotten. The students by the way, despite all this mess are incredibly upbeat, energetic and happy to be somewhere, anywhere that they can learn. Unfortunately, without help schools like these will get even worse and cease to exist at all.
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