I spent part of last week in the Copperbelt – a province that borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo. We (my colleagues and I) have some communication with the schools that we support in this province from the national office in Lusaka, but it is always challenging to get an accurate picture of what is actually happening on the ground.
There are two predominant cities/towns in the Copperbelt – Kitwe and Ndola. They are mining towns and the majority of people settled here work for the mines. Not surprisingly, the road between Lusaka and the Copperbelt are the nicest I've seen in Zambia – paved, relatively pothole free, and with lanes and shoulders. A lot of development can come from the mines. The employment that mines provide is an obvious advantage, but they can also play a part in community infrastructure. I was also in awe of the size of the power grips supplying energy from Lake Kariba dam to the mines. Years ago, when the government used to own mines, they also provided housing, health care, education, post-secondary scholarships. Nowadays, Zambia is not benefiting the way it should or could from the mines. The government bends over backwards to attract foreign investors (very few restrictions, free electricity, etc) and copper is exported out, only to have processed copper imported back to Zambia. You don't have to be an economist to scratch your head.
Like Lusaka, Kitwe and Ndola have their share of shanty compounds. The ones we spent visited seemed less dense, but people did not seem anymore well off. There are ten community schools in the Copperbelt that my organisation supports in one way or another – school infrastructure, teacher and community training, and educational materials. I have been trying to implement some kinds of community needs assessment system to help my organisation plan what kind of support the schools actually need. This will also help coordinate what kind of assistance schools can benefit from other organisations. The provision of teaching materials has been very ad hoc. For instance, organisations buy books for whatever subject they feel like from year to year. Another health organisation may give 50 HIV/AIDS workbooks for grade 10 students to a school that only goes up to grade 7. It is understandable that schools want all the support they can get, but the schools and communities need to be part of the process of figuring out what is needed. Moreover, there is little assessment of what happens after the delivery of the materials. How long do the books last? Did an increase in books actually improve the student to book ratio or did the books just sit in the supply room?
It is also becoming an increasing concern that a few of the schools we work with are not actually schools. That is, the schools exist for the community to get support from NGOs and donors. I would imagine most organisations deal with the issue of people selling resources/materials they have been given for money. What can we do with teachers who sell the textbooks for pocket money? Of the ten schools, my boss and I probably witnessed teaching and learning happening at three schools. Yet, teachers will assure us that their enrolment is normally much higher. One school records enrolment at over 500 pupils, but most days classes are only around 20 students, so 20 times 7 classes only makes 140 tops. There is a belief that the more student you report, the more materials and resources you will be given.
The management and operation of community schools needs constant monitoring. My organisation feels strongly about building up the capacity of communities to effectively manage their schools. It is a long-term commitment that we do not realise how much regular input is required. Each school had a head teacher and each cluster of schools has a zone committee, but even with those structures in place, being on the ground to see and hear things directly is essential. We want the community schools to be self-sustaining. However, I feel more and more these days that our concept is just good in theory. Some of the most successfully operated community schools in Zambia are the ones run by Catholic nuns. Too many factors can compromise a community school. i.e. to meet individual and household needs, teachers, parents and anyone else associated with the school will use school resources or materials. One community school recently sold their donated roofing sheets, so now the latrines have no roofing sheets.
However, community school do exist to fill a gap in the Zambia's education system and when you look for it quality education is happening. UNICEF Zambia recently reported that if Zambia is to achieve the millennium development goal of universal primary education (quite possibly the only MDG that might be attainable), education provided in community schools play a huge role. Is having materials and resources misused just a small by-product in supporting those who do actually benefit from our support. My sense is that people know that donors will always come, so selling a book once in a while for a few extra kwacha will not really ever seriously impact the school. We certainly keep supporting schools that have obviously mismanaged and misappropriated materials. So, what to do?
No comments:
Post a Comment