Obstacles to Education

Given the nature of my project, you won’t be surprised to hear that I have a particular interest in the educational system here. This is a long post, so feel free to zip to the bottom if you are more interested in current events.

I’m still in the process of figuring out how the system is organized, but I have learned some things. The government schools are divided either into primary (grades 1-6), junior secondary (grades 7-9), and secondary (grades 10 -12) or basic schools (grades 1-9) and high schools (grades 10-12). Some schools are single gender, and others co-ed. It isn’t clear to me yet whether or not primary education is compulsory on paper, but in practice it certainly isn’t. The government primary schools are supposed to be free, but there are small fees needed nonetheless, and parents need to provide uniforms and shoes for their children. There seems to be much more diversity of ages in the classrooms here, since a pupil may start school later if the parents couldn’t raise the funds earlier.

At the secondary level, there aren’t enough spaces for all the pupils desiring an education. So entrance examinations are used to limit the number of pupils enrolled. Since there are so many eager pupils that don’t make the cut, the high schools that I have visited have added a second enrollment group. Called the APU (afternoon production unit), these students attend after the regular pupils go home. The fees to the families are higher for this group, and the teachers get paid extra to teach their lessons. I’ve been told that the overworked and underpaid teachers often neglect their morning students, but not the afternoon ones.

The classrooms at the government schools I have seen are quite sparse. Typically there are some very old desks crowded with students (often more than 50 in a secondary class) and there is a chalk board. There isn’t always electricity or glass in the windows. There aren’t any text books either. At the high school level, a group of pupils permanently resides in one classroom, and the teachers move from room to room to give their lessons. They lecture to the class and write notes on the board that the pupils copy in their small notebooks. If a teacher is ill or otherwise engaged, there aren’t substitute teachers available. The pupils stay in their class and help each other study until they get restless and wander off.

At the Munali Boys and Girls schools, where I have spent some time, I have felt very bad for the pupils this term. This is the third and final term of their school year, at which point the seniors should be reviewing and preparing for the big examinations that will determine whether or not they attend university. From the beginning of the term there were problems with the water supply. An old water main nearby had broken. After a couple of days of no water, the students were sent home for a few days. They returned again, with water available in barrels for awhile. Then the teachers started a series of meetings (happening during class time) with the administration about a housing problem. The teachers had been promised that some nearby vacant land would be turned over to them for housing. They wanted the administration to act on this promise because other people were beginning to encroach on that land. Their timing may also be motivated by the political atmosphere with the upcoming elections. After a series of unfruitful meetings, the teachers decided to “sit”, meaning strike. This was the “last straw” for some students who felt that they had been patient enough, and a week or so ago there was a small riot of Munali students throwing rocks at cars. So, the administration sent the students home for a few days. School resumed last Wednesday, but the teachers were still sitting. When I stopped by on Friday the boys were all milling about and some of them had gone down to the girls’ school to cause trouble, apparently a common practice on days like this. The police arrived and sent them back up to their campus and sent the girls back to their classrooms.

While I am hopeful that life will settle down at Munali when the water and housing issues are resolved, I am discouraged when I learn how common these sorts of problems are, particularly in the third term. Additionally, there is a national election next Thursday (I will write a separate post about this) and all high schools are polling places. The various school administrators have been drafted to manage these elections, and there have been many meetings of administrators and teachers (again taking them out of the classroom) to prepare. Schools will be closed next Thursday for the polling, and next Friday as they sort things out and await results. Then in late October the seniors begin taking their big examinations. At that point, so many teachers will be needed to proctor the exams, that the grade 10 and 11 pupils will be sent home again for several weeks. So, I’m not sure when actual learning will happen this term. It’s no wonder that private schools (of all shapes, sizes, and qualities) are quite abundant in Lusaka.