School Visits
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to take some of the school supplies that have been graciously donated by American students to a couple of local schools. We visited a local girls' school and a kindergarten. It was wonderful to see so many children, especially the girls, at school, wanting an education...but it was hard because of the conditions of their schools.
The girls' school was a one-story building, with a gravel courtyard surrounded by a wall. There are ten rooms in the school, nine of which are used for classrooms, the other room is the school office. In these nine classrooms, the school teaches a total of 40 classes in three shifts. Due to size constraints, some of the classes are conducted outside, regardless of the weather. The school hosts about 1000 students, girls from the poorer areas of the city and outlying villages. They have no books, no A/C or heat, very little paper, no exercise or playground facilities. Almost nothing, in fact, except the desire for an education. As this was our first visit to this particular school, we only brought supplies for 50, which ended up earmarked for distribution to the teachers. However, we did bring some Frisbees and volleyballs, donated by the International Stabilization and Assistance Force (ISAF), whose jurisdiction we fall under.
This is a picture of us and the school staff with the frisbees and supplies that we took to the girls' school.
This is one of the classrooms. As you can see, there is only a small blackboard for the teacher's use. The girls all sit on the carpet, there are no desks or tables.
This is the courtyard of the girls' school. This is the only place that some of these girls can run and play. This is also where we played Frisbee.
After visiting the girls' school, and playing some Frisbee and volleyball with them, we went to visit one of the 5 Kindergartens in the city. This was an even smaller building, only 4 rooms, one of which serves as the school office. The Kindergartens are co-ed, but again, very crowded. Only two of the classrooms had chairs for the children, the other class sat on the floor. I went into the third classroom and sat with the children as they recited their lessons. Most of their learning is done through rote memorization and repitition. One student would recite what they had memorized and the whole class would repeat it back. I had a chance to go in and talk to the class briefly. I asked if they were excited about being able to come to school. Their response nearly deafened my in that tiny room. They were very excited. One of the girls asked if she could recite her lesson. I cannot remember it all, but the gist of it was that a crazy man is asleep in the brain and won't learn, and it asked the crazy man to wake up, wake up and learn. She did such a wonderful job, and was obviously so happy with being there that it nearly broke my heart. I told them that I was a teacher too, and that I really missed being with my students back home. But, I told them, that I was very excited to be able to be there with them in their classroom, in their school, and to watch them learn.
One of the Kindergarten classrooms.
The girls' school was a one-story building, with a gravel courtyard surrounded by a wall. There are ten rooms in the school, nine of which are used for classrooms, the other room is the school office. In these nine classrooms, the school teaches a total of 40 classes in three shifts. Due to size constraints, some of the classes are conducted outside, regardless of the weather. The school hosts about 1000 students, girls from the poorer areas of the city and outlying villages. They have no books, no A/C or heat, very little paper, no exercise or playground facilities. Almost nothing, in fact, except the desire for an education. As this was our first visit to this particular school, we only brought supplies for 50, which ended up earmarked for distribution to the teachers. However, we did bring some Frisbees and volleyballs, donated by the International Stabilization and Assistance Force (ISAF), whose jurisdiction we fall under.
This is a picture of us and the school staff with the frisbees and supplies that we took to the girls' school.
This is one of the classrooms. As you can see, there is only a small blackboard for the teacher's use. The girls all sit on the carpet, there are no desks or tables.
This is the courtyard of the girls' school. This is the only place that some of these girls can run and play. This is also where we played Frisbee.
After visiting the girls' school, and playing some Frisbee and volleyball with them, we went to visit one of the 5 Kindergartens in the city. This was an even smaller building, only 4 rooms, one of which serves as the school office. The Kindergartens are co-ed, but again, very crowded. Only two of the classrooms had chairs for the children, the other class sat on the floor. I went into the third classroom and sat with the children as they recited their lessons. Most of their learning is done through rote memorization and repitition. One student would recite what they had memorized and the whole class would repeat it back. I had a chance to go in and talk to the class briefly. I asked if they were excited about being able to come to school. Their response nearly deafened my in that tiny room. They were very excited. One of the girls asked if she could recite her lesson. I cannot remember it all, but the gist of it was that a crazy man is asleep in the brain and won't learn, and it asked the crazy man to wake up, wake up and learn. She did such a wonderful job, and was obviously so happy with being there that it nearly broke my heart. I told them that I was a teacher too, and that I really missed being with my students back home. But, I told them, that I was very excited to be able to be there with them in their classroom, in their school, and to watch them learn.
One of the Kindergarten classrooms.
"My" classroom, greeting the children.
Education is the key to this country, to all countries. Teaching our children should be our highest priority, for it is through them that civilization will succeed or fail. No where is that so obvious to me, than here, in a land that is desperately trying to regain some of its lost civilization, to recover from a quarter century of bloodshed and oppression.
But it is still there, you can see it, in the eyes of the children.
P.S.: There are many more photos at my photo gallery.
Labels: Afghanistan, Military
posted by Mik | 10/26/2005 08:55:00 PM
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