Today (2/21/14) was an interesting day. Three volunteers (including me) and a projects abroad worker traveled
to Teme by tro-tro, which is the big port for Ghana. The road follows the shore from Accra to the east and
you can see ships offshore waiting to unload containers or leaving. As you get into the city, you see areas crammed with containers. For a few
miles, you can see the shore has numerous cranes for unloading ships and along the road their are holding areas for thousands of containers. The roads is lined with trucks waiting to haul away the containers and there are more lots filled with trucks. After the port, we leave the tro-tro to get into a cab (the
tro-tro ends in Teme). We drove past some fish canneries and then the buildings begin to thin out as the
road runs along slum neighborhoods that stretch to the shore. Looking down to the water you just see low
roofs with lots of home made aerials on poles about 20 feet up.
We then got onto a dirt road that followed closer to the shore and we start seeing huge stacks of wood along the road and smell smoked fish for the next few miles, until the cab drops us off at what seems to be the end of the road. A phone call is made by the projects abroad person and a man quickly appears who walks us up a road to a small school behind a white concrete wall. The school is made of cinder block with no other finish to the walls, the floors are rough concrete and there are no screens or windows, it's all open to the outside air. The roof is corrugated metal. Kids are moving around in the school and it all seems orderly. It is a "basic" school, or what we call a primary or elementary school.
We then got onto a dirt road that followed closer to the shore and we start seeing huge stacks of wood along the road and smell smoked fish for the next few miles, until the cab drops us off at what seems to be the end of the road. A phone call is made by the projects abroad person and a man quickly appears who walks us up a road to a small school behind a white concrete wall. The school is made of cinder block with no other finish to the walls, the floors are rough concrete and there are no screens or windows, it's all open to the outside air. The roof is corrugated metal. Kids are moving around in the school and it all seems orderly. It is a "basic" school, or what we call a primary or elementary school.
For the last one hundred yards approaching the school a man
follows us. His legs are thin and
useless and he walks with flip-flops on both hand and uses his knees for balance as he pulls himself forward. His knees are worn tough, like feet, and the
ground he walks on is red dirt and stones. This man follows us
into the schoolyard and enters a small room at the end of the building and asks
us to come in. I never got properly
introduced to him but he is instructing people to bring in chairs and after
greeting us he introduces us to his secretary.
I found out later that he is the founder/owner of the school and, I assume, the headmaster. (I also later learn that the man who met us where the cab dropped us is a contact person for Projects Abroad who arranges for us to get into the schools and make presentations.)
We talk about why we are there and the headmaster then brings us
to an empty classroom. It looks like two
separate classrooms, but missing a wall between them. At each end are blackboards so the two
classes face away from each other.
About 15 teachers come in and sit in rows and we sit up front facing them. The talk is on alternatives to using the cane for discipline. We saw a cane on the headmaster’s
desk in his office and saw some teachers carrying canes. There two canes sitting on a table not far
from our seats. They are thin round pieces of wood, some thinner than others, and are slightly flexible for a better lashing.
We make our presentation, with each volunteer taking turns to speak until all topics are covered. I think we did a good job. Then it came time for the teachers to ask us questions and get a discussion going. We responded to a few general questions and then I said I have a question for them. I asked, “What do you do if a student answers a question incorrectly?” The answer came quickly, “We cane them.” This led to a good discussion. I asked why they cane and one said it is because the child “refused to learn”. So this got us into a really interesting discussion that was great to be part of. I introduced the idea that the child may not have understood the lesson the first time and needs the teacher to re-expalin and review. I believe we made a dent on a number of the teachers, who started to nod as we explained this and how children imitate their teachers and learn that violence is a solution to problems and about the difficulty of learning if you are scared, etc. The headmaster, who at first seemed to be asking questions to challenge us (i.e., he asked us to explain why when they used to lash kids more those kids were better with their lessons), ended up telling the teachers that no one is to cane a child unless it is under supervision of his office, with 3 lashes maximum ( I previously asked and was told that they give up to 6 lashes). Lashes are generally on an open palm or backside. The headmaster's comments were primarily motivated by a concern than a teacher would hurt a student and jeopardize the school, but he did add that caning was to be the last form of punishment, only to be used if all else fails (something we emphasized). I later learned that there is a rule that teachers may only give 3 lashes maximum.
We also discussed the role of positive reinforcement and rewards to get kids to learn and behave, but none of the teachers followed up on that. I hope we do this again, as I got a better sense of things and can tailor it better to the group.
We make our presentation, with each volunteer taking turns to speak until all topics are covered. I think we did a good job. Then it came time for the teachers to ask us questions and get a discussion going. We responded to a few general questions and then I said I have a question for them. I asked, “What do you do if a student answers a question incorrectly?” The answer came quickly, “We cane them.” This led to a good discussion. I asked why they cane and one said it is because the child “refused to learn”. So this got us into a really interesting discussion that was great to be part of. I introduced the idea that the child may not have understood the lesson the first time and needs the teacher to re-expalin and review. I believe we made a dent on a number of the teachers, who started to nod as we explained this and how children imitate their teachers and learn that violence is a solution to problems and about the difficulty of learning if you are scared, etc. The headmaster, who at first seemed to be asking questions to challenge us (i.e., he asked us to explain why when they used to lash kids more those kids were better with their lessons), ended up telling the teachers that no one is to cane a child unless it is under supervision of his office, with 3 lashes maximum ( I previously asked and was told that they give up to 6 lashes). Lashes are generally on an open palm or backside. The headmaster's comments were primarily motivated by a concern than a teacher would hurt a student and jeopardize the school, but he did add that caning was to be the last form of punishment, only to be used if all else fails (something we emphasized). I later learned that there is a rule that teachers may only give 3 lashes maximum.
We also discussed the role of positive reinforcement and rewards to get kids to learn and behave, but none of the teachers followed up on that. I hope we do this again, as I got a better sense of things and can tailor it better to the group.
My sense of the teachers was that they did not understand how children learn. They simply relied on the cane to motivate students and expected it to work. (Back at my house I asked one of the sons about caning and he said he was hit in school - a lot. He spoke about being afraid and intimidated in school by the teachers. He strongly opposes caning.)
As we left the school, I asked permission to take some
photos and you can see them here. I
think they are self-explanatory. The
school is small – about 5 or 6 rooms.
The schoolyard is the space inside the wall, and is all red dirt. I don’t know if it has a
bathroom, as I did not see one. While we
spoke, I could see a young boy peeing against the wall on the far side of the school yard and then
walking back to his class while tucking in his shirt. It seemed to
be the normal thing to do there.
 |
| The wood posts are where you would expect to see a wall to divide the classrooms. |
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| View from the road. The pile in the school yard is construction rubble. |
After we leave, we make a long walk back in the noon day sun on one of the hottest days yet to
where we can find a cab. I had already sweat
through my dress shirt during the presentation, back and front (water was provided at the school). As we walked, we found a man selling “fan milk”, a
cheap ice cream product. It felt so good
to have a frozen treat. You suck it out
of a plastic sachet and while it's quickly softening and melting inside.
My last pictures are of the fan milk man, the piles of wood we see along the road for smoking fish, and the cab we left in. This is a fishing region and without refrigeration, smoking is how they preserve fish. I see smoked fish stacked in the stalls around Accra.
The fan milk guys blow an old bicycle horn to get business. You see them all over Accra, as well.
The cab back to the two-tro station in Teme.
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