School Days

Tuesday July 3, 2007

I have just realized that although I have been here in Gulu teaching for about a week and a half, all of you at home probably don’t know very much about the school system here. So here goes nothing…

Students start in Primary School, at P(rimary)1, then proceed through P2, P3,P4…all the way to P7. After P7 they then go on to Secondary School. The levels in Secondary school begin at S(enior)1 and then all the way up to S6. Although all of that may sound pretty simple, but don’t worry because it’s not simple.

Think Harry Potter…

All of you in America are already thinking about HP b/c of the approaching release dates, so now I will apply that to Ugandan Education. Uganda was a British colony, so their education system was set up by the British, and when they left in 1962, no one here ended up changing the system. So students begin school, and go through P1 through P7. Then they enter S1. Some students will end up just going to their local Secondary School, and students can also apply to other secondary schools in the area. Sometimes students are required to take an exam like an entrance exam. I think that each school is different. Their system gets confusing in Secondary School. From S1-S4 this is called Ordinary or “O-Level”, and S5-S6 is called Advanced or “A-level”. ( kinda like OWL's and NEWT's in Harry Potter...) Students are kind of ‘finished’ after S4, and only a very few students go on to S5 and S6. Not many go on to Advanced level. Some teachers have compared A-level to community college, but I’m not convinced that they are the same. For example in a typical S1 or even up to S4 class there would be anywhere from 80 to 100 students in just one class, where as in the S5 class at Awere Secondary School there are 5 male students.

This is because at the end of S4, all students have to sit for the Ugandan National Exam. Their whole education is based on how they do on that one exam. So their whole future hangs on one test. Many students cannot afford to continue on to S5, but if they can then they will only continue in the Humanities or Math and Science. Education at this level is tracked, and they can only proceed down one track. This is only dependent on what they get on their exam, and not on what their desires are. That is a big difference between the USA system and the Ugandan system. If a student wants to be a doctor, she/he must perform well on their National Exam, and if they don’t then oh well, you can’t be a doctor. And in the US, if you continue to try hard (even if you have to do it again, and again) and eventually do well, then you can probably become a doctor. (Kidneys, right Sarah?)

Now that you have some of the background…

I am co-teaching at Awere SS (secondary school) with Komakech Sheargold and we are teaching one class of S1 students (approx. 100), three classes of S2 students (approx. 90 students), and just two classes of S4 students (80 students). At Awere SS the students stay in the same classroom basically all day, and the teachers come to them. This makes for a unique experience where classes usually start late. Oh, and actually the other day, Komakech and I went to class about 10 minutes late (no big deal…TIA) and a History teacher was still teaching the S1 class, so we just ended up not having class. Kinda bizarre!

Today was my first day actually teaching, and I ended up helping to teach Newton’s 2^nd Law. Which I must admit is pretty freaking exciting to teach. Although, when I’ve taught it before, I’ve always taught it by using rockets as an example. Since that would not work so well here, I talked about futbol, pushing cars, and riding a bike. Oh, and I think that when we do Newton’s 3^rd Law we will hopefully do Alka-Rockets! (Yeah, TFI!!!) I have a ton of film canisters with me, and I can easily buy Alka-seltzer at a Pharmacy, in Lwo it’s an “Ot Yot” (which literally means House of Drugs).

Oh, and then I also helped to teach about Ticker Time Tapes, which I thought was really funny, but that is one of the ways they teach about frequency here. Again, bizarre! It’s not like any of the students are going to be using ticker time tapes while out on the streets of Gulu.

That is actually one of the biggest things that science teachers in Gulu have expressed, is that they would like their curriculum to be more applicable for the students, and the students’ lives in Gulu. They want to teach them practical skills, and helpful knowledge, rather than just filling their brains for this National Exam. It’s been quite an experience so far.

Well, this blog is getting long, and it is getting late for me. Oh, and on the 4th we are going to have a big party, all of the American's that is. There are probably about 30 of us in all, about 20 people here for the teacher exchange, and another 10 or so who are on staff. It should be a blast, but w/out fireworks! Night! (Good Afternoon.)