My computer is not working with the Internet, so I am retyping what I've written there. No line for the one computer today -- most everyone has gone for a hike, which I cannot go on because I have an appointment this afternoon that conflicts.
Written on Sunday, 27 September
The Daily News is a national English-language newspaper here. There were a number of stories in yesterday's edition that are relevant to the OLQP project.
The first story was on the front page; its headline: "Orphan Numbers Billed to Increase to 4 Million." The story goes on to explain that UNICEF has estimated that this will be the number of orphans and "vulnerable children" next year -- ten percent of all the children under 18 in this country! The UNICEF report states that "Despite numerous campaigns and advocacy activities in relation to HIV/AIDS prevention, the impact of the pandemic will continue to be highly significant for at least two generations after HIV prevalence." It goes on to state that due to the absence of parents and the inability of extended families to care for these affected children, they are vulnerable to exploitation: "These children are more likely to be exploited by substitute caretakers, forced into domestic labor or to working or living on the streets." (Think of Oliver Twist or Slumdog.)
It is hard for me to grasp that 10 percent of the children are so affected, so vulnerable. I pray that the high school will be able to help many of these children who have the academic qualifications to attend -- help them not only by providing them an education but also a home.
The second story's headline reads, "Shortage of Teachers Impediment to Tanzanian Quality Education." The story notes than in addition to a shortage of teachers, abject poverty and a shortage of hostels for girls in rural secondary schools are among those things that adversely affect both attempts to increase the percentage of students attending secondary school and the quality of education for those who actually make it to such a school.
I know from reading the website of a great NGO, HakiElimu (Justice-Education), that there was in the earlier part of this decade a push for universal primary education. The result of this push was a 41.5 percent increase in primary school attendance -- from 59 to 90.5 percent. There has been for the last four years a similar push re: secondary schooling. Though the number of buildings has increased, this increase has not been matched with a similar increase in the percentage of young people attending secondary schools. Many of the newly built schools are shells: no teachers, furniture, desks -- or students.
The UNICEF report notes that the present primary pupil/teacher ratio is 53/1. You can imagine how difficult it is to teach and to learn in such circumstances -- and why rote memorization remains a common pedagogical style.
St. Peter Claver HS at OLQP is being opened to address just such needs. We expect there will be about 35 students per section. (Can't help but remember the complaints when an occasional section at UDJHSA or SIHS would hit 32!)
It was the case until recently that there was no free public education. Families were required to pay for examinations, uniforms, and school meals, to rent a desk, and to contribute funds for building maintenance. Despite the fact that these fees have been abolished, the UNICEF report notes that there remain many direct and indirect costs of schooling and that this is a manor discouragement for families to enroll their children in school.
Given that St. Peter Claver will be a boarding school means not only tuition and fees but also room and boarding expenses. (The total for tuition, fees room, and board we estimate will be about $1,400 per year based on an informal survey of religiously sponsored boarding schools in the country.) The school is being built with especially the poor of the Dodoma region in mind (that's a majority of the population, in fact). The help of generous folks from all over the world will help in this regard.
The story also mentioned the absence of boarding for girls in rural areas as a factor relative to school attendance. I met a girl in Form One here at the Lutheran secondary school. Sarah stayed here on campus while many others went home for a week's break between the third and final quarters -- the school year in Tanzania ends in early December and begins six weeks later (with another six week break between quarters 2 and 4). She comes from the far west and could not afford to go home. This young lady was not upset about not having the chance to go home, as much as she misses her family, because she realizes what an opportunity she has in studying here. Without such a chance, she's uncertain about just what she'd be up to because there are no realistic possibilities for studying near her village.
I have to admit that when I first heard that St. Peter Claver HS was going to be a boarding school I gasped. My enthusiasm for the project returned when Sossy explained just why it was important that it be a boarding school: many school-aged children, especially girls, miss out on education because of a lack of such schools.
There's another reason why boarding is especially important for girls. The education of girls at day schools is frequently compromised because of the expectations that they do domestic work upon their return from school -- fetch water and wood for the next day, tend to younger siblings, grind millet, etc. This work leaves them no time for study.
The responsibilities of running a boarding school still terrify me (terrify is not too strong a word -- people who know me from my days as principal at U of Detroit Jesuit HS and Academy will remember how I lived in dread of the "911 moment," and now Ill have that dread 24 hours a day), but knowing the reason for the school's establishment as a boarding school gives me some measure of comfort in the midst of the terror. (Donations of razor wire and stadium-style lighting for the area between the boys' and girls' dormitories gladly accepted!)
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