Tuesday 26th - Friday 29th March - A Carnival of Welcome

Monday was such a big experience that the rest of the week seems to have merged into one remaining day of the week. As I write on Good Friday there is a growing buzz of excitement as the pupils gather to create a carnival of welcome for the students from Sir Roger Manwoods School. There were no classes this morning as planned but Tony and I attended a Board of Director’s meeting. It was well attended although we were disappointed that Saikou was not present. Apparently he had been travelling and did not receive the text. Surprisingly it started only half an hour late and finished by 1230. This precision was helped by the fact that the Chair and Head teacher needed to go to the Stations of the Cross but actually it was a really efficient meeting. We proceeded through the Agenda which started with the opening time of the Upper basic School. Our problem is that although classes are supposed to start at 13.50 most students and teachers are not in class until nearly 1415. This is because 2 o’clock prayers for the LBS are in process and some UBS students attend. We decided to set the example of keeping to traditional times as closely as possible although we were informed that many mosques start prayers at 1330. Instead we decided to start at 1345 and help the LBS pupils to be more efficient and completing their ablutions. Frankly this is dependent upon the teachers supervising their classes. There are plenty of water points available in the school now and no need for the current chaos as pupils casually obtain water and prepare.


We then discussed cutting the UBS afternoon break by 10 minutes to give them 20 minutes (in line with other UBS schools) and thus avoid extending school till after dark when it was risky for students to be going home.

The second item was my suggestion that we should have a written code of practice for disciplining children who disobey school rules. The rules are displayed but although we have the Staff Handbook to specify outcomes if teachers do not conform to professional conduct, some teachers have pointed out to us that there is no such written form for pupils. In fact, visitors to the school frequently comment upon the excellent discipline of the pupils in Nursery and Lower Basic but we have to admit that the UBS seem very casual. The problem with managing these students is that we have different teachers coming in to the school to teach the various subjects, compared to the one class teacher for each LBS and Nursery class. So the collaborative team approach is not in place.

Anyway, I had written out a draft code and invited the Board to discuss it. Gambian tradition very much upholds corporal punishment although the Education Department has announced that it should not be allowed. GamBLE adheres strongly to the Education Department recommendation but for many teachers and BoD members punishment is synonymous with corporal punishment. So if we are against the latter, it means that we are against punishment altogether. Then everyone claims that the pupils cannot be controlled. Kemo printed off for us a report on the President’s recent announcement that the banning of corporal punishment is responsible for the deterioration in pupils behaviour in schools.

Anyway, despite one member of the BoD interpreting my bringing this discussion to the table as a sign that there were discipline problems in the school, and advocating that parents should be “scared” that the school they have hitherto regarded as a model of excellence is now causing concern. He also stated that the administration should be blamed for falling standards. I was deeply horrified that he should have interpreted my action in this way and felt very bad that Moses had been held to account because of me. I had the opportunity to explain my motives and confirm that the school had a high reputation for behaviour, but this BoD member was clearly not convinced. Sang, the Chair, brought the subject to an amicable close and we proceeded to my report on the workshops we have held for the teachers in the school and Nursery teachers in Farato. This brought a much more positive tone to the discussion and even led to Sang stating that he had been thinking for a long time that it was high time that the BoD should initiate and system of “counterpart funding” whereby pledging money begets more money. We made it clear that this approach to the village helping itself to extend education would be looked upon very favourably in the UK.

There were various other points to discuss as well as Tony informing the BoD that he was teaching Modou Lamin to use a new accounts system (Quicken) that would analyse the school accounts instantly and provide up to date information for all BoD meetings. He also explained that we were going to trial a new bank, GT, with 2 teachers in order to establish a more favourable system for the staff. Currently they are finding the ledger expenses and VAT crippling at the bank we have been with for years and the new bank also offers ATM facilities which means they will not have to rush to the bank by 4 pm to collect salaries. The talk of having Grade 9 classes in the mornings in the next academic year and letting classroom space to a private Senior Secondary School were postponed till next term’s meeting, but Tony requested that this meeting should be at the very beginning of next term when he would still be present. All agreed.

We then took the minibus to the airport to meet the students. It seemed ages before they came through but eventually 12 very tired people emerged feeling hot and so relieved to be here. Apparently they met at their school at 2 am when it was snowing and discovered that the minibus they were expecting had not, in fact been booked. Fortunately some helpful parents drove them to the airport in time to catch their plane. We knew what to expect as we had been part of the planning but when the students and their teachers saw the whole school plus drummers gathered by the road side to escort them about half a mile along the highway to the school junction, they were overawed. As we stepped out of the minibus, the Red Cross Youth led the singing, drumming and dancing with “Hello Tony, it’s because of you!” and celebrated the words by including Tony in the centre of the dancing. Villagers crowded around to join the school’s festivities. It was a hot and very noisy march with lots of clapping, singing and dancing and we reached the school gates with smiles and friendly waves to greet us. There followed a very long entertainment underneath the school neem tree where the children gathered and members of the Youth Red Cross thoroughly enjoyed themselves with manic dancing. More chants of “Where is Tony? It’s because of you” and the students were then called to the centre on by one to join with Tony centre stage. They entered into the spirit of rejoicing very easily, much to the joy of the children. About an hour later the shattered UK group went to their enclave of 3 tents in the shady part of the school grounds. They take over Nursery 1’s classroom as their base for the week and we have left them to rest with cold drinks. The lady teachers are cooking chicken yassa for them just outside Tonka Kunda where I am writing this. They are pounding garlic, slicing onions, soaking chicken in lime juice and washing rice, while the huge cooking pot, set on 3 large stones, boils over a wood fire.

I can hear a staff meeting going on there too and I am guessing that with the arrival of the male staff just at the end of the welcome ceremony, we are facing a slight quandary. The Government Census requires teachers to take part (5 from each school) and although only 2 of our teachers’ applications were accepted by the procedure to do the training on Wednesday, it seems that most of our male staff have been accepted “by arrangement”. As all the ladies stayed in school cooking today, it is understandable that they are a bit upset. We also face a problem with how many teachers will be in school on Monday, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it and Moses is keenly focused upon making sure that the SRM party have a productive time.

Moses went to the service of the Stations of the Cross this morning and traditionally the Christians make a food called nambur which is steamed rice mixed with condensed milk, apple, baobob seeds (like sherbert) and sugar. It is like liquid rice pudding and shared by Muslims and Christians alike, drunk from a cup. Moses’s wife had prepared a bowl for all the teachers to share and we had been persuaded to buy the ingredients for some more. I had intended to cook it with Darbonding, but I did not have time because of the meeting and trip to the airport.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we spent doing staff appraisals. Most of them were positive experiences and one that I was expecting to be challenging was, in fact extremely happy. Amie had been asked last visit to speak English in class and to be more active when she had time off in between her Islamic studies classes. To help, I had revised her time table to specifically place her in classes where English was taking place. Partly this was to ensure that she worked as hard as the rest of the staff as she is paid full time to deliver a much shorter time table. When she heard the news she was overjoyed and expressed her happiness with the greatest smile I have ever seen her produce. She also went to fetch her Schemes of Work which it turned out she had tried really hard to write in English. It was obvious she had written them herself as there were mistakes, but she had not asked someone else to do it for her instead. Result!!!!

I had such a fright the other day when I was going to our kitchen cupboard to fetch a frying pan – a gecko jumped out of it as I picked it up. My immediate reaction was to scream and jump backwards but the little creature was more disturbed than I was and sped up the wall. Of course I scrubbed the pans thoroughly and calmed down. Now we keep the doors shut tight.

Tonka Kunda Club is expanding from the 4 children that came to play Ludo earlier last week. Yesterday we were up to 20 at least and organising them with 2 Ludo games, one game of draughts, 2 jigsaws, reading books, a pack of cards and Bingo. Very dusty, noisy but such good natured fun.

Teacher training afternoons have gone well this week. It has been Maths and we have had a very enjoyable and effective time playing with ten rods, cubs and doing number bonds to 10, plus getting over excited with a Snap game that I made which requires the player to shout “SNAP” when 2 numbers make 10. I extended this to a similar game where the two numbers make factors of 5 but none of the teachers seemed to click that 7 + 8 or 6 + 9 equalled SNAP. Anyway we had fun and they sat 3 tests (which in fact were the very tests I set Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 I January). The point of doing this is only partly to assess their level. It is also to find out what might be the problems in the classroom in how basic addition and subtraction are taught. Every teacher was keen to take part and the feed back is that they want more. So I am going to try to plan a self help programme using the extra text books that we have and guide them in meeting 3 times a week to work together. Some of them want to take Grade 12 Maths exam to get on to the Early Childhood course or go to university, but every teacher who took the Grade 3 test failed to get 100%. 2 scored 75% and most scored under 50%. “Maths is fun” is our theme and hopefully the expectation that it is virtually impossible to pass the G12 exam will change in years to come. Big programme then!

The Agric Science teacher is trying to apportion the vegetable beds to groups of his G8 pupils to give them practical experience. His way of going about it was chaotic and he was clearly sinking under the loud voices and enthusiasm of the pupils. One problem was so basic it was heart breaking: the new carrot seedlings are being disturbed by students digging up the tubers of potatoes from last year’s crop to eat. Although starvation is not the problem, often the students are hungry by the end of the day and their diet is fairly monotonous. Potatoes are a treat, even raw! So I helped him set very clear targets for each group and write down the names students for each plot. I think it would be a good incentive for each group to earn money from their produce as I suspect that a prize for the best of 14 plots may result in acts of sabotage. The UBS students are young men and women now and we suddenly realise that the nursery school that we started with has become a college. These very students were our preschoolers 13 years ago!

Tony has spent a lot of the week shopping for the UK students, checking the plumbing of the flush toilet and buying recoil and onions for the cooks to use for their evening meals. But a good deal of the preparation for their visit (erecting tents, preparing electricity for lights in the classroom) has been done by Modou Lamin who worked with Tony last year. He is excellent news for the school and works hand in hand with Moses to great effect.

We met with the SRM teachers, Moses and Modou Lamin on the verandah of Tinka Kunda to go through plans for the coming week over a beer, Fanta and coke and then Abibatou called that supper was ready. Modou Lamin joined us in the students’ den and all the lady teachers served a magnificent meal which the students thoroughly enjoyed. They all used forks and spoons even though we said they could eat with their hands, but it was enough for them to grow accustomed to sharing a bowl of food. Abibatou and Jorjor had thoughtly placed the chicken separately to the bowl of rice and vegetables that Tony and I shared so that I could indulge in a really good meal. Usually I have to pick around the edges to find rice that has been saved from the flavours of the meat!

We settled the students in, one was very much in need of some tlc as he had a blister and needed a bandage. It’s been a very long and challenging day for them and I think they will sleep well. We sat in the dark on the verandah with a beer, contemplating our day and as Baba walked past he called, “Have you got a power cut?” So witty as we do not have any electricity. Slept well.