In which I jot down some thoughts about schools...

I have an awful feeling these will seem very negative…

Caning

It is illegal to cane pupils in schools and yet we see it happening everywhere…

We have a regular, weekly, visiting slot at a local school where we help out with a bit of small group teaching, teacher and head teacher mentoring, not to mention the odd bit of secretarial typing for them.  One Monday we arrived to witness the whole school being caned, one by one; this is a Junior High School so the age range is from 12/13 through to 20/21.  The crime was lateness.  The week before, the teachers had asked all latecomers to write letters of apology, and because this didn’t have the instant effect required, caning ensued.  We spent the next hour berating the head teacher for this action and offering our views on more positive behaviour management.  One of our points was that teachers need to set an example of being punctual – and they don’t and some of them aren’t.  The head took it all in his stride but argued that parents want the school to discipline the pupils in this way.  All I can say is that we made our point and we may have sown a few seeds for later consideration but I’ve since seen some of these pupils being hit by the teachers by cane and by hand!

Other abuses I’ve seen include:

·        One teacher completely losing his temper and beating a pupil around the head because the pupil would not kneel down in the dirt when ordered.  This pupil was not even a member of the teacher’s school; he attended the Primary school and not the Junior school!

·        Forcing miscreants to kneel in the sand for a while, like being put in the stocks, also seems to be quite common.

·        Teachers in a lesson pinching children on the face (hard!) for not getting an answer correct (or it may have been for not writing neatly).

·        Teachers patrolling the classroom with stick in hand.

This is the sort of discipline delivered in some homes too.  The other night I heard a boy being beaten just outside my living room window.  It sounded horrific and the boy was howling.  The only thing I could think to do in time was to shout very loudly through our window for it to STOP!  I have an awful feeling that it simply removed itself further off and I was very upset by it!  (Having said that I was told that the beaten boy was the one I had to remove from our landlady’s roof not long ago so maybe…but NO!)

To return to school, prefects are appointed (possibly self-appointed) in the upper primary school.  They are frequently in charge of the younger ones and guess what they use to keep them in order?  Sticks- imitation canes.  They use them to beat the little ones; admittedly not hard…yet…but the potential is there.

                                    Prefects - sticks at the ready!                              

As I type this it makes me reflect on the fact that our office colleagues always see the negatives, the problems, the reasons why something cannot be accomplished and rarely do they see the positives and the benefits once a few obstacles have been overcome.  Punishment methods seem to reflect this attitude, attacking the negatives instead of highlighting the positive.  We have been trying hard to reverse this mindset but it is a very small drop in a rather large pond.

Teachers

Before I begin, let me say that there are professional and dedicated teachers around.  There are many who are keen to do a good job and to develop their skills …

Teachers are made up of trained, training, untrained, pupil teachers (I think these have come straight from Senior High School) and national service personnel (if you study for a degree you are obliged to do National Service for 1 year which may, or may not, be linked to your degree…unless you have an exemption!).  Some of them have only been through Senior High School.  Some have a completely unrelated degree and then are launched in the classroom.  In Bawku West the teaching population in a given school may well consist of mainly untrained staff (this may not be the case in other districts, especially further south).  Large numbers of schools don’t have enough teachers, hence the very large class sizes (well, there is also the problem of accommodation, furniture and other basic resources).

                                                                     The staff room

It appears that pupil teachers don’t get any salary for the first 12 months; it is usually backpaid some time thereafter (sometimes the accountant paying it asks for a few cedi during the process!).  I don’t understand why; perhaps it takes the office in Accra that long to process the information.  I know of a local head teacher who has not been paid since October 2012.  This is because he came from the Volta region, had a break in service before coming to Zebilla (apparently he went off to university again without permission), and they haven’t yet got him back on the payroll.  Rumour has it that if he went to Accra and spoke nicely to the pay office with a “little something” in an envelope there would be no problem.  But where do you get 100+ Ghana cedi to get to Accra when you haven’t been paid?  And why should you?!  How he survives I’m not quite sure.  And he tells me that when he does finally get paid he is unlikely to be given the full amount of back pay.

Now, there is a whole lot wrong with the teaching profession here but honestly, where is the incentive to do your best when you’re not even paid?!

Many teachers have a second job, ranging from part share in a shop (container…not like the shops in the UK), farming (especially in the rainy season), odd-job man, builder etc.

There is a definite lack of professionalism in the system.  Teachers don’t arrive in school on time.  Some of them sign themselves in and then leave for the day.  Some don’t bother to turn up at all.  I’ve been in schools where there have been only one or two teachers around for the whole primary school; that’s when the “prefects” take over with their sticks.  I’ve delivered an INSET during the school day when teachers have been with me and no adults were around to supervise the children.  There weren’t any fatalities, the children are used to fending for themselves, but I was very surprised!  For other INSETs teachers may turn up simply to collect their “T & T” (travel and subsistence), spending the learning time outside or on the phone!

Having said that, it can’t be a pleasant prospect to have 70 or 80 pupils in your class with no resources other than a few textbooks and a chalkboard.  I have great sympathy for them because the day to day grind of teaching is hard.  But, I do think that more could be made of what they have got…it comes back to the positive attitude and professionalism…and the behaviour management too.

 

Oh, and another thing…teachers can be transferred at a moment’s notice.  Two head teachers that I know of have just been uprooted, mid year, to become “circuit supervisors” (a school monitoring role) and several teachers have been shifted around, often many, many, rough miles away from where they were.  They have no say in the matter!

Disability

There are special schools (often boarding) for the deaf and blind and for some mild mental/physical conditions.  There are some day schools for more severely handicapped.  You are lucky if you happen to live in their locality, otherwise there is a travel inconvenience and cost involved in schooling.  And how can you get a severely handicapped child to a school 30 miles away every day when you are poor, have no transport and are already stigmatized because you have a disabled child?!

For other pupils with milder disabilities, if you can locate them and persuade them, they should be accommodated in their local schools.  So, in theory, schools are inclusive.  However, personalised learning and differentiation is understandably limited when you have 80 pupils in the class!  Still, in my book, getting them into school is a big achievement!

 

 

Resources

These are limited!  There are no books in classrooms.  There is nothing to read.  There are no displays (one exception was a private school).  There are no games, no activities, no pens/pencils (pupils supply their own), no paper.  Nothing.  There are some textbooks used for some lessons.  There is a chalkboard.  There are exercise books for writing…exercises!  How can you instill a love of reading when there is nothing to read?!  And unless you are very lucky, you are not taught phonics so once your photographic memory of words runs out you are stuck!  I should modify this by saying that the brighter ones do manage to pick up some phonics by default but many, many don’t!

                                                                   A football match

Conclusion

This is short and sweet…there is a lot of scope for developing schools in Ghana!

 

 

 

 

 

In which I discuss disability...

My role as a Special Needs Officer takes me out into the rural communities (known here as “the field”) rooting out children with disabilities.  In theory, the main aim is to get them into an appropriate school but in practice there are many more fundamental problems and hurdles to jump before that can happen.  For instance:

1.    Basic education from Kindergarten through to Junior High School 3 (roughly equivalent to Year 9) has been compulsory and free since 1961.  However, from my admittedly limited experience in the rural north, it is obvious that dozens of children are not attending school.  Perhaps enrolment and attendance are higher in the more affluent south.  The law suggests that parents of non-attenders should be fined but this is never enforced.  There would be a very serious shortage of accommodation and teachers if all these stray children did decide to enroll.  And given that many able bodied children flout the law, getting parents to send a disabled child to school can be quite a challenge!

 

 

2.   Disabled children are traditionally regarded as a curse on the family, the outward sign of a misdemeanor or sin, so they are secreted away inside the family compound.  No data is available to illuminate the extent of the problem or where our “clientele” may be; you might think the hospitals would be a good starting point but many of the disabled children are not taken for medical diagnosis or treatment.

3.   There is no systematic approach to finding the information/families we need to help.  Departments don’t work together efficiently to share information.  This is a very oral community where written recording is haphazard.  Computer literacy, even within the Ghana Education Service, is limited, not to mention the lack of access to computers or the internet (how did we ever manage without them/it!).

4.   There is a constant battle to get enough fuel for field work.  Many officers sit in the office with nothing to do, waiting to be allocated a few gallons for a few visits.  As a consequence, I would guess that the more distant communities have never, or very rarely, been visited by the District Special Educational Needs Officer (SPED) so we are barely skimming the tip of the iceberg where disability is concerned.

Some Examples:

Ama lives in the outskirts of Zebilla.  She has no speech.  Her mother has left the family compound so she is cared for by her father, who drinks, and her aunt.  Ama was referred to Zebilla hospital by the SPED, supported by my VSO predecessor, and fortunately her aunt followed through the referral to a diagnosis of paralysis/palsy of the tongue.  Physiotherapy was recommended but that was out of the question given that it would involve a prohibitive 30 km trip to Bawku.

There isn’t a school in Zebilla with any disability specialism but fortunately the Head teacher at Ama’s local primary school is very sympathetic and has accommodated her in the Kindergarten environment.  Socialising with her peer group has been important and definitely speeded her progress in communication; she is making herself understood in many different contexts by gesture - her own sign language and even trying to make sounds.  I am currently trying to organize for (a) the school to set simple targets for progress, like a mini Individual Education Plan (IEP) and (b) a visit to the nearest school for the deaf, for assessment, advice and the possibility of a placement there in September.  It’s a boarding school situated about 50km away.  It would not be the perfect placement given that she has hearing, it’s the speech that is the problem, however, she would be taught sign language.  I don’t really know the character or the intake of the school so I can’t judge yet.  I failed to persuade the Director of Education (who holds the purse strings) that a school INSET delivered by someone from the School for the Deaf and including some basic sign/communication skills would be a good idea.  I am currently in “pestering” mode for her to release the Education Office car so that we can take Ama to get the assessment.  The pestering word should give you an indication of my current success!  However, I am determined.

 

 

As well as working with the school you must also work with the family and this is quite an eye opener.  Basically, you turn up on your motorbike in the approximate vicinity of where you think they live (well, clearly I have to rely on the locals for this).  Then you sit down under a shady, evergreen mango tree and wait.  Often there are already a few people there.  At this time of the year a few women sit and sort out seeds, food, rice, children; later on, in the rainy season, they will be out on the farms.  A few men and some of the older folk are there for the company.  On arrival a handy bench is produced for us (they mostly sit on the ground).  By and by, somehow, knowledge of your presence spreads (African drums, witchcraft, miracles…mobile phones or possibly a noisy motorbike revving past) and the community slowly drifts over to the mango tree to join the excitement.  It’s amazing!

And, as you reach the end of the community discussion about the next steps for Ama, another mother gains the confidence to step into the limelight with her disabled child.  This little girl can’t walk.  Two visits later we discover that she has had treatment at two different hospitals, both unsuccessful; and now nothing is being done to help her.  The girl is 4, so should start Kindergarten in September.  So, I have written her a referral to get a current diagnosis and treatment plan so that if necessary (and I think it will be) I can fight for a wheelchair for her (and it may well be a battle!). 

Same time, same place…we have just concluded business with this mother when yet another member of this community produces her disabled son (it’s staggering given the sparsity of dwellings in the vicinity!).  This boy is very small for his 7 years and has that slightly stocky appearance you sometimes find with Down’s Syndrome. Like Ama, he can hear but not speak.  It’s obvious he has limited tongue control and his development seems delayed.  His mother explained to us that when he was a toddler she worried about his lack of speech.  So, he was taken to the local “healer” who slit his tongue (I think the flap underneath) causing profuse bleeding…but no speech.  Call me biased, but I can’t see how this treatment helped!!

So, yet another referral…and all without leaving my shady tree.

 

 

This is not an isolated experience.  The same thing happened in another rural community we visited on the opposite side of town.  Here we were seeking out a deaf child we are hoping will attend the School for the Deaf in September.  As we chatted through the procedure for this,  under a shady tree, out came the community to view the man on the motorbike with the “nasara” (white person).  Two more deaf children from two more families were introduced to us and added to our list. 

Surely all this evidence should be enough to convince the district that (a) more systematic work is necessary and (b) there is a need for local provision for disabled people and their families?  Well, actually, not yet, it seems.  We are able to visit only a very few villages and communities.  There must be so many more who really need help to improve the quality of their lives.  But there is no money, no system, little awareness and a huge amount of reticence.

In the next few weeks I hope to get the Special Needs Officer (SPED), Social Welfare Director, Community Health Nurse and a member of the Federation for the Disabled together with a view to firing them with enthusiasm and commitment.  From these few we may be able to set in motion a larger committee whose objectives centre around improving the quality of life for people with disabilities and for their families.  I don’t think it will be easy.  I’m told that the Federation for the Disabled fights amongst itself.  And there is no money.  But who knows what may happen?  In another district they have managed (with some funding and a longer established VSO) to establish a monthly meeting for families with disabled children where they just get together; get support and advice; meet friendly faces; learn that disability is not a shame and…spread the word.  It took a long time to get there…but then, so did that shady mango tree.

 

In which I write a missings alphabet...

A selection of the things I miss…

A	Apples: we can buy Golden Delicious but I so miss a little Cox or a Pink Lady! Architecture: I wouldn’t describe myself as cultured but it would be nice to see some beautiful buildings.  Advance booking: and some form of timetabling so you don’t have to get up at 3am to wait for a bus that may, or may not, leave at 6am.
B	Baking: I have no oven and I miss both making and eating cakes etc! Being busy: I have hours at the office where I have nothing to do.  I’ve run out of “odd jobs” and forward planning.  Still, I have completed another phonics workshop with favourable reports J.  I’m so scared I’ll be a dead leg by the time I get back. L Brown bread:  food may become a common theme!
C	CATHERINE! Comfy chairs: (of which there are NONE in the whole of Ghana).  We eat off plastic garden furniture   and these are what most places have, including schools and bars.  The office has some rickety wooden chairs with torn padded seats which, frankly, make your bum sweat! Cheese and chocolate: we can get “laughing cow” and when we travelled we ate pizza.  I’m told you can buy a very expensive cheddar in Bolgatanga (but I’d have to brave the tro-tro for that).  You can also buy a small range of chocolate in Bolga but we haven’t…yet!     Braving the tro-tro! Coffee: real coffee! Cutlery: that doesn’t bend as soon as you look at it and that matches. Crockery: that isn’t melamine.
D	Debenhams: where we spend many a happy coffee break! Dust free environment: I’ll never complain about UK dust again…I will definitely get my lungs tested when I get back - they probably contain half of the Sahara by now! DVDs:  watching many, many episodes of Star Trek has its limits! Doors that fit:  we have many doors…not one of them fits.  I even oiled one of them with butter (well, not real butter, you can’t get that).  It worked too – that door doesn’t squeak any more!   We tried to block up the holes to keep out the mosquitos!   Dishwasher: well, I don’t miss this as much as you might think (given that I have nothing better to do!) Driving: in my car (NOT the bike!); driving on the left; following the highway code!; not being so aggressive on the road (perhaps I forget what UK roads are like but we are not constantly blowing our horns to frighten others out of the way!)
E	Equipment: reliable and available resources.  Teaching under a tree with not even a chair is a bit wearing.   The office photocopier is an ancient machine held in the Director’s room and operated by the office clerk; you can’t just use it – well, the paper is restricted for a start.  You even have to ask to use the stapler in the office (and there are often no pins (staples))! Electricity: the fairly frequent power cuts have not so far been a serious problem ( I think I will need to revise that when the 40 ° temperatures arrive and the fan is not working), it’s more the fact that we are gradually running out of sockets that work.  I nearly blew up the house this morning when the iron plug started smoking at the wall.  Most of the sockets crackle when in use…perhaps that’s why my hair is so curly!
F	Friends and family: normal conversations (well normal for us!) and genuine affection!  Company that’s on the same wave length and gets Paul’s jokes! Fields: the typical English green field complete with hedge or dry stone wall.  The rolling countryside.  The hills and mountains and general undulation.  Ah!  There are hills in the distance which create the border between Ghana and Burkino Faso.    The local hills just aren't the same!    We even climbed one or two of them quite recently, getting up at 5.30am to avoid the heat of the day.     Freezer: none of this going to the crowded, noisy market every 3 days in the boiling heat!
G	Garden: I miss pottering and pruning! Glass: decent glass to keep out the dust (though I accept that you need the open spaces to let the breeze in and stop you from boiling).  Also to shut out the noise…especially at 4 am when the local churches compete at full volume!  Windows and breezes in our living room!
H	Hot water: it’s not too bad having to boil water in pans…and cold showers are ok in this climate, but just occasionally hot water on tap would be a treat. Hairdryer:  my hair has not been cut since September and is totally wild!
I	Internet: it is SO much better than it was when we first arrived but still lacks speed and reliability (it has crashed as I type).
J	JUDITH! Jogging: (or “trotting” as the locals call it) at the moment we are doing a little circuit at 5.45 am! 2 or 3 days a week.  However, it has been, and will again become, too hot, even at this hour; also, when it rainy season comes again, the nasty mosquitos will be out at this hour and we’d be trotting in the dark through deep puddles.
K	Karate: we are practicing in our lounge at the weekends for about an hour, again in the slightly cooler early morning (though not quite so early…it is the weekend even if it is hot!) but I’m sure we are getting into bad habits!
L	Language: yes they speak English here but it’s definitely Ghana English.  You hear more of the local languages really; although there are about 80 Ghanaian languages, most people can understand each other. Luxury: any sort would do!
M	MARGARET! Meat, milk and mugs: I have not been tempted to buy my meat live to butcher at home, nor yet to frequent the local butcher who has an open stall on the market complete with flies (although I have been pleasantly surprised at how relatively insect free it is here…I may revise this in the wet season when the mosquitos abound).  The choice of milk is dried, soya or evaporated – we use all 3.  We have 2 mugs, of a vulgar sort.  We could buy more…but they would be the same vulgar sort! Medical care: so far we have only been witnesses to this, thankfully not having needed it ourselves.  However, there are very few doctors in the Upper East (nobody wants to come here) so most treatment is given by health technicians (Paul equates them with first aiders!) and seems to be very inconsistent and is accompanied by lots of injections.  Yuk! Music: Paul has not listened to anything on his ipod since we arrived and I have only occasionally used my music.  Somehow it feels quite incongruous here.  There is a lot of music in the environment: rap and reggae in the streets – played through enormous, distorting speakers at full volume; church – usually in Kusaal with wannabe young drummers; if you’re lucky you can sometimes pick up some real African rhythms and local beats which are quite nice to listen to for a short while. Make-up: haven’t worn any of that since our arrival.  I’d look really good with it streaking down my sweaty face!
N	News: I’m not one for news, it generally goes in one ear and out the other, but we’ve heard barely any since our arrival.  I suppose that means I don’t need to make excuses for forgetting it all!  I really enjoyed my mini headlines on Twitter…
O	Oven: Our cooking arrangements do not include an oven.
P	Planning and organization: none of that to be found here!  Most jobs are completed as a last minute rush because there is no system of forward planning.  The Ghana Education Service bought diaries for the teaching staff this year.  I haven’t yet seen any of them in use.  And they are non-existent in the office! Privacy: none of that either!  Children stare at us through the non-windows!  People call unexpectedly and you have to drop everything to “greet” them (which can take a while!).    You can see where the children line up to stare at us!   Pavements: I am so fed up of sandy toes!  I’m also fed up of dodging bikes and motor bikes coming from all directions on the pavement!  Away from the one main road, of course, there is no pavement, just dirt! Pointless!: relaxing between jobs with a cuppa in front of the TV.
Q	Quality: there is none…in anything!  Well, actually I need to revise that.  Yesterday I spotted the first articles exhibiting any degree of quality craftsmanship.  They were lavishly polished and ornate.  They looked as if they were made with love and care.  What were they? Coffins. Quiet:  there is none.  Ghanaians are incredibly loud!
R	Rain: I appreciate that the UK is fed up of this – perhaps you could send some here! Rug: family joke…how is my rug? Recipes: I didn’t usually follow them anyway but they were a comfort blanket.  We are producing reasonable results with our guess and hope technique: jam, pancakes, potato cakes, fudge.
S	Structure: routine, organization – the things I’m good at! Singing: there is often too much environmental noise to have an effective sing…and also if I sing out then all the neighbours can hear. L And, like I said, we don’t often put on our own music.  However, I did quite a bit of singing during my phonics INSET programmes!  I’m looking forward to a return to choir and a bop around the kitchen. Supermarkets: I never thought I would say that I missed a supermarket…all that beautifully packaged and uniform food that hasn’t been sitting in the blazing sun all day…pushing round that trolley on a smooth, clean floor with the air-conditioning keeping you cool…no jostling between the aisles.  And even the prospect of a cappuccino at the end.  Bliss!   Jostling at the market.
T	Teaching:  all that planning and busyness!  Well, perhaps not that aspect of the job!  I miss the interaction with the lovely All Saint’s team and with my class.  I miss the purposeful atmosphere and knowing where and how I fit in.  Most of the time I have no idea what’s going on here! Toilets: we have a flushing toilet in our house.    Here it is (I won't show you the others)   Several compounds close by will share a toilet built equi-distant from their houses.  I have not investigated these.  At the office, there is an open air block set back from the main building, with a partition (male/female).  There is a floor and a pipe which drains into the field.  A more substantial building further afield contains a few holes over the top of a large pit…but nobody in their right mind would “go” there!  It is quite usual to see both adults and children squatting in the field…after which the local pigs queue up for the delicacy!  So, we are now experts at crossing our legs!
U	Underwear: the idea of the well fitting bra barely exists.  Many ladies don’t bother at all and I can understand why – it’s too hot!  There are stalls in the market that sell them; they are all hanging loose.  Finding one with a label could take all day…and just how you are supposed to try them in the middle of the market beats me.  I think that’s why many don’t fit!  So…here’s hoping my underwear lasts! Understanding: what’s going on, how to find out, where to go for things.  Some kind of written signposting would be so helpful.  Ghanaians can’t say they don’t know, it’s a culture thing, so they make up an answer where required, which means you could be on a wild goose chase!  We’d also like to learn more of the local language but there are no books and no teachers and the locals have no concept of writing down or practicing useful phrases with you!  Very frustrating!
V	Variety: We eat some form of tomato every meal because there are lots of them around all the time.  Otherwise you eat what there is at the market and this depends on the season and which lorries have passed through the town.  Watermelons are at an end; pineapples don’t make it as far as Zebilla; mango season has not yet begun; bananas and oranges are available after a delivery.  It’s the same with the veg.  Onions are in abundance just now.  We tend to eat lots of stews with the vegetables of the day and protein from a tin (meat/fish) or local beans.   Paul has now discovered that a variety of donuts can be purchased for next to nothing and he is trying hard to keep the local cooks in business!
W	Water: we are in the routine of filtering and boiling all our water for consumption and we have a good system for storing it.  Well, I hope it’s good – we haven’t had to test it yet.  Fortunately our polytank of water is filled by a working pump on a regular basis.  Several pumps do not work and have not been fixed for many months.  Many of our neighbours collect water from their nearest bore hole (of which there are many dotted around).  There are problems with our tank in that the stop cock doesn’t work so it has to be turned on and off manually at an underground tap and sometimes we forget with a consequent overflowing and wastage of precious water.  We haven’t yet had a water bill…   The trusty water filter!
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