Fourth Chapter: Angola Educational Institutions (continued)

The second week of the course begins and people want to talk a little bit about Saramago's "The Tale of the Unknown Island" and its relevance to our study.

I see that Brito has not yet arrived and I ask where he is: he in another room finishes reading the story ... well, the reading wasn't homework ... I say.

We discuss the comparison between the man in the story, who asks the king for a ship to take him to the unknown island and of the king's refusal to give presents that he is accustomed to receiving. On the decision-gate through which the cleaning woman exits, and when you exit, you do not return.

https://biu.academia.edu/MiriamRingel

(You can read here what I wrote about this story)

The King's behavior is very reminiscent of a schoolmaster's fear of change, unrelated to his students and their needs, and when one of his employees comes up with a new idea, it threatens the quiet and routine of his life, a routine that has many profits.

Now the conversation was about the difficulty of changing, an issue we all as educators are dealing with.

The private college

Now I would like to tell you about two schools on both sides of the Angolan social spectrum. On the one hand, a private school in the city center and on the other side a most neglected public school, intended for poor children.

The private college we come to is in downtown. The building is renovated and beautiful. Decorative wooden benches are scattered in the foyer. At the entrance to the air-conditioned conference room, boys and girls in uniform are waiting for us and give us a flower.

The principal and his deputies present the school's educational concept with 5 classrooms and three offices on each of the four floors of the building, all of which are air-conditioned! A total of 900 children are here. 56 teachers are working in two shifts. The teachers who teach here have experience and have a university degree. (In retrospect, quite a few teachers who teach in government educational institutions appear to teach in the second shift here, but this does not indicate that the level is not high).

The parents of the children pay about $ 100 per month!! It is a sum of money that can be paid by a very limited population. To our disappointment, in the tour of the study rooms, we find modern desks, extremely clean children, quite a few white or mixed children (the children of the ambassadors), but the teachers continue to teach conventionally. A teacher conducting a frontal lesson, using books, notebooks, and blackboard. When we return to the university to conclude the visit, an interesting discussion is held between the similarities and differences between the two institutions we visited.

The similar and different between the government school and the private college

similar	different
pupils	The college principal did not know the purpose of our visit
principal	In college, there is a position of technical pedagogical director
teachers	Students receive more personal attitude in college
Structure of the lesson	There is a college lab (not so modern ...
Contents of the study	The college has a conference hall - an auditorium
The location of the school - downtown	The college has a sports field and gymnastics classes
Noteworthy discipline	There is a reference in the college to the outward appearance - gardening
No library	The students in college attended our meeting
Two shifts of study	The college has water facilities for students
Not light enough rooms	In college, every floor has a fire extinguisher
Unsafe stairwells	Executive rooms and luxurious teachers
No curriculum (teaching programs)
A wonderful welcome in both places

Conclusions we infer from these:

• It is important to explain to the school administration in advance what our visit goals are

• The principal was concerned because he thought we were a group of supervisors who came to criticize his school.

• Classrooms do not allow for other learning

• Homework - It turns out that in public schools students do not get homework. In private, students get homework since everyone has the proper physical conditions at home to prepare the lessons.

• It is the teacher's responsibility and motivation that makes the lesson more or less interesting.

The visit allows me to talk about one of the important topics of the course: motivation. How do you motivate people to work? What motivates different people to do the same job?

An excellent exercise I took out of the internet before we left for Angola (in the Portuguese language, of course) and in each, one had to sort out 20 items, according to their importance as to their motivation.

In data collection, we learn that different things motivate people and there is a huge difference between what drives one to action and what drives the other.

School for the Poor Children

At the end of this day, Esther, who is an inspector of elementary schools, tells us that she is ready to take us today to visit one of the schools under her supervision.

The driver Sabalo stops first at the customs warehouse, to finish stamping the stamps on the little sculptures we purchased. (Remember? This is a must; otherwise, you will be confiscated with this "property" at the airport).

I can't find words to describe the place. Inside a huge hall, similar to an abandoned factory, we meet a man sitting behind a matte wooden table to fall and paste stamps into some logic of the fairytale world. (No, not of the good fairies). Beside him is a woman who reminds me of the "cleaning woman" from "The Tale of the Unknown Island" before the man who requested a ship from the King arrived. We place the statues on the table. The man counts them and is wrong in the count (in retrospect, he counted too many ...) paste the stamps and here we are sure we can return to our country with our gifts.

From here we go to an area of the city called SAMBIZANGA for a visit to the elementary school.

The street we enter is not paved. A night of rain caused profound mud and it is impossible to cross the street from one side to the other. The school is located on both sides of the street, in two very poor buildings.

On the right side sits, in a dark room that looks like the entrance to an old basement, the young manager who welcomes us with a smile and joy. Perhaps this visit is likely to be of economic benefit to his school. Carlos, the principal, tells us about the objective difficulties in his work: two shifts, teachers who do not come to work every day, children who do not attend school regularly. And when he takes us on a tour to the classrooms Felisa and I look at each other with tears in our eyes. About a hundred sweet and pretty children (the Angolans are pretty nation), crammed into a room with one teacher (since every day a different teacher is missing). The room has no minimal equipment in the classrooms: no tables, no electrical lighting. The children bring the little plastic chairs out of their homes with them, every day. A beam of light that penetrates the window openers illuminates the board and the teacher who tries to teach and the students try to learn. The textbook, which they also write in, is on their knees...

Esther and Blanca tell us that this is how all the schools in their area of supervision look like and that through them they make their way every day between one institution and another (sometimes two hours walking!)

What does supervision mean in this area? What can a superintendent assure a schoolmaster except for an attentive ear?

Unrighteousness cries out to heaven. I look at the children and ask myself what are the chances that children who study in such a framework will succeed in breaking it into the future and become educated people?

Such schools perpetuate ignorance, poverty, and disease. The heart is shrinking and we are grateful to Esther for her courage (after visiting the other two institutions we have already seen) to bring us to this place.