The best thing I've been experiencing with these visits to the school in Chão Bom is realizing that no matter how poor your surroundings are, when you love something and you want to be good at it, there is very little that will stop you.
Teachers are severely underpaid here - is there any place where they aren't?... - but nonetheless, all the materials that they use have to be paid by them. The schools have no possibility of paying for the materials themselves and there are no programs that sponsor those materials to schools or teachers.
And the school where I am, the teacher I am working with, are a true example of that. Even with a very low salary, this teacher manages to have the walls covered in colorful pasteboards with the most important information for the students.
But today there was something that really hit me. During break, a gentleman came with a stack of books and delivered them to the teacher I'm currently accompanying. She received the books, signed a paper, put her bank account information on it and gave the paper back to him. When I asked her what that was, she said it was a set of books that teachers could by at this gentleman, but she couldn't tell me much else about him or the program he was working on. I then went to ask him what kind of program that was and he explained that he worked for a company which distributes kits with various books to all the public schools in Cape Verde. The teachers that want the kit have to pay a total amount of 130€ (give or take), but they can choose to pay it upfront or in four or eight installments. The kits include encyclopedias, story books, health and nutrition manuals and teaching aid booklets.
Teachers are severely underpaid here - is there any place where they aren't?... - but nonetheless, all the materials that they use have to be paid by them. The schools have no possibility of paying for the materials themselves and there are no programs that sponsor those materials to schools or teachers.
And the school where I am, the teacher I am working with, are a true example of that. Even with a very low salary, this teacher manages to have the walls covered in colorful pasteboards with the most important information for the students.
But today there was something that really hit me. During break, a gentleman came with a stack of books and delivered them to the teacher I'm currently accompanying. She received the books, signed a paper, put her bank account information on it and gave the paper back to him. When I asked her what that was, she said it was a set of books that teachers could by at this gentleman, but she couldn't tell me much else about him or the program he was working on. I then went to ask him what kind of program that was and he explained that he worked for a company which distributes kits with various books to all the public schools in Cape Verde. The teachers that want the kit have to pay a total amount of 130€ (give or take), but they can choose to pay it upfront or in four or eight installments. The kits include encyclopedias, story books, health and nutrition manuals and teaching aid booklets.
If I look at all those materials, the price is not outrageous. But given the low income of these teachers, it felt like a real stretch to ask them to pay that kind of money. Of course they are not forced to it, they only do it if they can, but to me it was sad to realize once more that only those who have the means, can get to the knowledge. Or to a deeper level of it.
Access to knowledge is a human right. It should be free to everyone. And I know that there are several human rights that still fail to be respected, but I couldn't help to think about this. Wouldn't it be possible to have agreements with publishers to send some books to 3rd world countries? Is there an organization that does this already? It might sound naive, but to me it doesn't seem so hard to do. Even if they don't send the newest editions, I am sure some of these schools would be happy to receive older books.
It reminded me of a book I read a few months ago called “Leaving Microsoft to change the world”, by John Wood. He left Microsoft to start an organization called Room to Read, whose sole purpose is to send books to schools in Nepal, Cambodia and Vietnam. I don't know if they now deliver to more countries, but I do know that they intended to start doing it in some countries of Africa as well... I got so inspired by this book. I wish there were more people like him and the whole staff of Room to Read out there. Because we could really use some more around the world.
I am, more than ever, curious to visit other schools in other countries and see how their access to books and school materials is. I've got a sneaky feeling that I haven't seen the worst yet...
Access to knowledge is a human right. It should be free to everyone. And I know that there are several human rights that still fail to be respected, but I couldn't help to think about this. Wouldn't it be possible to have agreements with publishers to send some books to 3rd world countries? Is there an organization that does this already? It might sound naive, but to me it doesn't seem so hard to do. Even if they don't send the newest editions, I am sure some of these schools would be happy to receive older books.
It reminded me of a book I read a few months ago called “Leaving Microsoft to change the world”, by John Wood. He left Microsoft to start an organization called Room to Read, whose sole purpose is to send books to schools in Nepal, Cambodia and Vietnam. I don't know if they now deliver to more countries, but I do know that they intended to start doing it in some countries of Africa as well... I got so inspired by this book. I wish there were more people like him and the whole staff of Room to Read out there. Because we could really use some more around the world.
I am, more than ever, curious to visit other schools in other countries and see how their access to books and school materials is. I've got a sneaky feeling that I haven't seen the worst yet...