Our Work: Alternative Basic Education

It was the first visit to the heart of an education activity. It was a chance to sit in on alternative basic education classes in a school in rural Liberia. The activity is designed to provide primary school equivalent eduction to youth who dropped out or never got a chance to attend school.  The classes took place in the evening from 7-10:30pm. The activity is in it’s 3rd year. We met at least 10 officials from the school and from the county at the school. For some reason, the more people there are to meet during what should be a routine visit, the more suspicious I am. I wonder, what are they all doing here? In my mind there should be 4-6 people: the principal, 2 other officials from the school, activity coordinator and teachers. That’s it.

The visit:  In the first classroom the teacher introduced the activity, written on the board, and asked the students to turn to the corresponding page in their workbook. As the students flipped through the book I saw many empty pages. One, if any, of the students had pens or pencils for writing. During the lesson nothing was written and no one wrote. The teacher facilitated discussion about harmful cultural practices but did not complete the lesson as it was written in the book. She then called students up to do a drama. Then there was more discussion.

It began to get dark and there were no lights in that classroom. My heart sank. In addition to the mediocre instruction, there were no lights. I thought: How could any student possible be learning and writing without lights? How can the students really be progressing if they can no longer see the material just one hour into a three-hour school evening?

Now you see it.

In the next classroom there were dim lights that could have been better placed. As we sat down, teacher began the lesson. I would have thought he would have been already a few minutes into the lesson. There were Level I and II students in the classroom. It was a numeracy activity. No one near me was on the right page. I asked one student to show me the page. He found it in a neighbor’s book and the lesson was from the 1st semester, already completed. Again, few wrote, not everyone had a chance to practice to skills being taught.

Now you don't:(

In the end there were many thank yous and niceties. The students asked for lights and a machine to grind cassava from the school garden. Granted they need lights but my question is: are they doing the best with what they have? We thanked them for having us took pictures with both classes and walked out. The students also left?! I was in shock but managed to ask a few of the questions I had to the coordinator.  I made a few suggestions about light placement. She mentioned how the school put their money together to buy lights but just didn’t have them that evening. I responded “Ok. . .”

My heart remained sunk. It was clear the entire evening was staged. Somehow things got lost in communication. We thought we were going to observe a class in session. They thought they were to show us what a "class" looked like. I wasn’t sure if the school was finished or if true learning had ever really started.  I left with a LOT of questions.