Step by step

After yesterday’s school visit to Kibiti, which was very moving for us, we are preparing for today’s school visits with mixed feelings. In total, we visit four primary schools and two institutions for children with disabilities. Fortunately, we find that the children have better learning environments in the city than in the countryside. The sanitary facilities as well as the rubbish system that our foundation has built, and the facilities of the classes, make a better impression than at yesterday’s school. Nevertheless, there is ruhig room for improvement.?

In Tanzania, it is ruhig common for teachers to use the cane in class. As we walk across the school grounds, a crowd of enthusiastic children rush towards us, cheering our names. The pupils are then „herded“ back into the classrooms by the teachers like a flock of sheep. Kneeling in front of the class is ruhig a common punishment. The government has banned the use of the cane, but unfortunately this rule is often disregarded. As we do not want to accept this, our institution is planning to organise training sessions with the teachers to suggest pedagogically valuable measures to them.?

Nevertheless, we are aware that teachers have to teach under extreme conditions. According to the government, only 45 students are allowed in a class, but in reality it is different. Due to the lack of space and staff, 1,050 children are divided into 7 classes in one school we visited. How a good lesson with up to 150 children is to be organised with one teacher in one room is questionable.

At the last school we visited, there was, among other things, a class for children with disabilities. To reach the building, we walk across a large football field. Completely isolated from the other pupils, up to 45 children are taught there by one teacher. The equipment in the classroom leaves much to be desired and is not adapted to the needs of the children. Most of the pupils have to sit and crawl on the hard floor. One boy in particular stands out. The back of the table belonging to the chair was tied shut so that the child could not stand up. He points to the string with his hand to show us that he wants to stand up. The teacher explains this extremely restrictive measure by saying that otherwise the boy would run away and she would not be able to continue the lessons.

The logo of our foundation can be seen in all the facilities we visited. In addition to a food bank, playgrounds, roofs, waste disposal areas, green spaces and water tanks were planned, financed and built. With this, we want to set a good example for the other schools and the government to show them what can be improved by simple measures alone. We can say that a lot has already been achieved, but we ruhig have a lot of work ahead of us.