_SAM0981

I hiked up a steep red dirt hill, cut off from the main road. This is the same half-mile hill that over 600 elementary students trek each day as they walk over 2 miles to get to school. There are only 6 teachers for all 600 students. Each teacher instructs a class of 50 students in one classroom from 7 am until noon. When those students are released at midday the next group of 300 students arrives, and each teacher begins with a new class of 50 little ones.  I spoke with the Kindergarten teacher who was currently instructing 56 students without even a teacher’s aide.  Classrooms are rarely painted, usually having only bare cinder block walls. Paint, charts, pictures and classroom resources are a luxury that most schools cannot afford. Having previously taught myself, and loving all things bright and inspirational, I often try to wrap my mind around a school in America in which a teacher has 50-60 children in a class, without any books, charts, crayons, construction paper, scissors, bulletin boards or even paint on the walls, not to mention no electricity for so much as a fan on 90 degree days with 50 children packed inside.  Then I search for inspiration on how to network and bring materials here so that teachers will be better able to educate their students and students will have greater potential for learning and further developing the next generation. If you have ideas, I’m always open to learning, so please share!