Jambo Rafikis! (Hello Friends!)
We’ve been hard at work for the last week, and I’m proud to say that we’ve made a lot of progress. We finished interviewing the prospective scholars yesterday. Over the course of the last week, we interviewed 28 girls at three schools—Lumumba, Ben Bella, and Zanzibar Commercial School. The girls we interviewed are currently in Form II, which is roughly equivalent to eighth grade; however, many of the girls are fifteen and sixteen years old. From those 28, we have selected 10 girls to be finalists for the scholarships based on the strength of their application and interviews, as well as their demonstrated need and academic achievements. In the upcoming week, we will conduct home visits to those 10 girls’ homes in order to better determine their financial need and to meet their families. After the home visits are finished, we will select 8 new S4Si scholars, whom we will begin funding next year when they start Form III.
The schools with which we work are the best in Zanzibar. At the end of Standard 7—the last year of primary school and equivalent to sixth grade—all Zanzibari students take placement tests to determine if and where they might go to secondary school. School is only compulsory through Standard 7, and the selection process for secondary school, while they are still public schools, is very competitive. The students with the top scores overall are assigned to Lumumba. Students who score the best in Math and Science subjects go to Ben Bella. Students who with the strongest scores in Business subjects go to Zanzibar Commercial School. The secondary schools in Zanzibar are much smaller than in the US—there might be only 90 students in a grade—so there are many schools throughout the island. Based on our observations, we think that some of the schools are split between a magnet-type program and a neighborhood-school program: Half the population is made up of high-achieving students who pursue specialized curriculum at the “magnet” program within the school, and the rest of the student body is made up of lower-performing students drawn from the nearby neighborhoods.
The school day is also very different from the US. Most schools have two sessions in order to accommodate more students. Some students go in the morning from 7 am to noon, and some go in the afternoon from 1 to 6. Often, students are not able to get through the required curriculum during the regular school day, so most students will try to scrape together enough money to attend “tuition” classes in subjects like English, Math, Chemistry, and Biology; without these extra classes, it’s nearly impossible to pass the national exams. Students must take exams at the end of Form II, Form IV, and Form VI. If you fail the Form II or Form IV exams, you cannot remain in public school. If you wish to continue in secondary school, you must pay for private school for a year and re-attempt your exams. Because private school is too expensive for most Zanzibaris, failing one of these two exams means the end of one’s education. When students take exams in Form VI, they receive results in one of five divisions: Division I, Division II, Division III, Division IV, or Fail. Very few students score Division I or Division II, but if a student receives those results, they may get scholarships from the government or private sponsorships to attend university.
There are other costs associated with education, even though public school is technically “free.” Schools will only provide textbooks for the teachers, so students must purchase their own. Uniforms, transportation on the public bus, and school supplies also cost a lot of money. The transportation issue is often what causes students to miss school because there are no public buses and many students live far away from their schools: without money to pay the bus or without a bus, you can’t get to school easily. There’s a saying here that school is “free” for the teachers, but not for students: it seems like this might be an ironic statement, but it’s true here. In the US, many of these costs exist, but at least there are social service agencies and programs set up to assist struggling families. In Zanzibar, there are very few—if any—organizations or government programs that can assist Zanzibaris with these costs because if they did, the demand for these services would be too much for the organization to handle.
Given the number of obstacles in place which could halt or end a Zanzibari student’s formal education, it’s amazing to me that anyone is able to pass. The more time I spend learning about the schools and the national exams, the better I understand how the cycle of poverty is affected by education. If students don’t receive proper instruction and are not able to pass their exams, then the country experiences a dearth of qualified doctors, teachers, lawyers, businessmen and politicians. Without these community leaders, the society will suffer and the amount of education among the population will fall. Without teachers to teach the next generation, without doctors to treat the sick, without politicians to design and implement important policies, the next generation cannot become educated and enter into these skilled professions. Thus, the shortage of doctors, teachers, etc. continues: The cycle seems never-ending. I believe that S4Si’s methods can be very effective within this society. By identifying high-achieving girls, we can combat the gender discrimination that exists in this society, as well as spread education. Many families, when forced to choose between educating a son and a daughter, will choose the son because men are valued more than women in many families and are thought to have a greater chance at success. It is extremely important to educate the women because they are typically the primary caregivers to the next generation: research has shown that educated women wait longer to get married, have fewer children, and are more successful at instilling in their children the importance of education than uneducated mothers.
I’m thoroughly enjoying the work we’ve been doing so far, and I’ve learned a lot about myself and this culture. The people here are really welcoming and eager to show us their world and to learn about ours. We hope to finish the scholar selection process in the next week, and then continue with other S4Si business that we must complete this summer.
Badaye! (that’s Zanzibari slang for “later.” It’s pronounced ba-dye.)
Anna
