Saladin's minaret wakes us up at 4 to pray and the mosquitoes follow not long after to berate us for staying in bed. We've grown sluggish in the heat around Jerusalem but fresh falafel and a walk through down town Abu Dis wakes us out of our dreams. Today we have the pleasure of tours around the towns schools, our group heads to Abu Dis Girls School, Abu Dis Boys School, the Nehru School (all state run single sex establishments) and the Arab Institute (a boys private school).
We wait in the headmistress' office of Abu Dis Girls School for the French teacher who excuses her perfect English before translating her stern director's greetings. We hear the same forgettable facts: population, subjects studied, curriculum, pathways, achievements of the students whilst we all pine to see some teaching. We are not disappointed. As we slip in and out of classrooms, down corridors, up staircases we see eyes widen in shock at the rare sight of international visitors, lips mouth muddled greetings in varied languages, guessing our nationality. The lessons we do disturb are a joy to see as a teacher. Polite, engaged students who are excited to greet visitors but also keen to continue their lessons and show their teacher that they are on task and hard working, attentive students. Before our jealousy had time to settle we were whisked into computer labs and libraries as well as into one of our host's biology lab, full of what can only be described as taxidermy misdemeanours. Our visit was epitomised by our visit to the outside canteen furnished with coloured stools made out of tyres and children surrounding their English teacher singing gleefully in all tones and shrieking like some sequel to the sound of music as we approached. The English teacher smiles proudly as she greets us as the song comes to an end. We leave full of optimism about teaching in the shadow of the wall.
Abu Dis Boys is another world. We begin our tour in their 5th Grade, 11 year old stare our at us, ask our names and show off their knowledge of ordinal numbers. Their command of English is impressive and the class seems positive and enthusiastic. As we progress down the corridor and up the years the class sizes increase and the behaviour becomes wild. By the end of the corridor we are at the 9th Grade. 50 boys in a room, or are meant to be. Some wander the halls, some sneak out of the front gate. Order is nowhere to be seen. It's sad to see the difference in education for the boys and we leave feeling deflated.
We stroll over to the the Arab Institute, a private boys school with accommodation for orphans and absent (often imprisoned) parents. We meet the headmaster and an 11year old boy with both his parents in jail before meeting some of the students who have prepared a presentation about the various Palestinian Ids. The boys here are so articulate and passionate that the Abu Dis Boys School has fallen out of our thoughts. It seems like it's fallen out of the thoughts of the educational authority as well.
After our lunch at Al-Quds University we plan twinning links with our Palestinian colleagues through broken English and cod Arabic. We hear about broken promises and ignored letters and make assurances that we will be better. Over dinner phones buzz with pictures and plans and we settle in to long conversations and thoughts for the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment