By POTIPHER TEMBO –
EDUCATION is the key that opens many doors. To achieve these, governments in many parts of the world have made education their first priority.
As a way of ensuring that education standards are improved, some governments are encouraging partnerships between schools in Africa and those in other parts of the world.
The linking of schools has been going on in many parts of the world and this has enabled pupils and teachers to understand different learning methods which have helped in the improvement of education standards.
In Africa, many primary and secondary schools have been working in partnership with schools abroad like Europe.
One of the African secondary schools which have had an opportunity to be linked to a European school is Zambia’s Temweni Secondary School in Ndola, which has been linked to Scotland’s Harwich High School.
Early in June this year, a team of three pupils and two teachers from Temweni Secondary School travelled to Scotland’s Harwich High School where they stayed for one week under the sponsorship of the British Council while in return at the end of the same month, six pupils and four teachers from Harwich High School in Scotland travelled to Temweni Secondary School in Zambia as an exchange exercise of pupils and teachers.
During the visit to Temweni Secondary School, Harwich High School delegation leader, Njord Maciver said his team was visiting as part of the Connecting Class Rooms Project, which is partly funded by the British Council.
Mr Maciver said his school early in June welcomed pupils and teachers from Temweni Secondary School and that staff from Harwich High School had visited Temweni on two occasions and each time they were given the warmest of welcomes.
“This time we have again been shown fantastic hospitality and friendship, so we hope to return and see our friends many times,” said Mr Maciver.
Mr Maciver, who is a Philosophy teacher, was accompanied by three other teachers – Tevio Hirchell (Chemistry), Nicky Lindsay (teaching assistant), Gail Nelson (teacher) and pupils Tom Elliot Walker, Jo Bailey, Hannah Web, Kayley Hart, Victoria Campbell and Islah Young.
The delegation leader said the British Council allowed schools to travel and observe other schools abroad and share ideas.
“There are many projects sponsored by the British Council, some of which partner with schools abroad. The British Council allows us to travel and observe other schools and share ideas and see if we can learn from each other,” said Mr Maciver.
The idea of schools visiting each other was meant to promote the development of education among countries.
However, during the tour of Temweni Secondary School, the visiting school observed that Temweni, like at many other schools in Zambia, had the problem of over-enrolment and classrooms were overcrowded, making it difficult for teachers to cope with the number of pupils.
Ideally, a normal classroom in Zambian schools is supposed to have a minimum of 30 pupils. But this has not been the case in many schools where one finds more than 50 pupils in a class.
With a population of 1,854 pupils, Temweni accommodates not less than 50 pupils per class. In worst situations, there could be 60 to 75 pupils in some classes and this is not a conducive and acceptable learning environment.
Apart from overcrowding, the visitors observed that the school did not have enough teaching materials and equipment while teachers spent too much time standing and talking to pupils.
A number of pupils talked to agreed with this sentiment and said there was need for school authorities to consider reducing overcrowding in classes.
Linda Mwenda Mulope, one of the teachers who travelled to Scotland with the pupils, said her team learnt quite a lot from Harwich High School and hoped her school would emulate some of the things she learnt there.
“There is minimum talking and board writing for teachers as all the classes are fitted with projectors and computers. The school we visited was fully equipped and was full time learner centredness. There was also a special education department which was well catered for with all the necessary equipment for pupils with disabilities and we hope this could be done here,” Ms Mulope said.
She said it would also be to the advantage of the Zambian schools if the Government could consider fitting classrooms with projectors because this would help the teachers to spend less time standing, writing on the board and talking to pupils.
“We are glad that we are linked to Harwich High School. We learn quite a lot each time our teachers and pupils travel there. The reason why we make these trips is for us to learn about new learning methods and exchanging learning ideas,” Ms Mulope said.
She urged the Government to equip the school with learning aids such as projectors and computers because this would help reduce the strain that the teachers encountered because of too much standing and talking.
Pupils from Temweni, Mary Faith Ambrose, Elizabeth Mwiche and Nathan Mpengula, who travelled to Scotland recently, said it was good to see how well Harwich High School was equipped and how the pupils were committed to learning.
Mary, Elizabeth and Nathan urged pupils at their school to emulate the Harwich pupils to enable them improve on their performance in class.
The pupils also appealed to the Government to acquire school equipment for the able bodied and those with disabilities.
They said they observed how pupils with disabilities were treated and how they were made to feel at home.
“Pupils with disabilities are very comfortable and they feel accepted because everything that is required for their education is provided by the school. It would be very good if our schools would also take care of pupils with disabilities.
“We would like to have a special class where we would support pupils with disabilities,” said the pupils.
Temweni Secondary School head master, John Bwalya said during their one-week stay in Zambia, the Harwich High School delegation visited the district education board secretary, district commissioner, the Ndola Central and Arthur Davison Children’s hospitals and the Dag Hammerskjoeld crash site in before they left for Livingstone to view the Victoria Falls.
Mr Bwalya said for the school to succeed in its programmes and projects, it needed the support of parents.
“Parents should support their children and the school. The parents should be interested in what their children are doing and this way, school projects would be successful,” Mr Bwalya said.
His views were echoed by Temweni Secondary School Parent Teacher Association chairperson, Philip Hachubi who urged parents to be committed and involve themselves in the various projects the school was undertaking to ensure quality education was achieved.