TEACHER'S STORIES

Teacher's View in Rwanda 
Teacher's Nikombamera Prudence and Hujawimana explain the joy and challenges of being a teacher in Kigali, Rwanda.   

"Teachers teach all the children in the community. They are the light of their surroundings. They are also counsellors. Many people come to them to ask questions about practical things and teachers help them in many ways even though they are themselves poor.  

But we work in near impossible conditions.  We lack resources and we do not get enough training.  At school teachers look after 160 students, in order to cope children do half days, we teach classes of 80 in the morning, and 80 in the afternoon.  

Children are often hungry; some don't have uniforms and cannot keep warm in the rainy season. Teachers are often ill because of the conditions they live in and the little money they earn. Some cannot afford accommodation. In our school, one of the teachers has been living in a classroom for 3 years."  
Credit: VSO Rwanda


Teacher's View in Nepal
"There are 1000 students at my school and only 26 teachers, I'm teaching classes with as many as 83 students.  I like my job a lot and I like watching my pupils develop.  I like having a regular income but it's not enough to live on.  Everyday I teach at college or give private tuition outside of school.  I know this means I have less time to devote to planning my school lessons, but I have no choice.  

The government should come and find out what it is like for teachers.  They should experience our workloads and observe a class sizes, then they should appoint appropriately more qualified teachers."  
Credit: VSO, Nepal 


Teacher's View in Zambia
Tobias Mwandila is a History teacher:

"It was my uncle who inspired me to be a teacher.  Growing up I used to sit and watch him read books, and I got really interested in learning and would love going to school.  I've been teaching for 17 years now. 

In this time, many things have changed for the worse.  More and more children are coming to school, but teachers now get less and less support.  We're teaching classes of 70 students.  We have to mark all those books, and assess and evaluate each of the pupils work.  It's not easy.

We are often not paid on time, sometimes waiting up to 45 days for our salary, but we still have to pay rent and keep our families.  Many of my colleagues have problems, family members have died from one of the many diseases in the country.  And we are looking after children at school who are orphans."
Credit: Oxfam, Zambia


Teacher's View in Ghana
Teacher Albert, as his students like to call him, worries about the status of his school that he has headed for the past eight years.  The teachers and students struggle in poor conditions - the dilapidated classrooms have been battered by heavy rains year in and year out.  With every passing rainy season, classroom walls collapse, exposing the children more and more to snakes, scorpions and insects creeping from overgrown bushes nearby. 

Albert Aziah, 32, set up the local primary school in Adiembra so that children did not have to walk many kilometres to school everyday.  In the last year his school has seen an increase in enrolments due to a government fee-free education policy.  But there has been no increase in the number of teachers.  The kindergarten class has more than 70 eager children, struggling to gain the attention of one teacher. 
Credit: World Vision, Ghana 


School Student's View in Brazil
Eliane, aged 11, is in the fourth and final year at her village school in Saõ Sebastião de Jaçara, Brazil.  Her school only has one teacher, who teaches all four years at the same time.  Next year in order to continue her education Eliane will have to move far from her parents, to the town of Porto de Moz, as this has the nearest large school.  Like her brothers and sister, she will stay with a family and pay her rent, by working as a domestic labourer.  If she's lucky she will get home to her parents in the holidays, twice a year.

"I really want to finish school, but I don't want to leave my family. It will be so hard to live with someone else and only come home twice a year.  If our school had more teachers I wouldn't have to make this choice. I could finish my education and stay with my family and everyone would be happy."  


Teacher's View in Mozambique 
Mendes Jonas is an English teacher in Pemba, Mozambique 

"I've been teaching for 17 years, including through the civil war, when our classrooms were raided.  Mozambique is a poor country with a lot of problems.  We need doctors and engineers to develop this country for the future - that is why I am a teacher.   

Our town is expensive now, because tourists now come here.  My family struggle on what I earn, sometimes all it pays for is food for the month, but I still have to buy uniforms and books for my children to go to school.  It's not me alone; all teachers in Mozambique have these problems – problems of food, transport and health.   

I have two sons, both in primary school.  My youngest Eddie wants to be a teacher when he grows up."
Credit: GCE, Mozambique