Education
Education
With the school project in Mushapo ADH wants to ensure a good education for the students in order to give them and the village a better future. ADH offers the schooling for free, so that also children from poorer families can attend the school. With a proper teaching staff ADH tries to establish a good teacher ratio, so that the children can be treated according to their needs. The curriculum of the officially recognized school is based on national guidelines, but already in the first grade, the language is French.
May
2014
Building Bridges to our Neighbors
We invited all school principals from the surrounding villages to discuss with us about issues that we may have inadvertently caused by the free education in our school. Since the schools of neighboring villages are dependent on school fees and thus on the number of pupils, we need to ensure in the future that we do not accept children in our school who would otherwise have attended another school. A good cooperation with neighboring schools is necessary in order to enable all children in the region the best possible education. Football unites and creates the first opportunity for dialogue: On Saturday, 31.05. We held a football tournament between the school team of Mushapo and the team of a neighboring village. So that his team could prepare for the tournament, the director of the neighboring school asked us if they could borrow our football.
Mar
2014
New subject matters: Informatics and English
Currently Jos is also working as a teacher. He is teaching English for levels five and six. English is an important added qualification, becoming more and more relevant in the Congo as English skills improve the chances for a good job in the children’s future. Jos is also teaching the teachers how to work with computers. He teaches basic informatics on his and Jean's laptops.
Dec
2013
Employment of New Teachers
Because the number of pupils has –unexpectedly, nearly doubled, we are facing new challenges. The great demand is not surprising: our classrooms are more spacious than in the schools of the neighbouring villages, and our pupils are taught French from the beginning and there is no tuition fee, something rather unusual for the Congo. Because of the increase in student numbers, we urgently need more classrooms and teachers. We will enlarge our school with four new classrooms and employ four more teachers from the surrounding areas. Thus, having altogether 10 classes with approximately 30 pupils each, we can supply quality care.
Nov
2013
More Pupils, Lack of Teachers and a new School Principal
For this school year, we were counting on 180 pupils. But because the local people in the surrounding villages saw our progress, they also wanted to send their children to our school. Even though we tried to limit the number of students, it was impossible. We are now having six classes with 314 pupils from Mushapo and the surrounding villages of Kakondo, Shamubenzi and Kamupafu. The school committee is counselling about this unexpected situation. We will have to expand the school with added competent teachers in order to ensure quality lessons. The committee also decided to dismiss our school principal, his work had been inadequate for some time. Fortunately, we have found a good replacement, already confirmed by the committee.
Oct
2013
Establishing a School Committee
We establish a school-committee to help us to supervise the project in Mushapo. The Members of the committee are: Jean, the farm manger; the school principal; both of the chiefs of Mushapo, and a representative of the parent association. Important school matters are on the agenda. The committee also discusses how our farm project can be better protected against theft so that steady long term income can be guaranteed to support the school and keep the children’s attendance tuition free. Our school is also visited by a school inspector from Tshikapa. He was satisfied with our progress, but advised us to reduce the size of the classes as soon as possible.
Sep
2013
School is Expanding to 6 grades
Many parents of the three surrounding villages, Kakondo, Shamubenzi and Kamupafu want to send their children to our school. The amount of pupils increases and we have expanded to six classes. Consequently, our school has developed into an overall primary school. In light of this, we urgently have to think about how to reduce the number of pupils in each class in order to ensure good lessons with smaller classes.
Jun
2013
Lessons Begin in the New Brick Building
The construction of our first brick building is finished. The two classrooms are furnished and the lessons are now taught there. The teachers and children are enthusiastic, they love the bright classrooms and enjoy the pleasant teaching and learning condition.
May
2013
Government Recognition of the Mushapo School
The Ministry of Education in Kinshasa has accepted our application – the school is officially registered. Gilbert was a big help in seeing through the application process so quickly. Andre had also offered his help, because he knows the Secretary of Education personally, who, by the way, is from Tshikapa. Even though our school is now recognized by the government, the official salary payments for our teachers haven’t happened yet. But that is business in the Congo. In the remote regions, the paying of salaries by the government can take up to one year. Receiving government-paid salaries is viewed rather sceptically by many Congolese, but then, obtaining official registration of the school was also viewed sceptically – yet, it happened! It makes us all the more thankful for our friends in Kinshasa, Gilbert and Andre, who are helping us to see the governmental salary payment through for our teachers.
