A SCHOOL TRIP

Today I visited two Montessori schools in Moratuwa, south of Colombo. In Sri Lanka, Montessori schools are schools that provide pre-school education to children, so they cater for 3 and 4 year olds. The two schools I visited have been set up by Sri Lankan people to provide education for children of impoverished families. Without these schools, the parents of these children would not be able to afford pre-school education, which disadvantages the children when they begin primary school. Also many of these children would not be accepted by other schools. Most families need to pay for their children to be given a place at a school and families who can pay more are more likely to have their child accepted. When places are short, children may be chosen according to whether the family appears to be able to make ongoing contributions to the school. This being the case, it can be difficult for children from poor families to be accepted at a school.

The first school we visited held 25 children, in two class rooms. The children here were practising using scissors and were learning about families. The schools aim to help the children develop their motor and language skills. They also teach the children their numbers and letters, in Sinhala and English. It was quite similar to what an Australian kindy teacher would aim to teach (minus the Sinhala). The difference is in the resources. The children sit in small rooms with no playing space. The front yard is the playground and has no grass, but there were swings and a slide. What caused me the most amazement were the teaching resources. Teachers make almost all their own teaching resources. Just as at home, if the teacher is teaching the letter B, the student will copy the letter B and then colour in a picture of a ball. However, photocopying is not an affordable option, so the teacher will hand draw a ball in each student's book for the children to colour in! Sometimes we think that helping the poor costs more than we can afford, when it can be as simple as photocopying numerous copies of a ball.

The second school we visited has been operating for much longer than the other. This school was inside a two-storey building and also had an adjoining office. The ground floor was one large classroom for the three year olds. Behind the classroom was a kitchen and laundry and out the back were the toilets. The four year olds had classes in the three small classrooms upstairs. This was a much larger building than the first school, but then again, it did have to house 103 students. Out the front was a very small playground, again with no grass but it did have a climbing frame and a row of showers (which I shall talk more about a little further on).

I think my role for the day was to be the teacher's worst nightmare (so that means there are now 5 teachers who have a new worst nightmare). I was taking photos of the students and then showing them their photos on the camera screen. This brought the children great delight and they clamoured around to see. When my memory card became full (oops, too long without cleaning up my camera!) I switched to the video camera and the gates of chaos were opened. All the children wanted to see themselves on the screen and I could not get them to understand that I could not video them if they were behind the camera, so in the end I had to flip the screen and try my best to video what I couldn't see. They all stood as close to the camera as they could so their heads filled the screen. There was pushing and shoving and shouting and general confusion. The teacher would try and regain order by having the children sing for me, which they gladly did at the very top of their little lungs. It is surprising how loud a group of small children can be. Once order was returned to the classroom I would be ushered into the next classroom and the whole uproarious procedure would begin again.

After I had visited each classroom, the whole school gathered downstairs for more hearty singing and a story. After this they had lunch, which the school supplies. Today was rice and curry for all the children except one. I was told that he was a young baby at the time of tsunami and that after the tsunami his family could not afford to buy rice. This meant that he had never learnt to eat rice the customary way (by rolling it into a ball with his fingers and then placing in the mouth) and did not have the dexterity to eat rice like the others. He would go home and eat a special cereal with his family. For many of the other children, the lunch that the school supplies would be their only meal for the day.

After the children cleared up from lunch it was the end of their school day and they were handed back to their parents or grandparents. However, 26 students were to stay for daycare which the school offers to take care of children whose parents are working. If it were not for daycare these children may be left unsupervised at home or playing on the streets. There are hopes to start a daycare for the smaller school as well. The daycare children sat listening to some music while the teachers had their lunch. I told the children a story with Prince's help. It was very difficult to get them to listen because they found me so very exciting and strange. I soon learnt that I didn't really need Prince to translate because they didn't care so much for the story. They were laughing so hard just listening to me and watching my funny actions and copying my body language and facial expressions. They particularly liked it when I acted out the growling lion and the dancing king!

After the teachers have eaten it is time for the children to prepare for a nap. First they will shower (hence the forementioned showers in the playground). The children change into underpants that the school supplies so that they can shower modestly. They will then play in the yard until it is their turn to shower. I think that maybe six children could shower at a time. One teacher takes responsibility for soaping the children and another takes responsibility for drying the children. The drying teacher has a basket of towels for each child to use and another basket that the towels and wet underpants can go in for laundering. The children will then dress themselves in clothes from home, with the assistance of another teacher. I thought it was enough rigmarole going through bath time at home with my own children. Fancy doing it every day with 26 children!

While the children have been showering, the other teachers have been setting up for naptime. The children have stacked their chairs and the tables have been moved away and now large mats are rolled out on the floor and covered with sheets. Pillows are placed down, not one for each child as there isn't enough room, but two little heads don't mind sharing one pillow. The children finish dressing and, one by one, they come and take a place on the mat, girls in one row, boys in another. I wonder how they ever get these excited little children to sleep but one little girl is asleep almost immediately. Each time I count there are a few more children sleeping and the others, although wriggling, are lying quietly. I know that my presence there is quite a distraction to these little ones and that it would take us a few hours to get home again. Quite keen to get back to my own little ones, I take this as my cue to say my goodbyes and thankyous and quietly slip away.