Saturday, May 19, 2012

Education in Senegal

    Senegal does not have mandatory education for children let alone a good public school system. The public schools in Senegal do not have enough space for the amount of school age children there are as well as they do not have money to keep the schools functioning. The children of Senegal have barely been to school this year because of teachers on strike for not being paid and students on strike for not being taught. It would only cost less than 1% of what the world spends on weapons to put every child in the world in school, and yet there are still children who have no education. The children of Senegal do not have a good way of being taught. If people want their children to be educated they send them to private school, even many public school teachers send their children to private school. The children who go to private school end up with a good education, so might even argue that it is better than an education in the United States.
   Both the public and private school system here is different than in the United States, here children go to school around nine in the morning and go till one in the afternoon, and then they have a break for lunch and the students go home and then school starts again around three or four and they go till five or six in the evening. The children here spend a lot of time in school and studying. From a young age children are taught to greet everyone and shake their hands, which goes along with the hospitality of Senegal. Children in Senegal also learn many languages at a young age, they learn the language of their village or tribe along with french when they start school, so most children know 2-3 languages by the time the turn five. Although the private school system is relatively good the public school system is not. The country does not have the resources to educate all of the children in Senegal which is why they ask people to enroll their children in private school if they can afford it. The country hopes to soon be able to allow all children to go to school and eventually make it mandatory. The country is in good spirits about the future of the country and the educational system with the transition of a new President. 
   It is so sad that a country cannot afford to keep the schools running and educate the young people of Senegal. If the young people of Senegal were educated they might be able to industrialize and the rates of undernourishment could decrease.  One of the major problems is that many people do not know how to read or write their language because they do not go to school. The people of Senegal need to be educated on how to farm and how to make the food and water last through the dry season. Right now in Senegal the animals are all thin and hungry because there is not enough food, if there was more agricultural education people could know how to make the food last. I have seen how they are trying to help women who are uneducated learn a trade. The Evangelical Lutheran church of Senegal has programs set up to help women learn how to sew, embroider, learn french, things that will help them make a living and have a better life. If programs like this continue the women of Senegal will be able to provide for their families along with the education system improving. My hope is that the children of Senegal will soon be able to go to school and thrive because the people of Senegal are very smart and they have a much better work ethic than Americans do and I know if they get a good education system set up they will be able to match or surpass the educational standards of the United States.

-Julia

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