School for Life 2

Suddenly upon us was a three sided seating structure of high seating benches, cramped with assortedly clad children swinging their legs and loudly chanting to the conducting arm of one adult, whose frame made up the fourth side of a square.

This was our first stop,  Tarikom A, to watch 25 young “learners”, ages between 8-14, who have never been to school, or have dropped out, keenly applying their sound and symbol knowledge (phonics) to read personal copies of Karim Kusaal Buku 1 (translation- Kusaal reader Book 1- Kusaal is the local African language), each taking turns to perform then to answer questions.  The class then stood, stretched and sang, before returning to more language exercises.  Similarly, basic numeracy is also taught each day.

Facilitator at Tarikom A- who took over the class in tragic circumstances, inspired by his daughter who taught the previous year, then sadly died.

Taking to the red dust track again, after several minutes we swung to the left and crossed a dried field to reach the welcome shade of a large tree. Here, at Tarikom B school the same lively regime, using the same simple paperback text books, with the additional use of a chalkboard for illustration, instruction and learners participating, saw Ibrahim take the opportunity for some coaching of the facilitator (title of the class instructor) as he revised vowels with the learners- there are seven vowel sounds and symbols in Kusaal.

Ibrahim coaching the class- and facilitator- with some extra onlookers under the  tree.