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Saturday Aug 18, 2007

From Tanzania - Cruel to be kind?

Hello,

A week ago I left the UK to fly to Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania.  After a weekend on the beach, meeting volunteers from the other READ projects at different universities around the country I have set off on a research trip to three regions in Tanzania which READ hopes to send textbooks to next year.

Each region's REO (regional education officer) will be asked to pick 20 schools from his region out of a possible 60 or 70 to have books donated to them.  At first this selection process seems hard, all the secondary schools are short on books, all want more books and all the children are as worthy as each other to be given the chance to have access to more textbooks.  How do you then make the decision of which 20 schools should recieve the books?

It was only really yesterday, when I looked in at four different schools in the Rukwa region of Tanzania that I realised why it was so important to be selective.  Firstly, by distributing large sets of textbooks to 20 schools, instead of a few to say 50 schools, it is possible perhaps to change what happens here already with textbooks, that one is shared between 10 or more children.  Secondly, by making it clear to the schools that only a few of them will be chosen to recieve textbooks, it may mean that they make an extra effort to fufil our criteria for selection, namely that the school ensures children will have access to books when they want and the school will encourage a culture of reading.  

Yesterday I saw a good example of this.  I visited a private school, funded by a mission, which had lovely buildings and was undeniably the best 'learning environment'  we saw.  However the source of funds for this school, whilst ensuring it looked nice, seemed to draw the line at supplying it adaquetly with resources.  It had less textbooks per child than the government funded schools.  However, the teachers we met were very switched on and alert.  After I had said the READ spiel, they immediately were asking how they could ensure thier school got the books, talked about a library, book loaning system and after school book clubs.  Although this school, and its pupils were undoutably 'better off' than some of the government schools we saw it as clear they would make the most efficient use of the books.  Thus the question that seems to dog so many development decision occurs; do you give donations where it is most needed, or where it will be used to the greatest effect?

Two years ago, I worked in a school in Borneo for three months.  The village was desperately poor, farming enough only to feed themselves and living in pretty poor conditions.  Yet they had a well built school and suprisingly for that area a library that was as well stocked as any English Primary school's might have been.  However the library was not used, the school badly attended and when it was the behaviour of the children terrible.  It was obvious these children had no respect for education, in fact the only education that mattered to them was one of learning how to survive off th land.  The three months that followed were intersting but ultimately a waste of time.  I could not teach these children anything. 

The point I am trying to make is controversial and not as simple as I might make it seem.  However it seems to me that in development and donations we should look far beyond to immediate gratification that a donation might cause.  Books are poccessions and they will cause underpriviledged children to smile and adults to think you are brilliant.  However if they are not used, then all we have done by giving them is make ourselves feel better.  By being harsher and more deliberative perhaps development charities can make more of a difference and a meaningful one.  Perhaps it is wrong to get ahead of ourselves before basic aid is in place.  Perhaps we find these basics boring and do not want to be involved in them.     

Speak soon,

TomG

Posted by Tom G ( 7:21 AM )
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