May 20 - Education and Children

PIX

Today began with an animated lecture on the education system in Senegal.  We saw some historical background, some sobering statistics, and some thoughtful discussion.  Illiteracy rates remain high in this country, and schools are terribly overcrowded.  Our lecturer told us that in the public primary and elementary schools in his area of Dakar, the average student-teacher ratio was 180 to 1.  That's just staggering.

After lunch at WARC we went to see for ourselves.  We visited an elementary school, and stepped into a music class which had no instruments or manipulables, so students were learning solfege.  They rose and sang for us the Senegalese national anthem, which was very nice.  We then engaged their principal in a question-and-answer period, where he was rightly very proud of his school and students.  But all around us was evidence of a lack of public support for the educational infrastructure.  It was sad to see such a state of affairs.

But our final stop of the day, at Empire des Enfants, was at once more heartbreaking and more hopeful.  This private operation, founded by two women, offers food, shelter and training to children in Dakar who are lost, abandoned, or taken from the Marrabout.  The need is great, but they only have the space for 25 children at a time.  While we were sitting with one of the founders a boy was brought in by the police.  He looked so small and scared, as if all the needs of the city were rolled up and compressed into his frame.  But this vignette, at least, had a happy ending, for his uncle retrieved him a few minutes later.  Unfortunately, that doesn't happen very often at Empire des Enfants.  If they're there long enough, the children are taught a trade such as leather work, and they sustain the facility by selling their handiwork.