Creative Education

A post I wrote for one of my classes. Just goes to show that going beyond normal has benefits.

I wanted to share an example of creative education that I ran into while working in CAR. The pygmy people of CAR suffer great hardship perpetuated on them by the Bantu majority in CAR. Most pygmy children do not attend school for a host of reasons. They generally do not live in close proximity to schools, they do not have the means to pay tuition, they do not have suitable clothing to attend school in (a bigger issue than you would think), they are harassed by other children and parents, and the school calendar year does not match the hunting/gathering calendar. In one area with a large population of Aka pygmy people, NGOs have paid school fees to enable Aka to attend school which to some degree has worked. However, the most creative school we found was in a remote region outside a logging town in an area called Bamba. A Bantu pastor who moved in with a small group of Baka pygmies in order to establish a church saw the overwhelming desire of the parents for their children to attend primary school. The local government was both unable and unwilling to help in this regard so, over time, and with a little help from some expats in acquiring basic school supplies, the pastor established a small school. We first became friends with this school and community in 2005 and as of February 2008, all of the children in the community are learning to read and write, a first step in their education. What I found so remarkable about the school is that the pastor has reversed the school calendar in order to accommodate the lifestyle of this particular group. While the North American model and the Central African model fit, for the most part, the general agricultural calendar whereby planting and harvesting, the two most labour intensive activities, fall during the school break, this is not true for the Bayaka people. Reversing the school calendar to help mitigate absences from school allows for the continuation of children to participate in the traditions of their communities while at the same time giving them opportunity to learn elementary basics such as reading, writing, math and French, helping to earn them a place in the greater society (which they shouldn't have to earn as they are the 'First Nations People of CAR).

The school continues without adequate resources, qualified teachers or levels beyond the basics. The students range from 5 to 18 years old, and number around 15. As news has spread about the school more and more families are migrating from remote forest locations to this burgeoning village. The local sawmill recently donated discarded boards and some machinery which allowed the community to build a larger school and work is underway to help bring clean water to the area. This is an instance where too much outside help could quickly destroy the tremendous local initiative. Globalization is certainly impacting this community; however, its effects can be mitigated so long as creative development is allowed to continue.