School vs. Government

Sunday was such a beautiful day, so we went for a walk and ended up playing with the kids at the baby house. They are a lot of fun. The babies are getting bigger and it is neat to see how they are developing their own unique personalities.

The following pictures are taken at a school in the township of Katlehong. (I have no idea why the text is underlined and I don't know how to undo it.) The pictures do not do it justice. Walking around this school made me (Jen) want to cry. The containers are in horrible condition, there are hardly any supplies for the teachers or students and the government doesn't seem to be interested in correcting the situation.

This is the principal's office. He grew up in this community and is dedicated to helping the students in it. He has been very vocal about the condition of his school and is doing everything in his power to try and get the government to do their job and help them.

The classrooms are so crowded that many of the teachers only have room to stand in the doorway. It's hard to see, but this teacher's space is as big as the patch of sunlight on the floor by his shoe.

This is an older grade. The average classroom size is 50-60 students. As you can see there is no space for walking in this classroom and this was common in many of the classrooms that we visited in this school. The kids have to crawl/walk over the desks in order to get to the front of the room.

This is the kindergarten classroom. They have 2 teachers and approx. 95 kids. They teach half the class at a time, while the other half waits outside for their turn.

This is a grade 2 class I think. Here you see the classroom supplies. I cringe when I think about how many times we teachers, myself included, complain in Canada about the lack of storage space or room in our classrooms. We are so blessed in North America.
This is the same classroom. There are several rooms with holes in the floor, some bigger than this. There are also holes in the walls and the roofs leak in many of the rooms as well. When it rains or get cold, the children suffer as a result.
Lambano is trying to get a hot meal program started at this school, as well as another township school. They are also considering ways that they can help this school get a proper building and proper supplies from the government. It is ironic because hanging on the wall in the principal's office is a poster from Gauteng's department of education and it states the government's committment to a good, quality education for ALL students in Gauteng. If you want to see more pictures or read more info. click on the link for Beth. She is the coordinator for Lambano's projects in Katlehong.