My First Staff Meeting

A little over a week ago I attended my first staff meeting at the Parish Primary School. Most of the meeting was in Arabic, but thankfully one of the teachers sitting beside me quietly translated what was being said. The meeting started off with a reminder from the head teacher about time management. She has not been happy that many of the teachers show up late and stressed that they should be arriving 30 min. before school begins. Next, an hour or so was taken to go over the class schedule to make sure all subjects were being taught and to clarify who was teaching what. I did not get all of what was being discussed here because too many people were talking back and forth, but I did here many teachers say they were unable to teach certain subjects because of the lack of text books. Other topics brought up were discipline issues with specific students and end of the term exam preparation. During the meeting I was just a spectator watching how the teachers interacted and listening to whatever the neighboring teacher was willing to translate. I was encouraged because it seemed all the teachers wanted to be there and as they discussed these various topics I observed genuine concern to make decisions that would be best for the students and school.

No Substitutes

In the U.S. school system when a teacher is for some reason unable to come into school he or she can arrange for a substitute to come and teach their class. Here in Mundri there is no such option. When I went to one of the local primary schools on Thursday I noticed a few classes without a teacher. I asked the head teacher why this was and she began to state that one teacher was sick, another was at a funeral for a neighbor, and other teachers were just running late. Here when a teacher is absent the students have a free period where they just sit and try to entertain themselves for an hour or so until a teacher is available to come and teach a subject. This is a situation where my heart stings are definitely pulled. Part of me wants to jump up and say I’ll do it! I’ll be the substitute! But the reality of that task is overwhelming. My mind races thinking about how this problem can be solved, but of course no feasible solution comes. As I continue to see how limited resources are here I continue to trust the Lord who is not limited by this lack of resources.