Education in TogoEileen Rademacher — Etobicoke. ON 
Every child in Canada, without question, will receive an education at no extra cost to their family. Parents and children in Togo struggle to raise the fees required to enable their children to attend school. At the primary level boys must pay $10 to $12 per year and girls must pay $6 to $8 per year. They must also provide their own school uniform and school supplies. The fee increases for secondary school. In a country where the per capita income is under $400 per year, this is a daunting task. In the age group of five to nineteen years old, 62% are enrolled in schools. The literacy rate in 2003 was 75% for males and 47% for females. In rural areas children are often kept at home to work in the fields, otherwise they would not be fed. 
Victor, one of our overseas volunteers, was in such a situation. By the age of ten years he had never been to school. He reacted by running away from his village and joining his older brother who lived in Lome. There he worked for a shoemaker to earn money to go to school. He completed his high school diploma and now works for AED–Togo as a missionary. He also did most of the English translations for the SCAW team. Students graduate from primary and secondary school only if they pass the government examinations. In the villages where we distributed bedkits many children as young as three years old attended kindergarten. School goes from at 7:30 am till noon. After a lunch break, which is usually rice, school begins again at 3 pm and continues to 5 pm. The older children take very good care of the little ones, hauling them around on their backs and feeding them. The students love to play soccer and ground games at lunch break. Some even go home at this time to work in the fields. The public primary schools combine French, the official language, with Ewe or Kabye, as the languages of instruction depending on the region. English is taught in Togolese secondary schools. As a result many Togolese, especially in the south, speak some English. The teachers’ level of certification determines their salary which is paid by the government. Salaries start at $600 per year and increase with each year of experience, leveling off at $1,600.  Most schools seem to be understaffed resulting in classes ranging from forty to eighty students. Discipline is enforced and the students are well behaved. The schools are built of concrete blocks. They are all identical, comprising six to eight classrooms constructed end to end. The rooms are dark and dingy, with dirt floors.The only light comes through grid like openings in the walls on one side. Each room is equipped with bench-type desks that seat four students and a teacher’s desk and chair. The blackboard covers one wall, which is used extensively. Such teachers’ aids as maps and diagrams are nonexistent. Generally the schools are in a walled compound. There are no school caretakers and the children clean their own school yard daily. In Hahatoe, one of the distribution sites, the individual classrooms had thatched roofs and no walls. Chickens and small goats wandered in and out. The blackboard was placed on a large easel. One wonders how they cope with the heavy rains typical in the area. With limited resources and no government funding, the teachers and students
do remarkably well. The mature students who were volunteers at the distribution
sites were in many cases able to speak some English and explain their goals
and dreams. You, the donors, are helping them to achieve this because every bedkit given to a child helps the family financially. The child will sleep in a bed, not on the ground, and will have school supplies and clothing, so he or she can receive an education. Thank you. |
