Tuesday, March 01, 2005
The Saga of Samwel Mnanka
When last encountered, I had given Samwel $300, based on the good will and gift of Glenn and Allegra: $100 as a gift and $200 as a loan. This was to pay his fees to attend Elkenford Teacher’s College and become a primary school teacher after a year’s study. At the time, I thought he was going to begin his studies in January. However, through some miscommunication it appears that he intended to start in the second term, beginning in July.
But meanwhile, Elkenford has increased its annual fees to $600 for day students or $840 for boarding students. This is an exorbitant fee, a sure deal breaker. Still, before consigning Samwel to life as a school night watchman forever, several of us sat with him to consider other possibilities. There is Butimba Teacher’s College nearby. It is a government school that he would normally not be eligible to attend, but we thought maybe they could accept him as a special student paying private fees. He had sought to explore this approach himself, but was unable to even get an appointment for an interview there.
Let’s face it, white skin helps. I rode my bicycle to Butimba last week, and had no trouble arranging an immediate discussion directly with the very gracious Headmistress, Mama Kabaka. She was sympathetic upon hearing the story and seeing the picture of Samwel with his wife and family. There were several problems however, the first being the question of whether his grades warranted his further study. I had to go back to ascertain his grades, but fortunately they were adequate.
The second problem was more fundamental. The government had established this accelerated route to accreditation in order to overcome a shortage of primary school teachers. It seems they overshot the mark. Butimba currently has 92 students in
the program, and is under very recent orders from the government to reduce this number to 57 by graduation time. The government has applied similar limits to the private schools (which is undoubtedly why Elkenford has increased its fees so drastically). As Headmistress Kabaka says, “How can Butimba suddenly reduce the number of its students by almost a half? We will have to give impossibly hard tests so that half the students will fail. In this environment, it is not possible to accept Samwel on any basis. But we are certainly willing to consider him for next year.”
This is not the first time that I have concluded that education in Tanzania is just a crap shoot. But it does appear that we have secured the inside track for Samwel to attend Butimba next year. It should cost about $100-120 to attend Butimba as a boarding student, thus saving Samwel the cost of off-campus living and also keeping him close to his family at a fraction of the cost of Elkenford. So hopefully there will be these compensations for his having to wait yet another year before continuing his education.
When last encountered, I had given Samwel $300, based on the good will and gift of Glenn and Allegra: $100 as a gift and $200 as a loan. This was to pay his fees to attend Elkenford Teacher’s College and become a primary school teacher after a year’s study. At the time, I thought he was going to begin his studies in January. However, through some miscommunication it appears that he intended to start in the second term, beginning in July.
But meanwhile, Elkenford has increased its annual fees to $600 for day students or $840 for boarding students. This is an exorbitant fee, a sure deal breaker. Still, before consigning Samwel to life as a school night watchman forever, several of us sat with him to consider other possibilities. There is Butimba Teacher’s College nearby. It is a government school that he would normally not be eligible to attend, but we thought maybe they could accept him as a special student paying private fees. He had sought to explore this approach himself, but was unable to even get an appointment for an interview there.
Let’s face it, white skin helps. I rode my bicycle to Butimba last week, and had no trouble arranging an immediate discussion directly with the very gracious Headmistress, Mama Kabaka. She was sympathetic upon hearing the story and seeing the picture of Samwel with his wife and family. There were several problems however, the first being the question of whether his grades warranted his further study. I had to go back to ascertain his grades, but fortunately they were adequate.
The second problem was more fundamental. The government had established this accelerated route to accreditation in order to overcome a shortage of primary school teachers. It seems they overshot the mark. Butimba currently has 92 students in
the program, and is under very recent orders from the government to reduce this number to 57 by graduation time. The government has applied similar limits to the private schools (which is undoubtedly why Elkenford has increased its fees so drastically). As Headmistress Kabaka says, “How can Butimba suddenly reduce the number of its students by almost a half? We will have to give impossibly hard tests so that half the students will fail. In this environment, it is not possible to accept Samwel on any basis. But we are certainly willing to consider him for next year.”
This is not the first time that I have concluded that education in Tanzania is just a crap shoot. But it does appear that we have secured the inside track for Samwel to attend Butimba next year. It should cost about $100-120 to attend Butimba as a boarding student, thus saving Samwel the cost of off-campus living and also keeping him close to his family at a fraction of the cost of Elkenford. So hopefully there will be these compensations for his having to wait yet another year before continuing his education.
