Some ways that my school is different (probably) than your school

1. Students elect a timekeeper whose job it is to physically ring the bell to signal class period changes. In another school in Dedza, the school didn't have a bell, so students would clang on the legs of a busted desk that was hanging from a tree.

2. There is a self-boarding program, just for girls in all forms (grades 9-12). They live in 4 old classroom blocks, 30 kids per room (brick walls, concrete floors, maybe 30x30 ft in size), sleeping there on grass mats. Those girls don't have a boarding mistress, but they do their own daily chores all outside in full view of the other students - from washing clothes and hanging them to dry in the sun on the grass, to brushing their teeth, to cooking on a charcoal or wood fire in a smoky grass-walled-and-roofed kitchen.

3. We teachers gather students together twice a week for assemblies before classes. Announcements are made in two languages - usually starting in English then in Chichewa for further emphasis and lots of jokes. At the end, all join in singing the national anthem in English, even in the presence of a bare flagpole. Apparently there is enough money for toner for our singular photocopier, but not for a Malawi flag!

4. To arrive at school by 730 am, students who fall in the age range of 13-25, ride bikes or walk from up to 10km away. The next closest government-supported Community Day Secondary School is about 35km south. There are other private schools, but their attendance fees are pricey and the quality of education is ery spotty. Teachers at those schools are seldom paid on time as well; sometimes months late, though those in administration can be pretty well off, relative to government teachers like my cohorts. The only real motorized transport option - forget fleets of yellow buses! - are a kind of van called minibuses that cost about k50 (about $0.40) or more than a third of the average daily income here, to go a few kilometers on the road. That doesn't account for the distances from a student's house to the road, then the 2.5km distance from the road to my school.

5. For those late-coming kids or those who are rude in class, punishments almost always mean outside manual labor - hated mostly because it means dirtying up that carefully washed and hot-coal-ironed uniform. The chores? Sweeping, using a handbroom along the corridors and kapinga (grass) and dirt grounds by the toilets; slashing grass with a long handled, bent knife; picking up dry leaves or mango pits by hand; or mopping the toilets - probably the stinkiest, worst job since they are pit latrines. Reserve that one for the kids who repeatedly talk smack about madam!

6. There is a teaching staff of 15 (1 library, 2 admin, teachers) for 300 students, which is considered high, even though staff for extracurriculars are lacking- few volunteer their time due to disinterest or lack of know-how/enthusiasm.

7. In the classroom, an average of 70 children in a hot, echoey room is not at all surprising. Students generally stay in 1 room and teachers rotate in throughout the day - tehre are 4 classrooms only, so we allocate 1 per grade or form. The time in the day for breaks in short (2x10 minutes) and there is no lunch period, so students are mostly stuck at one desk from 730a-2p.

8. Standardized tests: The Primary School Leaving Certificate, the Junior Certificate Exam, and the Malawi Secondary schools Certificate Exam act as almost the sole measure of a students' performance and can block the progress of those who are struggling without remediating those problems. Most jobs in Malawi require an applicant to have passed their MSCE - sort of like getting your GED in America - but most colleges, especially those for skilled jobs (doctor, nurse, lawyer, accountant) have very stringent requirements. The tests and corresponding syllabi were made based on recommendations of a Danish development agency (why Denmark I have no clue), so many of the topics required have little to no relation to the job functions students will likely perform. Those likely jobs? Small business owners (grocery store or market stall salesperson), traffic police, agriculture extension agents, store clerks, health assistants, teachers. Which of those positions requires knowledge about petroleum distillation or nuclear physics? Didn't think so.