Walking together in the School Co-operation

Eager pupils in Sahwa School. Pic: Ruusa Gawaza

As the 2013-2014 project period is approaching its end, I took the opportunity to travel to Mwanza for an evaluation of the project activities. My first priority was to visit the project schools, especially the new ones that have joined the project only about a year ago. So we visited Mirongo, Mabatini, Iseni, Igoma and Sahwa Primary Schools during the first few days of my stay.

Between March-May 2014 a lot of activities were conducted in the school co-operation. First 2 teachers from Mirongo and Mabatini Schools accompanied by 2 Academic Officers from Mwanza City came to Tampere for a work exchange. In return, 3 teachers from Rahola, Juhannuskylä and Atala Schools as well as a School Social Worker from Juhannuskylä School came to Mwanza to hold a teacher training seminar and to spend some time in the Mwanza Schools. Also, a TAMK trainee spent 6 months in Mwanza going around in different schools and teaching about composting and environmental management. 

I had the opportunity to discuss with many teachers in the project schools and it was evident that these exchange visits and trainings had brought many new activities and practices to the schools. All of the interviewed teachers mentioned that they were taught to use assistant teachers in the classes to help manage the huge group sizes. The assistant teachers are chosen amongst the more advanced pupils in the class. They assist the teacher with some of the pupils while the teacher can spend more time and energy on some others.  Pupils get much more assistance now and their individual learning phases are taken more into account. The learning results of the pupils have gone up since they are now assisted more by this method.

Some schools have also established guidance counselling groups. These groups consist of different pupils from different classes and they address different issues and problems of pupils according to their needs. Pupil to pupil approach helps the children to open up more about their problems and the guiding pupils can give advice based on their own experience. As a result for example in Mirongo School, stealing in classrooms has decreased because the pupils have been discussing the issue together. Also dodging school has decreased because pupils are getting peer advice and example from other pupils who have gone through the same problems.

Evaluation meeting with Iseni teachers. Pic: Ruusa Gawaza

Group teaching and learning has now also become an important part of many schools daily teaching routines. Pupils are divided into groups in one class and they are encouraged to share and discuss more and learn from one another. In some schools the slower learners are also provided with  additional classes after school.

Sahwa and Igoma, that have been in the project for a long time, are well involved in the environmental activities, for example composting. However, I was also very happy to see that for example Mirongo and Mabatini Schools have quickly adopted many of the new environmental management methods through the trainings. Mabatini School, in particular, which is located on the slopes of a hill, suffers a lot from soil erosion because the school yard is quite bare. However, due to the encouragement of the project they have now started planting a lot of trees and other plants on the school yards. They have implemented composting and used the manure for the fertilization of the tree seedlings. The school yard is slowly improving and becoming greener. Also, Mirongo has used the composting method to revive the school garden. They have also invited members of the community to observe the concrete results of composting.

Protecting the environment in Mabatini School by using compost manure as a fertilizer. Pic: Ruusa Gawaza

These are just a few examples that I can mention from the evaluation of the school co-operation. But all in all, I have to say that I’m highly impressed by the motivation and involvement of the teachers and pupils in the project activities. These improvements might sound small to some, but listening to the excitement and deep engagement of the teachers and the pride in which they spoke about the new teaching methods and other activities in their school, I’m more and more convinced that small things eventually grow into something big. On a large scale these might be baby steps, but on a teacher’s or pupil’s individual level, they can have a much bigger influence than we can ever understand.

“If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together” says the proverb. Indeed, in the Tampere-Mwanza Co-Operation, we are walking together and we aim to walk very far. 

Kids are now calling me Ruusa Tampere. Pic: Amin Abdallah

Ruusa Gawaza 
(Project Manager)