Margarita and Analía’s teacher: “We fear that lack of resources may prevent our students from reaching their goals”
By Elena Ruiz Labrador Two students from La Ramada Educational Unit, at the Bolivian municipality of Tapacarí, only have been able to attend college thanks to a scholarship. Yet it won’t be so easy for Margarita Coca and Analía Bustamante, two cousins who share a classroom and the dream of higher education. “I would like to be a doctor when I grow up”, confesses Analía, while Margarita shyly states she would like to be a teacher. Whether these two thirteen-year-old girls will reach their goals or renounce to them along the way –forced, perhaps, by poverty and their school’s lack of resources- is uncertain. Arriving at or leaving this town on the Bolivian highlands is not easy. In fact, without a vehicle adapted for cobbled roads and rivers with low water levels during dry season, it is practically impossible to reach it. Once in La Ramada, the situation is just as bleak. The town is made up of small adobe houses that are often habited despite being half-collapsed. This situation complicates the lives of the inhabitants even more, especially the lives of the children. When the two girls speak of their aspirations, their Sciences teacher sighs and seems to be less enthusiastic than they are. Aside from the problems that the students have to face due to the lack of teachers –there are only 19 for 14 grades- their family situation also influences their performance in schools. Margarita has eight siblings, but only five still live at home and attend her school. “We are many in my house and I have to help my mom when I get home from school. I wash clothes, cook and help where I can. Then, I do my homework, but by then I’m very tired”, explains the girl. Now her situation has turned even more difficult, since her father suffered an accident and can no longer work. “But my mom serves breakfast at the school”, which generates some income that allows the family simply to survive.
The case of Analía is more complicated than her cousin’s, despite having only three siblings. Her mother died of tuberculosis and her father married another woman, but says she prefers to live with her grandmother, who is 60 years old. “She is very old and can’t help us with our homework because she can’t read or write, but I feel better living with her”. Like Margarita, she must also help out at home. She is in charge of gathering firewood for cooking. For Analía and Margarita, doing these chores is something they are used to, “we would like to be playing with our friends instead”, says Analía. The two girl’s houses are very similar, especially in poverty and lack of resources. The entrance to Analía’s home is covered by small intertwined branches that can barely shelter from the cold. Margarita’s house, on the other hand, has a roof that is more resistant to the harsh weather. Their kitchens, where they spend most of their time when they are at home, are simply a space with scattered piles of firewood, several utensils and large pots, wore and burnt from years of use. Three hours´ walk to school From the approximately 400 children enrolled in the school, Margarita and Analía can consider themselves lucky, since they live in La Ramada, where the school is located. Some of their classmates are forced to walk about three hours through difficult roads in order to get to their classes. “This is why several of our students have lower grades than the rest. In fact, it has been proven that the lowest grades are obtained by the students who have to walk three hours just to get here”, explains the School Principal, who recognizes the effort that these kids make, since they rarely miss classes despite the difficulties they face. “We are very thankful, because UNICEF helps us with two lines of school buses, but we need one more”, says the father of one of the students. “Some days my children have to walk to school, despite being lucky enough to have the school bus. The routs the buses travel get modified periodically so that the same kids don’t have to walk to school every day. It is urgent. We want our kids to study, but under better conditions”, tells us a mother who wanted to come to the school to explain her children’s situation. But the inconveniences in getting to La Ramada don’t end there. Since there is no bridge for crossing the river, during rain season several kids must stay at home or “they arrive in class soaking wet”, according to the two girls, who count themselves lucky because, as opposed to the majority of their classmates, they have electricity and -for few hours- water in their homes. “Sometimes, when it rains, we have to suspend classes and then we get behind”, explains Analía. According to the Principal, this could be avoided by improving the routes of access to the school, “and that would be important because we are forced to modify the currícula constantly due to the absenses during this time of year, and the children get very far behind on their studies.” “I want to read but there is no library” Despite their youth, both girls know very well what they want and are concious of all the limitations they will have to overcome in order to achieve it. Margarita tells us that she enjoys reading very much, “but I can only read the school books because there aren´t any others”. The Social Studies teacher confesses that they don´t even have a small library with the basic children´s books, that in other places must be read by the students in order to passs the subjects. “That would be another one of our challenges; having a small library. Margarita loves to read, but she must settle for reading the lesson books,” says the teacher, who would like to have more materials so her students could learn more than she and the other teachers can teach them in class. “Margarita and Analía are two very good students, but we fear that the lack of resources may prevent them from reaching their goals”, says the teacher, deep in thought. “Sometimes pure will is not enough to succeed, we need external help,” She adds. While the teacher speaks and they listen intently, the two girls don´t lose their smiles. Their faces relfect ilusion, as though they were saying “yes, we want to succeed ins spite of it all.” UNICEF provides support School transportation has become a basic service for the students of this school. So much so that it is a determining factor for the student´s good academic performance. UNICEF has colaborated very actively in this area and is supporting the implementation of two bus lines to transport part of the students. Nevertheless, this support is not sufficient because each bus, which has the capacity for transporting approximately 30 kids, has to transport twice as many, with a potential risk to the children´s safety. Besides supporting school transportation, UNICEF works together with the teachers at this school in order to improve education through a program that promotes educational innovation by having the teachers exchange experiences. This way, the program seeks to help teachers look past the traditional systems of education in order to move forward to the use of methods that give the students a more active role in their own education.
Education in Bolivia Bolivia is reported as being the second poorest country in Latin America with 34.5 per cent of the nation's population living in extreme poverty (less than USD 1 per person per day) and 67 per cent of the population living in poverty of some degree (less than USD 2 per person per day). Especially in disadvantaged urban and rural areas of the country, poverty is severe and access to public services limited. In average, infant mortality is reported at 54 deaths in 1,000 live births, under-five child mortality lies at 75 in 1,000 live births and life expectancy is 66 years. In rural parts of the country, infant mortality raises to 67 and under-five mortality to concerning 96. Literacy rates (age 19 and older) are reported at 85 per cent at national levels and 71 per cent for rural areas. School attendance rate for children aged 6 to 19 is reported as 79 per cent at national level and 74 per cent for rural areas of the country; half of rural children once enrolled in school – many of them girls – drop out before completing the eight years of primary school. In disadvantaged areas of the country, such as – for example - the Amazon and Guarani-speaking areas, the Net Enrolment Rate (NER) for 6th grade is 88% and 52% for 8th grade only (2004). The promotion rate to 6th grade is 78% and to 8th grade 45% only. Even more pronounced is the problematic of access to quality education services for the population younger than six years of age. Reliable (gender disaggregated) data on access to services for children younger than four years of age are not available, and data on four and five years old children having access to pre-school services suggest an estimated rate of 40 per cent for girls and boys (national data, urban and rural areas of Bolivia). Poverty, external factors (for example chronic emergency situations), cultural beliefs and values, and weak teaching processes and educational management are barriers causing low access to and quality of education at all levels. |
