Schools that work (Youth radio production from western Zambia)
From: michal rahfaldt
Series: World Cup in My Village
Length: 02:42
What facilities and learning resources are necessary for a school to offer a quality education to its students? The World Cup in My Village youth journalists in Mongu, Zambia took this question head-on, and considered the good, the bad, and the ugly at their school.
“I feel that we don’t really have facilities to help us learn effectively,” says Grade 11 student Steven Sianga. Schools are not just about students and teachers, he says. They’re also about having suitable facilities and learning resources like textbooks and computer labs that function.
“Teachers are there to take us through, to make us pass,” says 18 year-old Lawrence Mulope. “The materials are in teachers.”
“Some pupils are interested in certain subjects like IT, but here at this school, there’s no class for taking IT,” says a classmate at St. John’s Senior Secondary School. “And the computers there, it’s like they are there for decoration only, and there’s not enough for the pupils to benefit from.”
World Cup in my Village is a project of UNICEF, the Children's Radio Foundation, and community partners.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
What facilities and learning resources are necessary for a school to offer a quality education to its students? The World Cup in My Village youth journalists in Mongu, Zambia took this question head-on, and considered the good, the bad, and the ugly at their school.
“I feel that we don’t really have facilities to help us learn effectively,” says Grade 11 student Steven Sianga. Schools are not just about students and teachers, he says. They’re also about having suitable facilities and learning resources like textbooks and computer labs that function.
“Teachers are there to take us through, to make us pass,” says 18 year-old Lawrence Mulope. “The materials are in teachers.”
“Some pupils are interested in certain subjects like IT, but here at this school, there’s no class for taking IT,” says a classmate at St. John’s Senior Secondary School. “And the computers there, it’s like they are there for decoration only, and there’s not enough for the pupils to benefit from.”
World Cup in my Village is a project of UNICEF, the Children's Radio Foundation, and community partners.
Ali Tahir
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 03:15 PM | Permalink
Review for Schools that Work
In this insightful vox pop, produced by Kezman Saboi, the evaluation of Zambian schools is well-presented.
Since this piece has no narrator, it jumps right in, and you know that the schools don’t have what they need, but you don’t know where they can get it from. It’s a great technique. A variety of voices are used, which helps the piece present the situation in Zambian schools without bias. Around seven voices are used and these voices help the listener get a understanding of the real problem in Zambian schools; that the equipment is there, but there is no knowledge of how to use the equipment to help the students pass their exams. I thought the piece presented the good, bad, and ugly just as the piece description indicated.
My favorite part of the piece was the humor at the end. Humor is a tough thing to put into a radio piece, but the natural humor about the conditions of Zambian school bathrooms provides the listener with a something they could relate to. Though the situation in Zambian schools needs attention, I thought the piece did not try to overwhelm the listener, but rather inform them.
In terms of improvement, I wondered whether these problems are the same in public or private Zambian schools. An in-depth explanation about the different types of schools in Zambia would help with this. Also an expert voice on the school problem in Zambia would provide further insight to the listener.
Overall, though, this piece provides insight into a country many Americans are not familiar with, yet makes it relatable using the problems in schools which many Americans have personally dealt with. This piece might work for PRI’s The World in Boston as they do a lot of international pieces.
This piece is about 2 years old and makes me wonder about how Zambian schools are now?