Look Out: Education Around the World

H. W. Smith School in Syracuse, NY, USA works with refugee children from across the world. Half of the students are native born and the other half have come from refugee camps fleeing countries like Sudan and Burma. There are 40 ethnic groups represented in a school with a total of 740 students.

The No Child Left Behind Act in the US means that every child has to learn English upon arrival and they are tested at grade level for their age whether they have been in this country for two days two months or two years. Many of these children did not learn to read in their native languages so they are mastering the process of reading and a new language at the same time.

Special teachers trained to teach English to speakers of foreign languages and a loving principal, Sharon Birnkrant, welcome these children to the United States and a new way of life.

Children in schools sponsored by ibtida.org only a few years ago were working to support their families . The parents have given up the children’s income so that the children can attend school. In school they learn all basic subjects.

Graduates of MIT have provided them with computers so the childlren and their mothers are learning technological skills.

Cross-cultural learning and understanding are part of the curriculum.

ibtida-sponsored schools value the education of girls and educate all children. After the first year, the schools had a waiting list of students wanting to attend.

Teacher development is important because traditional teaching in Pakistan for primary students is done with books without pictures and is based on much memorization. The teachers want to offer the students more user friendly classes — they use books in Urdu (Pakistan’s language) with pictures and provide activities that involve the students.

Look at the pictures of the children.  They are happy to go to school.

People in Kisumu, Kenya and Brooklyn, New York worked together to create grassroots international understanding. Using digital cameras and the internet, a teacher in Kenya and a director in New York collaborated to create community.

The groups work together to create a soap opera, finding the same issues on both sides of the ocean. A basic plot develops. The group in each country creates scenes and presents them. From grassroots cooperation, comes a film that was shown in the US and Kenya.