Final paper (Analysis of the Guinean System of Education)

The Republic of Guinea is located on the western coast of Africa. It is an old French colony and it became independent on October 2^nd 1958. Guinea is bordered by Senegal and Mali on the north, Ivory Coast on the east, Liberia and Sierra Leone on the South with an area of 94,900 squares miles and a population estimated at 11 million. Its population is made of major tribal groups: 35% Peul, 30% Malinké, 20% Soussou, and 14% Forestier. The different governments have made some efforts to improve things, but a lot remain to be done. Being a native of the country, having done part of my studies there, and being fortunate to have studied abroad, I could say with a deep conviction that the system of education in Guinea faces multiple challenges: Lack of investment; Lack of a clear vision for education in this 21^st century; Corruption.; And lack of enough trained teachers. Let’s try to figure out the source of these issues; how does the system works? What needs to be done to improve it?

·         Educational System Overview:

(1)   “Guinea set a precedent when it became the only former French colony to sever ties completely with its past colonial framework. Everything it did, from its economy to its revolutionary educational system, was closely watched as a new African experiment in the making. The French educational system, which had been in place for more than 100 years, was dismantled.” ( state University.com 12-13-12)

(2) “All schools were nationalized in 1961.”(nationsencyclopedia.com 12-13-12). French is the official language and the language of instruction in Guinea. The Preprimary primary education, secondary education, and higher education are molded on the French national education system which had been implemented in all formers French colonies in West Africa. Its educational system has experienced many difficulties since it declared its independence from France.

Due to the fact that France was surprised by the will and the determination of the people to become independent, it imposed an embargo on the young independent nation by boycotting everything that it used to be involved in and imposed to other powerful European nations to do the same. (3) “ In 1968, a cultural revolution, aimed at de-Westernizing Guinean life, was inaugurated; since then, eight vernaculars have been added to the school curriculum, and village-level programs have been set up to assist in implementation of the plan.” (nationsencyclopedia.com 12-13-12)

I must say that illiteracy is a major issue in Guinea. (4) “Projected adult illiteracy rates for the year 2000 stood at 58.9% (males 44.9%; females 73%)”. (unicef.org 12-13-12) The lack of investment in education is another major issue in this country full of natural resources that are poorly managed by a small group of people with only one agenda which is to everything that they can to remain in power to be the only ones benefiting from the resources and keep the majority of the population in poverty. This group of people has no interest in allowing any significant investment in education because they fear that once people become educated, they will see the light and ask for a change in the way that the country is managed and governed. To better illustrate my thoughts, I found this article from UNICEF titled “Focus on education”, it was published in 2010 and states: (5) “The effects of a lack of investment in education in recent years, reportedly has led to a drop in the country’s primary school enrollment rate”. (unicef.org 12-13-12) Talking from personal experiences, I witnessed classrooms being overcrowded; I had to share my table and at times my school supplies with other students. I can’t even mention technology, because it is pretty much non-existent except in few private schools.

The salary of a teacher is very low and doesn’t not allow him or her to depend on it as sole source of income. So, there’s a lot of corruption that people witness on daily basis. Classes being overcrowded, (6) “we teach to 85 children per classroom”,(unicef.org 12-13-12) a lot of teachers end up asking money to students who poorly perform to give them good grades so that they can pass the class.

In Guinea, education is free in the public schools. Kids can start kindergarten at age 5 .Prior to that, if parents can financially afford it, they can send their kids to a private pre-school called “pépiniére” in French. The system of education is structured in three stages: Elementary school; Secondary school; University.

At the elementary level, children go through six years of primary schooling then must pass a national exam called “CEP” to start secondary school which is done in seven years. After 4 years of secondary school, there’s a national exam called “BEPC” that students must pass to reach High School.

Once in High school where students have 3 years to go through, they have three fields of studies to choose from: Mathematical sciences; Social sciences; Experimental sciences. After completing 3 years in High school, there’s a national exam “BAC” that they must pass to go to college.

The Guinean education system is costly and inefficient. The reasons for this state of affairs are many, complex and inter-related. It serves no purpose to simply blame the inefficiency of the Ministry, the failures of foreign aid or the poverty of the country. The fact is that the system has not seen a major review for quiet sometime now. The combination of policies and actions under the responsibility of the central authority has so far not produced the desired effects. These issues mentioned above has led me to ask myself a question: what would the desired impact be at the school level? I think that it could be summarized as follows. A school is effective when students:

·         Attend on a daily basis, progress from one level to another, and

·         Obtain their diploma

·         Leave the school able to read, write and solve problems

·         Become reasoning, independent citizens

·         Are in a position to be productive after completing their schooling.

The factors contributing to this impact can be found on both the school and system levels. The relations between the central authority and the local community, between the system and the school can be quite tense at times. The balance of forces between the two poles will in a large measure determine perhaps the success of the school and its students.

In the light of some the issues that exist in system of education in Guinea, I strongly believe that this is not a fatal situation or one without a solution. There is couple of solutions that could be implemented to improve things:

·         Active pedagogy

·         Hiring more teachers

·         Increasing teachers salary to reduce corruption

·         Building more schools to avoid overcrowding classes

·         Providing materials and equipment to teachers and students that are up to date

·         Institutional analysis ( focusing more on the needs of the schools than the system)

·         Budget administration and planning

·         Teacher training

·         Equity

·         Community participation

There are institutions such as UNICEF ,World Bank, U.E and they have programs in place to assist 3^rd world countries to improve their educational systems by helping to build more schools and providing materials, equipments, solutions to improve the quality of education in these countries.

Another suggestion will be for the Guinean government or the Department of education to organize national conferences where teachers will be able to expose the difficulties that they encounter and brainstorm on the solutions that could be implemented to improve the quality of education.

Decision making power and resources relevant to school success should be located at the school level, with a school principal operating under community scrutiny. The principal should be in charge of applying quality standards and should be held responsible for the effectiveness of the school. Equity concerns should be brought to the fore in the entire educational environment, including the public and private systems, the community and the school.

Resources should be focused on improving the academic performance of girls and disadvantaged children. The local community should be a full partner in planning, implementing, and monitoring school activities at the local level.

Based on the success level of other countries in the same region, I think that The Republic of Guinea is fully capable to obtain similar results in their system of education as others did. Reaching out to neighbors and asking to evaluate their systems to see what approach they took and the methodology that they followed to obtain significant results ,will be an option on the table that the Ministry of Education of Guinea could use and possibly implement to better the system of education . I know that the country is not lacking of people well qualified to bring a reform to the system .It’s a matter of letting these people to do their job without any outside influence in the best interest of the country and for the future of its youth . Ivory Coast and Senegal which are two French speaking countries located in the same region with Guinea have a better system of education not because of  more qualified people in their systems than Guinea, but they were able to reform their systems in good faith by putting the man needed at the spot needed and the rest is history …

I have no doubt in my mind that The Republic of Guinea can get the same results as others have done it by simply accepting to prioritize education than the army which carries the biggest part of the national budget . The people in power have a deep fear of the army. So, for them, taking care of the army to remain in power is more of a priority than focusing on educating people, bringing reforms to the system of education, and offering a more solid education to the youth for a better future.

A nation is strong when its people have a clear vision of the future and the people is involved into the decision making process by having a solid education which will give them a better comprehension on how things are done and what needs to be put in place for things to run smoothly so that everybody can benefit from a successful nation. This is a country full of natural resources and a rich soil where anything can grow. When I see all this potential being mismanaged by a small group of people thinking that only they deserve it and the rest of the population is not entitled to it, it frustrates me to a point where I ask myself why things are like that. Then, the only explanation that I can come up with is the greed of mankind.

History has shown that under the first regime of Guinea, even though, it went through a boycott, embargo, different forms of pressure for the regime to fail. It was able to give a priority to the system of education with the resources that were available at that time and the assistance that it was able to get from countries such as Russia, Cuba, Czech Republic, and Vietnam. None of these countries had French as first or official language of the country, but they were able to come in Guinea to learn French then teach in schools and universities. The Guinean students were among the best in Africa and some of them were able to go teach in other newly independent countries in Africa in the early 60’s through late 80’s.

I strongly believe that it is a matter of having a clear vision for the nation and understanding that education is a must for a nation to be able to sustain itself .Without a competitive sector of education, it’ll be very difficult for a nation to talk about development and aspire to stand among great and powerful nations.

The key to success for a nation cannot be obtained without a strong and solid system of education.

Work cited:

(1); (2); (3) www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Guinea-EDUCATION.html 12-13-12

               (4); (5); (6)      www.unicef.org/infobycountry/guinea_53615.html 12-13-12

MT

Draft of my final paper

Guinea is a country located in West Africa .It used to be an old French colony .It became independent on October 2^nd 1958 .Prior to independence, (1) “its educational system was patterned on that of France. All schools were nationalized in 1961.”  French is the official language and the language of instruction in Guinea. Being a native of the country, having done part of my studies in there, and being fortunate to have studied abroad. I could say with a deep conviction that the system of education in Guinea faces multiple challenges: Lack of investment; Lack of vision in this 21^st century; Corruption; And Enough trained teachers. Let’s try to figure out the source of these issues and how the system works? What needs to be done to improve it?

Due to the fact that France was surprised by the will of the people to become independent, it imposed an embargo on the young independent nation by boycotting everything that it used to be involved in and imposed to other powerful European nations to do the same. (2) “ In 1968, a cultural revolution, aimed at de-Westernizing Guinean life, was inaugurated; since then, eight vernaculars have been added to the school curriculum, and village-level programs have been set up to assist in implementation of the plan.”

I must say that illiteracy is a major issue in Guinea. (3) “Projected adult illiteracy rates for the year 2000 stood at 58.9% (males 44.9%; females 73%)”. The lack of investment in education is another major issue in this country full of natural resources that are poorly managed by a small group of people with only one agenda which is to everything that they can to remain in power to be the only ones benefiting from the resources and keep the majority of the population in poverty. This group of people has no interest in allowing any significant investment in education because they fear that once people become educated, they will see the light and ask for a change in the way that the country is managed and governed. To better illustrate my thoughts, I found this article from the UNICEF titled “Focus on education”, (4) it was published in 2010 and states: “The effects of a lack of investment in education in recent years, reportedly has led to a drop in the country’s primary school enrollment rate”. Talking from personal experiences, I witnessed classrooms being overcrowded; I had to share my table and at times my school supplies with other students. I can’t even mention technology, because it is pretty much non-existent except in few private schools.

The salary of a teacher is very low and doesn’t not allow him or her to depend on it as sole source of income. So, there’s a lot of corruption that people witness on daily basis. Classes being overcrowded, (5) “we teach to 85 children per classroom”, a lot of teachers end up asking money to students who poorly perform to give them good grades so that they can pass the class.

In Guinea, education is free in the public schools. Kids can start kindergarten at age 5 .Prior to that, if parents can financially afford it, they can send their kids to a private pre-school called “pépiniére” in French. The system of education is structured in three stages: Elementary school; Secondary school; University.

At the elementary level, children go through six years of primary schooling then must pass a national exam called “CEP” to start secondary school which is done in seven years. After 4 years of secondary school, there’s a national exam called “BEPC” that students must pass to reach High School.

Once in High school where students have 3 years to go through, they have three fields of study to choose from: Mathematical sciences; Social sciences; Experimental sciences. At the end of High school, there’s a national exam “BAC” that they must pass to go to college.

In the light of some the issues that exist in system of education in Guinea, I strongly believe that this is not a fatal situation or one without a solution . There are couple of solutions that could be implemented to improve things:

• Active pedagogy
• Hiring more teachers
• Increasing teachers salary to reduce corruption
• Building more schools to avoid overcrowding classes
• Providing up to date materials and equipments to teachers and students

 

 

There are institutions such as UNICEF ,World Bank, U.E and they have programs in place to assist 3^rd world countries to improve their educational systems by helping to build more schools and providing materials, equipments, solutions to improve the quality of education in these countries.

Another suggestion will be for the Guinean government or the Department of education to organize national conferences where teachers will be able to expose the difficulties that they encounter and brainstorm on the solutions that could be implemented to improve the quality of education.

WORK CITED:

    (1); (2); (3)          www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Guinea-EDUCATION.html          
           (4); (5)           www.unicef.org/infobycountry/guinea_53615.html

My top 3 for interview #3

1. Helena: Again , she did an excellent job . Everything was easy to read and you feel that she has improved a lot from interview1 to 3. http://elenaen191f12s28.blogspot.com/

2. Jonathan: Great work . It was easy to read and the content of the text was easy to comprehend.
http://en191f12s28jonaou.blogspot.com/


3. Brittany: She followed almost all the requirements for the interview , but didn't provide images for the text. http://eng191f12s28brittanyhof.blogspot.com/

My top 3 for interview#2

1. Helena: She was well prepared for this task and did a great job at finding the information she used for the country report and the interview was easy to read. http://elenaen191f12s28.blogspot.com/

2. Jonathan: He did a great job as well . It was fun to read and the information that he used on the country report was helpful to gain knowledge about it . http://en191f12s28jonaou.blogspot.com/

3.Loris: I liked the pictures that he used on his blog and the content was well structured  .http://en191f12s28lorissen.blogspot.com/

My scorecard

Final Topic " Exposure to the Guinean educational system"

My final topic for my final paper is titled: “Exposure to the Guinean educational system’’

The reason why I chose this topic is to be able to expose others about the educational system in my country of origin by explaining how it functions, to highlight the different stages that a student must go through (Kindergarten; Elementary school; Junior high; High school; College).

I would like to show the differences and the similarities between the Guinean and American educational systems.

Outline of my paper:

1.      Introduction: I intend to give an historical view of the Guinean educational system by talking about how and when it started.

2.      Body of text: In this part of my paper, I will explain the different stages followed by students in Guinea; How the system is structured and how it works; the differences between the Guinean educational system and the one in America.

3.      Conclusion: I will give my impression on the two systems and talk about what needs to be done to improve the one that needs improvement.

Resources:

1.      www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Guinea-EDUCATION.html

2.      www.Pulitzercenter.org/blog/untold-stories/guinea-education

3.      www.unicef.org/infobycountry/guinea_53615.html

 

My 3rd Interview (Student from Mali)

Being able to successfully complete two interviews, I felt very comfortable to conduct this third interview with an international student from Mali. The experience that I have gained during my first two interviews helped me not only to know what I needed to do, but I was also at ease to make this interview a smooth one. Having conducted my two interviews with two different international students from Guinea, I decided to do this third one on Mali just to be able to compare two French speaking countries within the same region, to see the similarities and the differences between the two countries.

Preparations:

Step 1:  I reached out to a friend of mine who’s from Mali and I was able to secure a time to conduct an interview with him .I started thinking about some objectives for the interview.

After processing my thoughts, I came up with these few objectives:

·         To understand the differences between the educational system in Guinea and the one in Mali

·         To gain knowledge about the political system in Mali

·         To have an insight about the culture in Mali from a native of Mali

·         To understand how religion influences different aspects of life in Mali

·         To answer any questions that my interviewee might have for me

Step 2:

Once that I was able to figure out what I wanted to achieve by having some clear objectives, I started to think about the outcome of my interview and one clear thing was in mind: To be able to learn as much as possible about Mali to the extent where I am able to pass it on to my friends or anyone else seeking knowledge about Mali. I went to the library and found a book on Mali from: “Lucile Carlson, Africa’s Lands And Nations, Mc Graw-Hill Book Company, 1967”.

After reading the book, I established a list of questions for my interviewee.

On Thursday November 15, 2012, I re-contacted my interviewee again as a reminder for our meeting and he reconfirmed it. On Friday November 16, 2012, I went to the library (Miller) to reserve a room for the next day at 1pm, I checked out a digital recorder, and made copies of the list of questions for my interviewee.

On Saturday November 17, 2012, I checked the digital recorder to see that it was properly working, then reviewed my list of questions one more time to make sure everything was accurate on it. I drove to the library at St. Cloud State University. Once at the library, I checked out a room to conduct the interview. My interviewee and I entered the room and we took place by seating across one another.

I thanked my interviewee for taking time out of his busy schedule and giving me the opportunity to conduct this interview. I initiated the conversation by talking about the weather as icebreaker, and then went on to talk about soccer (football as we call it in Africa). We had about a 6-10 minutes conversation about him, things that he likes to do, the weather in Mali and Minnesota.

Interviewee bio:

My interviewee C.S is a 24 years old male from Mali and he’s pursuing a B.S in Bio Medical Science at St. Cloud State University. He moved to Minnesota two years ago from New York C.S is a very humble young man and he comes off as someone knowledgeable about not only what’s happening in his country, in America, and around the world.

Interview report:

First of all, I’ll like to mention that I really enjoyed my interview with C.S. After the preliminary steps of my interview where I thanked him for giving me the opportunity to conduct this interview, I handed out the list of questions, and started a conversation to make him relax by talking about soccer as an icebreaker and other topics that most young Africans likes to talk about.

I proceeded with my questions. I was really pleased with his focus and his knowledge about the different topics we were able to talk about from my list of questions. C.S gave me some valuable insight about Mali system of education, the culture, religions, etc… I was moved by his composure and willingness to answer my questions to the best of his abilities.

Conducting this interview helped me to get answers that I was looking for to be able to compare the educational system of Guinea and the one from Mali and other aspects of life in these two countries.

Country report:

Mali:  “Formerly known as the Sudanese Republic (French Sudan), it holds the lands where the most famous of the early West African empires were centered: Ghana, the Mandingan Empire of Mali and the kingdom of the Songhai.”(1)

  (2) www.yahoo.com

Mali became independent on June 20^th, 1960 from France. French is the official language of the country and Bambara is the most dominant dialect of the country. Mali has multiple ethnic groups such as: Mande, Songhai, Tuareg, etc... And some of its ethnic groups are also found in Guinea (Fula, Mande). The government in Mali is also similar to the one in Guinea with a president as a Head of State, an acting prime minister who’s the chief of the government and a national assembly for checks & balances.

(3) www.yahoo.com

Work cited:  (1)

Lucile Carlson, Africa’s Lands And Nations, Mc Graw-Hill Book Company, 1967 Chap 10 page 163

(2) Map of Mali from yahoo.com

(3) Picture of Tombouctou from yahoo.com

Transcript of my interview:

Interviewer: M.T

Class:  ENGL 191

Interviewee: C.S

Interview date: Saturday November 17, 2012 1pm  (Miller Library Center) SCSU

Intro:

Me: My name is M.T; I am a Travel & Tourism major student at SCSU. I am conducting this interview with C.S who is originally from Mali.

Me: I would like to thank you for giving this opportunity to conduct an interview with you and how are you feeling today?

 C.S: Well, I am very good and I praise God for all the blessings he has granted me.

Me: How do you feel about the weather out there?

C.S: Well, I think it is quiet good so far .I thinks it’ll be the same as last winter.

Me: What do you usually do to keep yourself warm?

C.S: I bought some good coats and gloves to keep warm.

Me: Since it is little cold out there, can I offer you anything warm, coffee, tea?

C.S: Thank you for the offer. In Mali we like tea and young people often get together around some tea to discuss about soccer and other life events.

Me: What can you tell me about the activities that you do to keep yourself busy?

C.S: Well, I work in a group home in town and that keeps me busy enough. And in my spare time, I like to watch movies and hangout with friends whenever I can.

Me: Could you tell me about yourself? (Your full name, home country)

C.S: My name is C.S; I am from Mali. I came to this country to complete a B.S in Biomedical Science and perhaps a Master’s later. I was born in Bamako which is the capital of Mali.

Me: What are you planning to do after school?

C.S: I would like to work for the World Health Organization in Africa or serve in my country to help people have access to better healthcare.

Me: Why did you choose to study at St. Cloud State University?

C.S: Well, I found out about SCSU from a friend of mine who happened to be attending the university at that time .It is an affordable university compares to others in cities such as New York, D.C, L.A, etc…

Me: What can you tell me about your country history?

C.S: Well, Mali was a former French Colony and was formerly known as French Sudan .It became independent June 20^th, 1960. Prior to colonization, it was part of the Mandingan Empire which was a powerful empire in West Africa.

Me: How is the political system of your country structured?

C.S: Well, I can tell you that are similar to the one in Guinea .We have a president as a Head of State and he can only run twice for the office of president. We have a prime minister who’s appointed by the president and he acts as the head of the government .There’s a national legislature in place to vote and pass laws.

Me: What are your country major religions?

C.S: Mali is predominantly Muslim country. We have about 85% Muslims, 10% Christians, 5% Animists .

Me: Can you tell me about activities that young people do or people of your age like to do in your country?

C.S: Young folks usually get together around some tea that we call “ataya” and discuss about football (soccer in America). At night time going to the club and having a good time …

Me: Can you tell me about your country traditional food, different meals?

C.S: In Mali, we like what’s called “dibi sobo” which means grilled meat or BBQ that we eat with a salad.

Me: listening to you, I am already hungry.

Me: What do you find as a link between the Guinean people and the People of Mali?

C.S: I’ll start off with the Mandigan empire .Mali and Guinea are like two livers in the same body .We share some similar dialects , the food , religion , and the same traditional values.

Me: I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to conduct this interview. Before we end it, do you have any questions for me? Since, I had the pleasure to ask you so many things.

C.S: No, I have no questions .I was thrilled by the interaction that we had during this interview as it brought back some memories from home and it was a pleasure to be around.

Me: The pleasure was mine. And trust me, I learned a lot of things from you today and I was able to find the answers that I was seeking…

C.S: Thank you very much and I will be at your disposal any time that you’ll need me to do an interview.

Me: Thank you