All About Schools in Roatan – As I Understand It – Today. Part 1: Schools

Wilson and friends coming from Modelo

Geyzi ready for school.

Larry and I feel strongly about encouraging kids here to go to school, stay in school, and succeed in school.  We are not alone in this. The parents want this too as they have high goals for their kids.

Carlos, Karla, Leidy, Jessie, and Oscar Day 1 ALFA

Daily we have new understandings of how school works here in our place in Sandy Bay, Roatan.  What we understand is lots of times not accurate or at least incomplete.  It seems it changes depending on who is doing the telling. Not only language hampers our understanding, but also people trying to please, or people trying to interpret changes, or people making changes. Then, occasionally it’s people who take advantage of our misunderstandings …sigh….. There are cultural differences.  There are socio-economic differences. We come to this with our own understanding of what we have experienced previously, or our understanding of what we would do if we were Boss-for-a-Day.  And, in the middle of all this are the students who are trying to make sense of what the adults are saying and doing.  So, here is my All About Schools in Roatan – As I Understand It – Today.  Part 1 (because this got too long): Schools.

Adventista school in the Colonia - K- grade 6 - private

In the time we have been in Roatan, we have seen such positive changes in the school system itself.  Sometime in the past ten years compulsory education has gone from age 11 to 14 (grade 6 to grade 9 age). At this time, no monitoring of this takes place, and schools send kids home if they don’t have a uniform with backpack – but kids are supposed to go to school, kids want to go to school, and parents want their kids in school.  Public education is paid up to grade 12 now and in the past 5 years more students have continued through to this point to obtain a diploma that can be presented to potential employers. Recently, teachers have been required to go to university to be accredited. (If you are surprised about this, I think I remember when this came into effect in Ontario – 30 years ago? – not really so much different.) Honduras is trying to improve literacy.  In these middle years, gaps exist but steady progress is being made.

Public High school in Coxen Hole

       1. Schools in Honduras are organized with 6 years elementary school, 3 years colegio (grade 7-9), and 2 years Bachillerato, (university prep, grade 10-11), or 3 years Bachillerato/vocational training (grade 10-12). University is not publically funded but tuition for the local university courses is modest and students continue to live at home.  University at the three larger universities on the mainland offer specialized courses, are more highly regarded, have higher price tag and require room and board in the big cities. You get what you pay for. I just don’t understand Kinder (Kindergarten).  It is not mandatory and it is only sort of publically funded.  There is 2 years a child can go to Kinder including pre-Kinder. The idea is that preparation for grade 1 is done in Kinder.  It seems to be social training, but sitting in desks, and lots of work for parents to drop off and pick up their child after 2 or 3 hours each day. No reading is done, nor are students even required to learn to write their names or numbers.  Most kids go to at least one year of kinder.

Jisele working at the computer

      2. Time – in order to optimize use of the building, many schools have two or three sections.  Some students attend school from 7:00 – 12:00; then an afternoon group comes from 12:30 or 1:00 to 6:00.  Colegio is also offered in the evening. Two of our youngest students, Meri and Jisele, leave their houses before 6:00 in the morning to catch the bus at 6:10 for their 7 a.m. classes! They are tired little bunnies by the end of the day. Most teachers only teach one section                                                        in the day. 

        3.Schools – we have had students in various schools on the island both public and private.  Currently we have students in three of the local schools.  With our friends, the Gartners, we have 8 kids sponsored at ALFA, a private bi-lingual, Christian school in the nearby town of Coxen Hole.  We are also involved in helping four students at the public high school, Santos Guardiola, in Coxen Hole.  Students attending school in town need to ride the bus.  The bus is really a van that seats 17 (or more if they squeeze).  While there is only a $25 registration fee required to attend this school, it is the $40 per month transportation fee that keeps kids from continuing in high school/grade 7-12 in town.

Other students attend Modelo, the public school (kinder to grade 9) that is a short walk from the Colonia.  Modelo currently has 1,250 students in 35 classes.  Class size ranges from 25 or so for older kids, to 45-50 for some of the younger grades.  For comparison, the students in ALFA are in classes of 15-25. There are many schools throughout the island.  Public elementary schools tend to be crowded, sparse in furnishings, and textbooks are nonexistent.  If you visit, it is not the physical appearance, but the noise level that you first notice.  People here are talkers and very passionate!

    4.More schools – there are various options for students who cannot attend school as a regular student.  These options are great for mature students, people with children, or those with a job. UTH has school on Sundays – all day Sunday – with the expectation that hours of homework will be completed during the week.  The Honduran government encourages mature students by providing partial funding for schools in the EDUCATODAS program. Every school is different, but class time is compressed with classes in the evening or weekend.  There is also a program to offer kindergarten in in local settings.  Resource materials are provided as well as teacher training.  The teacher and facility must be provided by the community. The teacher is a volunteer. 

In the Colonia there is a special little school - Casa de Luz- where kids learn English.  Kids attend this school for an hour each day before or after they attend their regular school.  Each year we become aware of ways school is done differently.  Sometimes it's a matter of connecting with the right person.

        5.School calendar - The school year begins in early February and runs until early November.  There are many national holidays which provide plenty of days off.  Sometimes schools also close early for football games (soccer), or because it is hot.  Sometimes the teacher is sick and because the teacher pays her own supply teacher, there is usually no teacher and the kids are sent home.  A few schools on the island use the “American” timetable.  These are usually schools serving kids of North Americans, or schools which prepare students to attend high school or university in the States.

Colegio in Modelo - beautiful new public school!

      6.Ventilation – Normally, people wouldn’t consider this a notable topic but Honduras is a tropical country. It is really hot in a small room with many sweaty bodies.  Some schools are built to maximize air flow with an open courtyard and classrooms with windows on both sides. A very few classrooms have air conditioning. Some classes have fans but not all.  Focusing on school studies in the afternoon must be impossible!  When Katee, our daughter who teaches, mentions that students cannot go out of the air conditioned school on those hot days in June in Ontario, I am amused.

Those little white dots at the back on the roof?  Gym class begins.

   7.     A special structural feature – Makes me smile! Modelo, the public school down the road from the Colonia, has a really interesting structural feature.  The gym is on the roof!  Classrooms occupy two storeys in the building.  And then up above one wing is the place kids play soccer and exercise.  There’s really great ventilation!  A 10-foot high chain link fence surrounds the gym area. That keeps the kids and the balls in the gym.  I guess there is no roofing the ball!

To me this is the funniest thing - I was visiting with
funds for school, and the older brother (who can't read English)
was sporting this shirt!

You have to wonder what it is that keeps kids going back day after day? While there is no one really policing attendance for the most part, students return day after day. Most do homework! Certainly there is pleasure in the socialness of school, and even the routine of school. We know that for the kids here, and for their families, going to school provides hope.  Learning to read, studying about the world, and learning a vocation offer the confidence of choices and opportunities.  As we see it, there are many good changes happening and the gap between what was and what can be is narrowing.  We’re really looking forward to what our students will be able to do with their choices.  

Coming Up...... Part 2: Student Stuff.....