The teaching profession in Lesotho draws many different types of people: the educated-with-no-other-ideas, the need-to-do-something-to-pay-the-bills, the I-want-to-return-to-high-school-and-this-is-the-best-option, the I-want-to-teach-but-not-in-the-rural-areas, and the hardcore I'm-60-years-old-and-still-teaching-people. I certainly know that this is not extraordinary as far as teachers all over the world go. Those who are truly dedicated often do a lot with the school and seem to enjoy their work more. For some, they are waiting until they are entitled to a pension at which point they will quit. For others, they are waiting to be accepted to the seminary, the university, the police training college. And others are waiting for money or partners so they can start a business. For these reasons, and others, there is a very high turnover rate of teachers. This effect is heightened in the rural areas which young teachers use as a way station while they hope to obtain teaching jobs in the cities.
Since we arrived at St. Rodrigue, we have lost several teachers. One looking for a transfer, another to the police training college, one in hopes of returning to the university went to the primary school. Two teachers are currently on maternity leave and another will take her maternity leave in November. Six teachers mostly lost on a staff of seventeen teachers.
Obviously, adjustments had to be made. Early in the year, other teachers added some classes to their already full time-tables (schedules). Some classes were simply left without a teacher for extended periods of time. The hope is that they would study their books on their own in hopes of not losing that time entirely. Whether these students had teachers or not, they were responsible for the material and would be examined on it. Some classes ware working towards a national certificate and are on a two-year cycle; the exams are not going to wait for them.
During the first session (semester), the principal had little to no luck finding new teachers. (In the job of finding new teachers, she had to miss her classes once a week to go to town and find out if anyone did apply. If only there were telephones up hereâ¦) However, when we returned from our winter holiday, not only were some teachers gone, but there were some fresh faces in the staff room.
This was excellent for many reasons. Primarily, the students had teachers again and could resume their somewhat normal course of study. Certainly, they had a lot of catch-up work to do, but any teacher is better than none. Secondarily, new staff members seemed to refresh the staff a bit.
Suddenly, having spent one session at the school made me one of the old teachers. I made sure to "invite" the new teachers to assembly on the first morning they were there. Throughout the first few weeks, the "old teachers" were pointing out which classrooms they had to be at. We helped to shift around some classes on the time-table so everyone would fit it (it's still not complete a quarter later). On Fridays when the time-table is changed a bit, I made it a point to explain the changes (good thing, too, as no one had mentioned that we start earlier on Fridays).
It's a great feeling to be asked about the bus times and pick-up points, or where to get a new marking pen when it runs out. The sisters treat us like all the older staff and expect us to make announcements at assembly. (John was asked to explain the World Trade Center attacks on the anniversary of September 11th) and make comments at the staff meetings. We are asked to help with clubs and sports or to proctor exams. Students often come to us for help even if we do not teach their classes.
Coming to a place where I don't speak the first language and look conspicuously like a foreigner, I didn't expect to feel like one of the permanent staff. Everyone here knows that we came at the beginning of the school year and we will leave at the end of the school year. We were temporary teachers before we started. However, knowing that we had been here for some time and that we would stay until the school is closed (excepting emergency situations) makes us a reliable teaching post when teachers are not necessarily reliable. I am grateful for everyone's trust and faith in our abilities and comfort here. I truly feel like an old teacher.
