On The Ground - Jan/Feb 2024
Club of Leaders (CoL)
To start off 2024, the primary teachers were asked to video a lesson for evaluation and reflection. High school teachers and community members joined the primary teachers to view the teaching videos. A cohort of CoL students also observed videos and commented on what went well and what needed improvement with a focus on how their teachers use the pedagogy from the CoL within their teaching in the general classroom. Mr Dany reflected on this meeting by stating, “ I liked the critical spirit and the tolerance that the Primary school teachers had after the video viewing session. They accepted the observations and suggestions. Moreover, this session allowed us all to capitalize together on effective teaching strategies to adopt in a classroom.”
In January, PAEV engineer Faustin Kupula visited Hebrone school to discuss becoming a sanitized school with hygienic toilets. Mr Kupula spent time observing the toilets and discussing the process CoL students have used to improve the toilets at the school. He introduced different types of toilets such as the scotch toilet, local latrines, VIP latrines, and wet latrines. With the students, he expanded on the benefits of ash, encouraging them to use ash as soap and a way to sanitize toilets. At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr Kupula stated “I found the children to be dynamic, in a dynamic girls' and boys' club, children who already knew a lot of basic concepts about sanitation and hygiene. The children who already have basic notions are very advanced in the process of what we call the sanitized school. I appreciated it. I even saw parents from the community who are involved in this.” Realizing the enormity of the hygiene issue, the CoL students have committed another year to researching, implementing, and teaching hygienic practices to the students and community.
