Oui Monsieur (Yes Sir)

Si j’écrivais comme ca, la majorité de vous ne comprendriez pas. Mais voilà la cas pour le début des écoles en Sénégal.


If I wrote like that, the majority of you would not understand. But that was the case for the early Senegalese schools. Our teacher for today said that one of the first French phrases he learned was "Oui Monsieur", because he was going to school without knowing an French. During the colonial era, and even as it ended, the French system was used for a people who didn't speak French. He was living in northern Senegal, where it can be 120 degrees in the shade, and writing essays about winter and central heating, things he had no experience of. He wrote about cherry harvesting, having never tasted or even seen on for himself.

Before coming to Senegal, I had seen the film Rue Cases Negres, set in Martinique, but also a good depiction of schooling in French colonies. Children were reciting districts of Paris and learning French geography, learning things completely irrelevant to their lives and giving no hope towards finding a job.

You might think things are much better now. Yes and no. In public schools, there might be 180 students for 1 teacher. 80% of schools have no electricity. Most of the budget goes to pay teachers. Skilled teachers are more expensive, while voluntary teachers are very cheap. But you get what you pay for. Many "informal" schools are done in the national languages, of which there are more than 25. But you can't get a job speaking just Wolof, etc, so you're stuck.

In my host family, my older sister goes to a university here, and my 13 year old is at a private middle school. I guess I didn't realize how well off they really are. My younger sister loves studying English and science, and wants to go on to university and study to be a doctor. There really is a huge disparity in wealth and possibility here.