Meeting Notes

The head teachers’ conference that Mr Isaiah (our Principal) and I attended today was very worthwhile. Both of my worries about it were unfounded. I was welcomed at the meeting but didn't get asked to make a speech and the food was very nice. All of the attendees also enjoyed a soda courtesy of the local MP who is currently seeking re-election.

The meeting combined congratulations for the previous years’ exam results from Year 8 pupils who took the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and various announcements, requests for fee payments and assorted reports on administrative matters. The meeting came to an end at about 4 p.m. after a rousing call to continuing the good work from the District Education Officer who carries the can for all things educational in our area.

Due to the seating arrangements I tried, at different points during the meeting, to do the aeroplane passenger exercises (seated variety, wandering about wouldn't have gone down too well). The meeting was held outside on the campus of a primary school in Oyugis, (our nearest town). The education officials and guest speakers were seated under a largish gazebo, mostly on plastic chairs and the head teachers sat in school desks in front of the gazebo. Kenyan public school desks are an interesting combination of economy and bum numbing practicality. The desk is an all in one structure that could, with a little imagination, be used as a sledge. The seat and back are made of one plank of timber and the ‘desk’ itself is another plank of wood that you can just about fit a small exercise book on. Pupils sit two to a desk. The whole structure is bound together with timbers that give rise to the sledge comparison. Sitting in one of these for nearly six hours introduces you to all sorts of new ways of trying to keep the blood flowing to your legs. Hence the airline exercise routine. Because the meeting was held outside the sun kept changing position, so every so often desks would be shuffled over to the nearest spot of shade (we moved twice).

It’s easy to be dismissive or critical of the way events are managed in cultures different to your own. There were some funny moments in the meeting (as there are the world over) and some phrases that don’t sound odd in Kenya but would in the UK (“All protocols observed” for example). There were some very good speakers at the meeting who spoke with passion about their desire to do the best for the children in primary schools in our district. Given the absence of nearly all modern teaching technologies in these schools the teachers do incredibly well to manage classes of up to 60 plus pupils. I was glad of the opportunity to take my place among the other head teachers and will, I am sure, learn a great deal from them as we get to know each other better.