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Senegal: School year 2020/2021 begins

The kindergarten children are looking forward to the new classrooms

Still more construction work after the unusually long rainy season

The schools were closed in March 2020, and the children are looking forward to their usual days in school. On November 12, the doors were once again opened and the kindergarten children of Ecole 2 in Sedhiou were in for a big surprise. Instead of the usual improvised bamboo mat construction for the 5-year-olds, the "Grand section" was greeted by a spacious purple classroom that we had built earlier this year.

The classroom for the 4-year-olds is in its final stages of construction. The rainy season started very early and unusually heavy this year, already at the beginning of June. Since we did not get the full delivery of all the wood for the roof construction, we let the new construction rest until mid-October when the heavy rains have finally subsided. Now, in November 2020, under the supervision of our project partner, Elhadji Dieme, the roofer has erected the wooden structure and then fixed the corrugated sheets. Currently, the classroom is getting plastered, then will be painted and should be ready by the end of December painted all in green for the children of the "Moyenne section".

The spacious classrooms allow the children to receive a well rounded education. The "big ones" are tought by the director of these kindergarten departments. I have experienced him as very committed, even during our construction phase.  Various conversations with him have shown me, that he is very open to progressive pedagogical education. I am looking forward to enriching the kindergarten with play material after my return to Senegal. I also plan to accompany the lessons there as well. This gives me the opportunity to introduce the children to the games and thus encourage them with a versatile education, which is still lacking in Senegal.

In addition, further training is already planned to familiarize the teachers with new play and craft materials and to give them new ideas for teaching in many areas. I am confident that working together with the teachers and children will be an enjoyable for all of us. My return journey is still uncertain, but I hope that the borders will be opened again by the end of 2020.