Every year, on October 5th, we get to celebrate our teachers. The formidable, resilient and selfless human beings that feature in our learning years. Gently sharing and imparting not only formal knowledge, but also life’s ideals.

In line with this year’s World Teachers’ Day celebrations under the theme ‘Teachers: Leading in crisis, reimagining the future’, the FAWE communications team got a chance to engage with some of the teachers in Ethiopia. These teachers have ensured that learning continues despite a global pandemic.

 

Teacher 1:

Mr. Dagnachew Worku is a teacher at the Mastercard Foundation Scholars program partner school, Bashewam, teaching Chemistry.

How has the pandemic affected education?

The normal teaching and learning process was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic which forced the students to put a halt to their studies before they completed the 2020 curriculum. Consequently, the government declared a free promotion of all students to the next grade, except grade 8 and 12 who are expected to take specific grade leaving exams. This will have an adverse effect on their upcoming grades and national examination performance.

How has the pandemic specifically affected your students?

Following the COVID -19 outbreak, my students have been forced to stay at home for their safety. This has led some of them experiencing stress and anxiety.

What has been the hardest part about moving your classes online?

Students are facing challenges in shifting to online classes due to the absence of reliable internet connectivity and poor technological knowledge and skills.

As a teacher, I do not have much power to control the students. It is therefore difficult to know the students who are actually following the class session and those who are not. It is also difficult to rank the students according to performance.

What are your biggest concerns about online teaching?

My biggest concern is evaluation. As mentioned before, I do not have much power to control the students. Use of different types of evaluating systems to measure performance of students need to be put in place. It will also curb copy-pasting of answers provided by other students to the various questions asked in the class sessions.

Why did you become a teacher and what do you love most about teaching?

I became a teacher because of the positive influence from my teachers while I was still in high school. I strongly believe that teaching is the mother of all professions. I have been in the teaching profession for eight years and I enjoy it because it gives me a chance to shape future generations. It also gives me a moral satisfaction.

 

Teacher 2:

Mrs. Tamrat Taye is a senior teacher mentor in the Mastercard Foundation Scholars program. She teaches in Hawassa Tabor secondary school

 

How has the pandemic affected education?

The pandemic has affected education the most because of the school closures. Students have been unable to promptly cover the school curriculum. They have also been unable to get practical experience in ICT, physical exercises and different laboratory experiments thus the quality of education has been severely affected.

How has the pandemic specifically affected your students?

Students are feeling hopeless and depressed because they are not going to school and socializing with their peers. They are also being exposed to Gender Based Violence (GBV), early marriage and child labor. I feel like they are losing their sense of competition since there is no form of evaluation currently in place – this is discouraging them from studying hard.

How do you think your students have adapted?

In government schools there was no online education pre-Covid-19. Schools provided hardcopy notes to students for revision and other uses. Recently, students have been attending the online studies facilitated by FAWE Ethiopia. They have also created Telegram groups by themselves in which they conduct academic discussions.

What has been the biggest challenge and why?

The biggest challenge has been the lack of proper evaluation. As a result, we are seeing more students getting demotivated in their studies.

What are you proud of?

The community has pulled together to help each other by giving sanitary materials, food items and money to the people in need. This, in my opinion, should continue even after the pandemic.

What do you miss about teaching in person?

I miss communicating with my students and my colleagues. I also miss the friendly environment at school.

Why do you love teaching?

I love the time that I get to spend with my students and witness their progress and overall development. I relax when I am in school and forget my worries and stress whenever I am with my students.

Why did you become a teacher?

I was inspired to become a teacher by my primary and secondary school teachers. I loved them so much and that made me want to be like them.

 

Special thanks to FAWE Ethiopia team