An early start

Today began at 6am, as Tutu and I had to leave at 6.30 if we were to stand any chance of getting to the government school in Oblogo by 7.30.  We got a tro relatively quickly (compared to the past couple of days) but witnessed our first "near-miss" on the roads, whereby a young girl crossed over the side-lane of the road to get to the tro, almost being hit by a motorbike which was scooting along the side of the road, and had to skid, causing it's riders to fall off! Luckily though no one was hurt and we continued with our journey. We did however make it to school on time, only to discover that the headmistress who we had spoken to yesterday was not even there! Luckily though a nice male teacher called her and then arranged the interviews for us himself, supplying us with a class full of students.

Whilst we were waiting for our interviewees, I observed that the conditions in the school were certainly no better than the private school, an interesting point considering that this is a common argument against private schools for the poor- that they are of a low standard with regards to building quality and facilities in comparison to the well funded government schools. They did however have a couple of tent/marquee's and a large sound system in the middle of the playground- flashy, but how useful? I am unsure.  We had also heard, from Simiao, that the school was only open until 10am (perfectly believeable, and a good argument in favour of private schools which at least provide a full day's education), but we did notice that there were some lessons going on even when we arrived around 7.15- making for a shorter day than the private schools, but slightly better than if they were only starting at 8am.

The interviews went over relatively smoothly and quickly, we asked for older children to be sure that they understood English, and this was not a problem. I found a similar proportion of the students I interviewed to be working, but in comparison to Omega Oblogo there were more students working independently of their parents.  In Omega Kasoa and Omega 94 there were a few students who worked their own jobs, and several who worked with their parents, but in Bortianor and Oblogo most of the working students were just working with their parents.  My economic background question also indicated that some of the students at the government school were the poorest that I have spoken to so far (having none of the items off my list of household posessions).

The morning went over rather smoothly, and three schools worth of data in three days does not seem to be bad going so this afternoon I spent some time looking over my data and contemplating what more I have to do. I have done 105 interviews altogether so far with students, and also a few with teachers (something which I need to do more of!).  The plan is to attempt to get into the government school near to Omega 94 on Friday to look at another government school, in another area.  We rounded off the day by broadening our horizons and ordering something other than chicken for tea- kebabs of an undefined meat, and obviously some jollof rice.  Very tasty, if not a little spicy, and served on nicely carved twigs as skewers.