Our first day at Al Ishraq School

Before we arrived at Al Ishraq school we were nervous about what we would find:
. Would any of the supplies we brought last time still be there?
. Would any of the supplies have been used?
. What would the new Principal be like?
. What requests would they make of us?
. Would there be any changes in the way the teachers were teaching?
. Would the atmosphere and energy be different from the post-tsunami Arugam Bay we experienced in 2005?

We were pleasantly surprised to find:
. There is an "Environment Day" every Monday where students are required to clean up the school area
. There seemed to be more children in school
. Most of the outside walls of the school were colourfully painted - albeit with advertisements
. Some outside classroom walls had been colourfully painted with health messages
. A few of the classrooms had been painted
. There has been a program to encourage planting of small trees and they are being watered
. There were some patches of grass shaped like butterflies and flowers - also watered
. Most classrooms had lockable cupboards donated by various organizations (in addition to the four we had donated in 2005)
. One of the primary classrooms exhibited student work and the walls had been painted with the alphabet and numbers
. The 'English Unit' was still there (although not used exclusively as an English unit) and so were the supplies we had donated
. The Principal's office boasted three brand new computers given by the government
. A new classroom had been built in anticipation of a computer unit
. There were new girls and boys bathrooms donated by ADRA
. The children are getting a rice meal at midday thanks to the World Food Program (WFP)
. There is a new building which apparently has been built by the WFP to store and cook food
. There is a new building for teachers quarters donated by the Swedish Government
. There was no mention of the tsunami or the war which recently ended, and no observable stress related to either event.

Still there was much work awaiting us. On arrival we were quickly met by the two new English teachers (Mr Farzan and Mr Anzar) who have replaced Mr Ameer (now at another school in Pottuvil). Their number one request was laptop computers and internet access to support their teaching and to give them access to materials on line.

We took a tour of the school and were again shocked by the high rate of teacher absenteeism and lack of teaching happening in the classrooms. On our tour we only saw teaching happening in one classroom! It was important for us to meet the Principal in order to start a new collaboration. He seemed however unavailable and perhaps disinterested and constantly protected by an entourage of teachers who spoke little or some English. We assumed the Principal's limited English might be a barrier for us. After dodging many solicitations for computers and internet we managed to get the English teachers to concentrate on teacher training which they seem genuinely interested in learning more about. They asked us to teach two English lessons the next day to Grades 3 and 4.