A Place For Weirdos

Just like many other aspects of our country, the teaching-learning process is also a bit weird. Just like many other countries, it's divided into two. Private schools and Government schools. I've learned in private schools my whole life but I have friends who learn in government schools so I do know what the differences are. But the main difference is, since government schools are funded by the government you can learn for free.

1, Crowded classrooms

Most schools (especially government schools) are wayyyy too crowded. In my first year of high school, I learned in a class with 70 other students. Yup, you heard that right.

2, No lockers and lunch rooms

In most high schools, there are no lockers. We just carry all our books and other belongings in our bags. The saddest part tho is that we don't have lunch rooms! We literally eat in the classroom (at least that's what my school is like) Keep in mind I can't speak for all schools in Ethiopia. I'm pretty sure schools are much much much better in our capital city Addis, but I don't live there so...

3, Uniforms

We don't get to wear our own clothes like we see in hollywood movies, every school here demands us to wear uniforms. I wish it wasn't like that but I only have a few weeks left of highschool so I don't have to suffer anymore lol

4, Pointless rules

And another thing that annoys us is how some schools have all these redicilous rules like we can't wear shoes that show our toes (or maybe that's just my school)😂

5, School bus

Another thing that amazes me is how most students just don't use the school bus. They prefer to walk to school no matter how far their house is (and most of us don't want to pay the extra fee for it) I've never been in a school bus in my 18 years of life. Not even once. Almost all students in my school either use public transportation, or their parents drop them off.

6, No bullying

As far as I know, there's no bullying in Ethiopian schools. In hollywood movies or highschool books there are some kids aka 'losers' who always get bullied by the mean or popular kids. That's not the case here, thankfully. The 'nerds' are pretty much respected instead of being descriminated. 

7, Punishments

When we were kids, most of us suffered in the hands of our teachers and no one did anything to stop it. They were pretty much allowed to physically harm us by hitting our palms with tree brunches and stuff like that. One of my fourth grade teachers was... well, creative when it came to punishments. Instead of hitting us he would put a chalk between our middle and ring fingers and squeeze them together. Trust me, it hurt.

I remember when I was ten our Math teacher would punish us when we come to school late and I was almost always late. And one of his rules was if we dodge his hits... he would make it twice as painful the next time he swings. The number of hits would also increase. And I would always pull my hand back right before the branch could hit me. His other rule was someone else can volunteer to take the hits instead of the person who actually deserved it. Makes no sense, I know lol. Two kids (a boy and girl) would always take the hits instead of me and I can never forget them. They were so kind and thoughtful even at such a young age.

Share your own stories! (I know you have some) xD

And tell me what else I missed so I can add it.

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This chapter is written by me, @hideinzshadows. I know it's boring compared to the previous ones but what can I do, not everyone can write as good as Nonachas can. But anyway I hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to vote and comment! 😁