环球英语 — 756：Schools for Nomads
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Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Joshua Leo
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And I'm Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.
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When you were young, what was your school like? Did you go to a large building every day or were you taught at home? Did you go to a school with hundreds of students or only a few? There are many different kinds of schools but most work in a similar way. Children travel to one building during the week. The teachers lead rooms of students to learn about many subjects. After many years of school, the students enter the world as adults. They have important knowledge and skills.
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These kinds of schools are good for communities that stay in the same place. The children can go to schools near their homes. But what about children who move often? How do they get a good education? Today's Spotlight is on communities in East Africa that are solving this problem.
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In Northern Ethiopia, families travel to search for water and food for their animals. For hundreds of years these communities have lived in this way. They travel through the dry areas of the country. When the water or food is gone, the communities must move on. The people in these communities are nomads. Every season they look for a new home for their sheep, goats, and camels. But this means that the children of the community must move too. It is difficult for these children to attend school. One season they may live near a school. But the next season they will live somewhere else.
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The lives of the nomads depend on their animals. The animals are the base of the community. If the animals do not have food, the community must move. The parents in these communities want their children to care for the animals. Education is not as important. As a result, many of the people do not know how to read or write. The schools in the area do not fit the lives of the nomads. The teachers are often not well trained. They do not speak the language of the nomadic students. And they use teaching materials that the nomad children do not understand.
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But the nomads in Ethiopia are not the only nomadic communities. All across East Africa, nomadic communities move from place to place. In Somalia, Sudan, and Kenya children travel and never attend school.
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Most of these nomadic children never go to school. But some people are working to change that. These people are making school fit the lives of the nomadic communities.
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In Kenya, near the border of Somalia, a group of children sits under a large tree. They speak together words in English. This is their school. It is part of a new government programme. Mohamed Elmi is a government official in Northern Kenya. He told reporter Ashley Seager that he believes that these kinds of schools are important.
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"My opinion is that people should not have to choose between the way they live and an education."
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Groups and governments in East Africa are helping to form these "Mobile schools" across the area. The children in these schools attend classes early in the morning. They study for a few hours and then they care for their animals in the afternoon. Some students may return to the classroom again later in the day.
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In one classroom, the teacher attaches signs to trees. There are no walls. School supplies are very limited. So he uses what he does have. He writes out letters and numbers with the waste of goats. The children walk past the letters and say them out loud.
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The teachers in these schools are members of the community. They know the culture of their students. They travel with the children and their families.
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Sometimes these communities must travel very far. In some areas of East Africa, the nomadic lifestyle is becoming more and more difficult. In recent years the climate in the region has changed. It has been very dry. Nomads must travel very far to find water and food for their animals. Many of their animals die on these long journeys.
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As dry seasons get longer, many nomadic parents are not sure if their way of life can continue. They worry that their children may have to find different ways to survive. This is another reason why education in these communities is so important. If life has to change, the children will be educated. They will be ready to look for new ways to live.
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These new schools are helping the parents of the children to value education more. The parents want their children to have better lives then they did. And now they see education as a way to make this happen. Communities are also starting to value education for girls.
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In many communities in East Africa, people think that educating a girl is a waste of time and money. Girls often marry at a very young age. But with these new mobile schools, more boys and girls receive education.
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Some people think that this kind of education may threaten the nomadic way of life. When the children receive education, many want to continue going to school. This often means that they must leave the community to attend a university. If too many of the children leave, then the communities cannot exist. But there are many people who do not agree. One person is Zainab Sahal . She told the BBC that she likes these new mobile schools.
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"This school is a good idea because we are moving away from lack of knowledge. Education has been brought closer to us. We have to enjoy that. It is good that one of our own people is teaching here and our children are now gaining knowledge. I have no fear of our way of life dying out. These children are our children. When they go to town they will come back. So as long as we are in the villages wherever they go, they will come back."
