Problem-solving

You are the principal of an girl’s elementary school in the village of T in Afghanistan. You have a schoolhouse with eight (8) classrooms and no money to build more classrooms. You have a growing student population but currently you have 1000 girls in grades 1 through 8 enrolled in your school. You need to meet with the village elders and decide how the school will handle teaching that many girls. Spend some time alone or in groups to make some suggestions about how to best set up your school time and class sizes.

Other things to consider:

· You only have electricity from 6-8PM every night but it doesn’t always work

· The most kids you can fit in a room is about 40 of the small kids and 30 of kids six and above

· Kids have chores to do so they can’t start school too early or stay too late

Challenge

What would your school day or home life be like if you did not have electricity? There are two things you could try to get a little idea—

1. Do not use electricity in your classroom from 1:00 to the end of the school day today, or 10:30 to noon for the half-day K. What was your day like? How was it different? What could you do that you would already do with electricity? What couldn’t you do that you normally would?
2. When you go home for Spring Break pick half a day or a full day if you are brave and do not use electricity. Keep a journal of what you do during the day and what is different. Ask your parents to help decide if what you are using or want to do requires electricity.