Education
School Pride
The hard work of a few teachers and principals in the Pacific has created a few islands of education excellence in a sea of publ
Francis X. Hezel
Seinwar is the only public school where I’ve seen students actually running to get to school on time,” a long-time resident of Pohnpei once remarked. A throwback to Japanese times? No, simply a school that is the pride of the community it serves. And the boast of Pohnpei.
Whether walking or running to school, students proceed in single file along one side of the road. Zories are lined up neatly outside the classroom doors, and students welcome visitors with a polite Pohnpeian greeting chanted in unison. The school is a neat, two-story building enclosed by a chain link fence. If cleanliness and orderliness are indications of seriousness of purpose, this school is a no-nonsense operation.
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But Seinwar Elementary School, in Kitti Municipality, is more than just spit and polish. For years it has led the led the public elementary schools in the state-wide high school entrance tests. Its pass rate of 70 percent is better than double the 28 percent average of state public schools as a group.
Part of the explanation of Seinwar’s academic record is the performance of the staff. Most teachers arrive at 7:30 in the morning, a half hour before the first classes begin, and they are often at work until 4:30 or 5:00 in the afternoon. Teacher absenteeism resulting in untended classes, a chronic problem in most schools, is virtually unknown. The principal, Eugenio Ardos, who has served at the school for over 30 years, lets his staff know that they are excused for funerals–week-long events on Pohnpei–only when someone in their immediate family has died; otherwise they must attend funerals outside of school hours.
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Ardos believes that if you want a good school, you must develop good teachers–not simply by training them, but by closely supervising them on the job. This he does effectively. If he speaks with authority, it is because he has the support of the tight-knit Seinwar community behind him. From the beginning, the village has insisted on retaining strong control over school policies and the selection of teachers. For the people of Seinwar, this school has always been and will always be their own.
Maap Community School, a rural school with a reputation as one of the best in Yap, is another place where the village people are heavily involved in policy making and direction. Although MCS, as it is known, looks like any other school on the island, there is an energy about the place that is distinctive. Whether the teachers are in the school yard leading a game of kickball with their students or teaching arithmetic, they seem enthused about what they’re doing. So do their students.
Maap Community School has been known for years for its innovative instructional programs. It was the first school on Yap to dedicate one day a week to cultural activities: Yapese dancing, storytelling, farming, and island crafts such as basket-weaving.
At the center of the school’s life is its soft-spoken and unassuming principal, Naz Ganangred, who taught for 16 years before he was appointed principal in 1988. The principal’s humble demeanor belies his influence on the life of the school. Naz constantly solicits input from his staff–there is a suggestion box outside his office–and he is ready to spend a morning a week to evaluate the effectiveness of their joint efforts at a school assembly. Naz is a man who lives for his work, and his enthusiasm seems to have infected his teaching staff and the Maap community.
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Excellence in a small village school like Maap or Seinwar, supported as each is by a cohesive community, may be imaginable. A large urban school like Koror Elementary School, with its enrollment of 800, is a different matter altogether. Even so, the school now stands as one of Palau’s premiere public elementary schools.
The main attribute of Koror Elementary School is a principal, Esther Koshiba, with vision, a strong sense of purpose, and the personal skills necessary to fuse the forty teachers into a team. In this case, the principal seems to have focused on two important areas: establishing high standards of discipline for students and clear expectations for the staff, and a commitment to helping teachers grow in their works skills and personal development. As test scores at Koror Elementary School demonstrate, no enrollment is too large and no community too scattered to keep a school from becoming excellent.
— Fran Hezel is director of the Micronesian Seminar: www.micsem.org
Photos: Jason Aubuchon
