A major preoccupation of our first few weeks has been settling Benjamin into pre-school. We had decided not to send him to the pre-school section of Sammy’s school as he would start half an hour later than Sammy and finish at 12.30, an hour and a half before Sammy. Since it takes 40 minutes on two buses to get there and 40 minutes to get back, we thought the travelling both for him and for us would be too much.
So, in October, I had visited some of the pre-schools near to San Blas – surely there must be something that would be OK for a year or two! After seeing a few that were rather chaotic and very lacking in resources, i.e. no toys, as far as I could see, I found one that seemed to have puzzles, building blocks and a little playground. It seemed well organised and the director seemed very caring and professional. It was a private ‘jardin’ but not expensive. It was about 10 minutes walk from our house. We registered Ben there and went back at the beginning of March to find out when he should start. The director gave us a list of materials that we should buy for Ben to bring.
Now when people have talked about needing to buy materials for their children to take to school I was imagining things like a pencil case, crayons and a painting overall. Sammy doesn’t have to take much at all to his school – they buy things centrally like the schools do in England. Anyway, now I understand why there are so many stationary shops in Cusco, and why it is such a big deal for the poorer families to buy school materials. Ben was given a list of 35 items! These included packs of craft paper, boxes of paints and crayons, board markers and other bits for the teacher to use, scissors, two bags of pasta, a book, a puzzle, a pot of clay, a box of plastic shapes, soap and toilet paper! Anyway, we went off to a big stationary shop and they fortunately understood the list and had most of what was needed. It must have cost about £40 in total, which isn’t too bad for us, but would be a fortune for many people here. I guess the state schools don’t require so much, but even so, it must be difficult and is one reason some kids can’t attend school here, even though it’s supposed to be free.
On the first day of school Ben was very excited. He was starting a week later than Sammy and had been asking when he could start for days. We took all his things, plus his little backpack with a snack and drink, and walked down the hill to the school. On arrival, we put the bags of materials in the director’s office (wondering where all the other kids’ stuff was!) and went to play for a few minutes on the slide (another reason for choosing this school was that the slide was a safe one that was quite difficult to fall off). At about 9am the children were supposed to stand in three lines, one for each class (3 year olds, 4 year olds and 5 year olds) and sing some songs. Ben just clung to me so we watched. They then said a prayer to ‘little child Jesus’, asking him to be with them, and ‘Mother Mary’ asking her to take care of them. I would imagine this is very typical in the schools here. In Sammy’s school the director likes to stay clear of anything religious so we don’t get the Catholic influence, or any other faith influence.
The children then went into their classrooms and sat at little desks. Ben’s teacher was a young, very friendly girl and she started off by asking the children their names and then singing and acting out with them the story of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. This was OK to start with, but after about half an hour, including a few breaks when she had to go out to take children to the toilet, it was getting a bit boring. Ben was bored after five minutes and decided to eat his snack. I tried to tell him to wait, but the teacher said it was fine so I let him carry on. Next, the teacher gave the children a few bits of Lego each. Again, this occupied Ben for about 5 minutes, and then a bit longer when I encouraged him to persevere, but he was soon in his backpack looking for his drink. The classroom was very bare, with no sign of any of the things to play with that I had noticed in October. There were one or two things on the walls, but otherwise the room was completely empty. I was beginning to suspect that each year the parents had to provide everything for the room. What happens to the stuff at the end of the year? I have no idea. Maybe the kids take it all home again? And when were the other parents going to bring the materials? They obviously hadn’t brought them today.
Anyway, at about 10am it was snack time. The teacher collected all the Lego and the children got out their snacks, all except for Ben of course, because he had already eaten his. The teacher decided to secretly take some sweets from another child to give to him. This kept him happy for a few minutes. I had given him a ham roll and was a little dismayed to see the snacks the other children had brought! Snack time went on for about 45minutes. Some of the children were very slow at eating. Ben was rather bored so decided to play with the waste bin. This was fun as it was a flip top one in the shape of a pig. I did try to stop him at first, but he threw a tantrum and the teacher said it was fine for him to do whatever kept him happy. She was quite busy taking children in and out to the toilet. I was becoming more and more concerned as I thought it wasn’t a good idea for there to be no one in the classroom while two and three year olds were eating. I began to think about when would be a good time to leave, and how long the waiting list was at Sammy’s school!
After a while, the teacher gave the Lego back to children who had finished eating. Ben just kept asking when we could go home. At break time, 11am, I decided it was time to go. I told the teacher I was sorry but Ben was really bored and wondered if there would be more toys next time. She called the director and I asked her the same thing. She said that gradually there would be more to do, but this week they were just getting used to the classroom.
We left the school and I burst into tears – partly in disappointment for Ben – he had been so enthusiastic and then had obviously hated it. Partly because I had no idea where I could take him instead as I knew the pre-school at Sammy’s school was full. Partly for all the thousands of little kids in Peru who sit at desks for 4 hours a day at the age of three with no toys – where is the sand, the water, the train track, the ‘home corner’, the threading beads, the book shelf, the painting area .....??? I knew of course that most places don’t have these things, but actually experiencing the reality for two hours with my own little boy was awful.
The first thing I did was to email my friend Heather who is the English coordinator for Sammy’s school. I asked her to put Ben on the waiting list straight away. I knew the three year old classes were full but asked if there was any chance he could go into the two year old class as he only misses that by two weeks due to when his birthday falls in May. The next day when I took Sammy I went to speak to her and she told me that yes, the classes were full, but that Ben was top of the waiting list. This encouraged me and I planned to keep him at home until a space came up.
However, two hours later I received an email from her saying that actually, due to the high number of three year olds and the low number of two year olds this year, the director had just decided to make a combined two and three year old class and Ben could start immediately!
So the next day, Friday, we went for just an hour to meet the teachers and the other children and on Monday he started! The 2/3 class is ideal for Ben as it is less formal than the 3 year old classes and he would have been very young and small in a 3 year old class too. It is still more formal than a British playgroup, but the resources are good and they have two teachers for 10 children. They begin in the outside covered play area where there is a ball pool, play house, slide, etc. They then go to the movement room for singing, games and other motor activities like threading or playing with pots of seeds. Next is usually an art activity in the art room. They sometimes go to the library to look at books and sometimes have a singing time in English. The school provides good, healthy snacks and then they have a 40 minute playtime outside. (When I watched him at playtime last week it was very sweet as Sammy likes to go and see him and they hold hands through the fence that separates the pre-school from the primary school!)
The last hour or so seems quite varied. One day I was there they went to the clay room. The activities are all a lot more directed than in Britain – I would prefer more choice of activity and more freedom in their play – but the morning is interesting and fun and Ben has settled in very well. He is normally very keen to go and when I kept him home last Friday because I thought four days a week was enough, he cried!
The transport is a bit of an issue, but Roland normally takes him on the bus with Sammy and he can eat a bit more breakfast and play outside until it is his turn to go in. At 12.30 I go and pick him up and we are a fortunate to have a friend who brings us part of the way home. Sammy comes back on a little school bus which I’m not 100% happy about as it takes nearly an hour for him to get home but it saves us making another hour and a half round trip.
So, Benjamin will be fine, but it has got me thinking more about the problems of the under 5s from less well off families in Cusco. The combination of the poor pre-school facilities and the poor nutrition is giving them a very bad start in life from which most never recover. We have just opened up a pre-school section at the afternoon club at the mountain, so that is a start, but maybe there is more we can do. Watch this space!
