Atse Bekafa School

These photos are from a visit to Atse Bekafa school - my first visit to a school with children in it. Atse Bekafa is a state elementary school based in Gonder.



The children attend for half day shifts which change weekly. In the morning, they arrive at 7:50 for the raising of the flags (one national, one local) and school finishes in the evening at 5:00 with the lowering of the flags - both accompanied by singing the national and local anthem.



I need to visit a lot more schools before making any firm suggestions about supportive funding - my colleague Meleshew explained that some ABE school (Alternative Basic Education for children who can't attend mainstream school because of distance or poverty), don't have a classroom, toilets, tables and chairs. They meet under a tree at times that fit in with their lives e.g. weekends, evenings. They teach grades 1 - 4 and are open to everyone, the grades refer to the teaching materials, not the age.