2007年VOA标准英语-Frustration Grows Among Unpaid Guinea-Bissau Te

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
15 February 2007

Many West African countries do not have enough money to pay teacher salaries on a regular basis or to refurbish schools.  The result is a decaying educational system, with frustrated¹ teachers, students and parents.  One of the worst examples in the region is in Guinea-Bissau. VOA's Nico Colombant has more from Dakar.

 
Schoolchildren in Gabu often have no teachers
Children recently packed the school yard of a primary school in Gabu, Guinea-Bissau, not because it was recess² time, but because government officials, including the president, were touring the area and the school was hoping to get attention.

The noise went on, but officials never arrived.

Saidou Diallo is a frustrated Portuguese³ teacher at the school.

He says he has not been paid for months, despite a recent agreement with the government that salaries would be paid again.

He says, some days, school is open, but few teachers show up.

His salary used to be about $40 per month. He sometimes gets money from a brother in Portugal, to feed his wife and three children.

Ever since Diallo started teaching, six years ago, there have been recurrent strikes, cancellation⁴ of exams and unfinished school semesters.

Samba Mballo, the president of a local parent, teacher association and long-time resident of Gabu, does not blame the teachers. He says the government should be doing more.

 
Gabu's Schools are rundown
He says, until the government invests more in schools and pays teachers their salaries, as well as better training, the future of Guinea Bissau is doomed⁵.

About 500 meters from the school, normal life goes on.

A wedding takes place.

But a mother of five, Ousman Balde, stays at home nearby, worried her children have nothing much to do.

She says their place should be in school, so they could have more options in their life.

They often help in her garden, planting cassava and collecting fruit, because she says she does not know how to teach them anything else.

She also blames the government. 

A regional director for education in Guinea-Bissau approached for this report declined to comment.  Foreign donors⁶, international lenders and regional groupings have repeatedly sent money to Guinea-Bissau to help pay teachers, but despite this help, the problem seems to repeat itself over and over.

1 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

3 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

4 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

5 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

6 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》