VOA标准英语2010年-Overcrowding, Stalled Reform Keep Guin

Children sit in an overcrowded classroom at Dixin Centre 2 primary school in Conakry, Guinea, 6 May 2010

Guinea's Political Parties Debate Deposit to Run in Next Month's Presidential Poll
In Guinea, the number of children attending school has dropped since 2007, due to overcrowding and political turmoil¹, but aid workers are hopeful that newly awarded international funding will usher² in education reform.

 

Adama Sow, 10, shares her two-person desk with three other girls at Dixin Elementary school in Conakry.  There are 80 students in her class, typical for this urban school.

The classroom is hot, Adama says.  With four of us in a desk, it is too cramped³ to write.  She says there are too many students, and the classroom is small.

Teacher, Fatimata Camara, said the tight quarters make it difficult for students to concentrate.

She says it is difficult to teach 85 children at once and make sure they each understand the lesson.  But these are important years, she says, when children are learning to read and write.  Correcting the homework of so many students is also overwhelming, and she says 30 would be a more manageable class size.

Once Camara's morning shift of students goes home at lunch time, as many as 85 more students will come for afternoon classes.  There is an average of 150 students to each teacher at Dixin Elementary.

But U.N. Children's Fund's representative to Guinea Julien Harneis says UNICEF is just as concerned about the growing numbers of children who are not in these crowded classrooms.

"There has been a lack of investment in the education sector⁴ in this country for several years now, and so as a result, the percentage of children who go to school has dropped over the last two years, which is very unusual for anywhere in the world and is particularly unusual for this country, which has had rising education for the last 20 years," he said.

He said the political crisis that has racked Guinea since 2008 has blocked funding and stalled much-needed reform to the education sector.

"It is not that the children do not want to come," he added.  "It is not that the parents do not want to send their children to school.  It is [that] there is not enough classrooms.  There is not enough classrooms, there is not enough benches for kids to sit on.  There is not enough teachers to train them."

At Dixin Elementary, three classrooms sit empty.  Their roof blew off in a storm in 2006 and has yet to be replaced.  There are no desks and chairs for another classroom so it sits unused as well.  There are no bathrooms, cafeteria or clean drinking water for students.

But there are signs of hope.  Last week in Washington, D.C., the Catalytic Fund of the international Fast Track Initiative "Education for All" campaign, managed by the World Bank, approved the disbursement⁵ of $64 million to Guinea.

Of that money, $24 million will be managed by UNICEF, during a two-year period, to build as many as 1,000 classrooms, train teachers and improve curriculum in Guinea.

Visiting Dixin Elementary last week, UNICEF Goodwill⁶ Ambassador and celebrated⁷ American actress, Mia Farrow, crouched⁸ in the crowded rows of students to listen to them read.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow meets with children in a third grade class at the Dixinn Centre 2 primary school in Conakry, Guinea, 6 May 2010

"I sense that I am seeing the best this morning, and the best is not good enough for the kids," said Farrow.  "I understand that this is a time of transition, so money is scarce, but it is tragic⁹ when a scarcity¹⁰ of funds is taken out on the children, who are, of course, the future of Guinea."

The school was one of Farrow's first stops on a five-day visit to highlight the education and health-care needs of Guinea's children before next month's presidential poll.
 

1 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

2 usher   

n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员

参考例句：

• The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
• They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。

3 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

4 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

5 disbursement   

n.支付，付款

参考例句：

• Marine bill of lading showing any disbursement charges marked COLLECT not acceptable. 海运提单上显示的任何费用标明“到付”将不予接受。
• This makes the disbursement of 51 channel is very convenient. 这就使得51的支付渠道非常方便。

6 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

7 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

8 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。

9 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

10 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。