Sittin' on a Bench by the Classroom

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with a student at the high school that I think is pretty emblematic of a lot of the problems I see at the high school (and similar problems I saw in Puerto Viejo). You'll be able to judge for yourself, but I'd say it's not exactly a money problem (although that's part of it) but more an organization and management problem. 


I was sitting on a bench outside of a classroom, where I was supposed to be teaching an additional English support class, but none of the students showed up, even though the English teacher had told them to just two hours before. So, a student I kind of know came and sat down next to me. He hangs out with a group of girls I know, as I've observed their English class a few times and seen them around town. As I do to most students not in class, I asked him if he had class (as they don't have complete schedules here, a valid question) he said that the teacher let him leave. "Really" I asked with incredulity, as the session had just started. "Yeah," he responded, "I was the only one that showed up, so she cancelled class." "How many kids are in your class?" I probed. "Fifteen or so," he answered. 


I went on to point out that the teacher could have taught him, thus leaving the rest of the kids behind and teaching them a lesson. He explained there wasn't much to teach, as it was computer class, and there wasn't a computer lab. I was confused, as I had been shown the door to the computer lab on my initial tour of the school. He explained that whenever the computers break down or have problems, it takes months to get them repaired-now this sounded totally reasonable. And, he informed me, the computers had problems at the end of last year and still hadn't been repaired. So, it's super boring to learn things but not be able to apply them or practice, so none of the kids show up, so class gets cancelled. Pretty good deal for the teacher, I thought, she gets paid for teaching, but can just chill and get paperwork or (more likely) homework for her college classes done. Computer class is just for 10th and 11th graders (there's no 12th grade), and each class gets split between computer or conversational English, in somewhat of a specialization program. About half the section takes one and half takes the other, and as it's a specialization, they take it for one entire afternoon once a week, and half an afternoon another day. What I'm trying to say is that these cancelled computer classes due to poorly organized/poorly performed/non-existent maintenance are a big chunk of these students' schedules. 


There are many solutions to this problem, as I'm guessing there isn't a line item for "computer maintenance" in the school's budget, and that explains the problems in getting the computer lab serviced. My guess would be this was not included in the original computer lab budget/plan. Hindsight is 20/20, right? The issue, from what I've been able to garner during my time here, is that keeping the computers maintained would involve someone doing something that wasn't explicitly their job-whether it be the computer teacher putting in time after school, the principal taking money from some other department to pay for repairs, a student or parents group responsible for the lab's upkeep, or perhaps other options. But, I don't really see any of that happening any time soon-so this student will probably continue sitting next to me, waiting for his girlfriend, as I look around to see if any of the kids I'm supposed to be helping will show up...