Schools in Third World Countries. What a great experience for my BOYS. Green ColorChallenge.

joalvarez (68) in life • 7 years ago

One of the best experiences that my boys had a chance to experience is going to two different schools in a Third World Country, which is El Salvador, Central America.
We have lived there for 2+ years, and we shared the most amazing experiences of our lives and some not so great.

This was my boys's school soccer field, in El Salvador. On the right side of the field where there is a fence, that is the swimming pool which the boys also took as part of a gym class. On the left side of the field, you can sort of see the basketball court which is another part of the gym and right beside it there is an outdoor cafeteria.

First of all, the boys were very nervous of going to a new school, not knowing the language that good and getting used to the new culture, which I think as parents we were even more nervous.
The one thing the boys really, really didn't like was that they had to wear uniforms. The uniforms consisted of white dress shirt, with dress pants, dress shoes, belt and the shoes had to be polished and uniform had to be very clean, or the school would send you home.
They also had a gym uniform, which they would wear twice a week and which wasn't that bad because it was just a white school tea-shirt and schools sport pants and runners.

The girls uniforms would be similar, but the girls would wear a skirt and white socks and black dressed shoes.

These are the uniforms of my boys's school, Colegio Bautista.

Source

To tell you the truth I loved the uniforms, since everyone worn the same clothes, and it wasn't about who can show off the most and show how rich they are or in case some people are poor and can't afford nice clothing, everyone looked equal and they went to school to learn and not too look cool.
But I can understand how my boys didn't like that especially since it's pretty hot all the time.

Your hair had to be nice and clean and shortcut if you were a boy and girls also had to have their hair nice and neat. Sometimes if your hair was a bit longer (boys hair) the teachers would actually tell you to go get a haircut.

This is one of my boys wearing the school uniform.

@joordanzzz is wearing gym uniform and my other son normal school uniform.

This is the basketball court, plus other courts next to it. I love how everything is outside, since like I have mentioned, people of El Salvador really don't like to be indoors, they really enjoy being out, especially do sports or play ball.

This is the outdoor cafeteria, which is next the basketball court and from where you can enjoy the beautiful views. The cafeteria has a roof over it, since everyone needs the shade and also protects you from the rain during the winter time.
You can also see another school from here (the greenish/white big building)

One part of the school and the outdoors where you enjoy your recess.

This was our first day checking out the boys's school and signing them up. This is @joordanzzz part of the school, since the school is divided into sections, ex. elementary, mid and high school.

The schools are a little bit different, since some are more expensive and some are less expensive, but in bigger cities, the schools are quite bigger and cost twice as much as the schools in small towns or villages.
We wanted to make sure that our boys go to one of the best schools, which we did a lot of research and decided to sign them up to Colegio Bautista where we paid $75/month. These schools are all gated with security and no one is allowed in, unless the security does a quick check-up to everyone who is not a student. Students are also not allowed to leave the school, till the school is all done for the day.

All schools in El Salvador are religious, where they also learn how to pray in their religion class.

There are two ways you can attend school in El Salvador and that is morning or afternoon classes. You have a choice if you would like to attend school from 7 am - 12 pm, or 1 pm - 6 pm. We have always chosen the morning classes because first of all it is not that hot during these hours, and you can enjoy the rest of the day and also because the boys wanted to join soccer/football and baseball.

Most schools if not all of the schools also teach English classes. What made it a bit easy for the boys is that some of their friends understood some if not really good English.

Schools in El Salvador are treated very seriously. The schools are strict and have rules. Schools and education is very, very important thing and everyone including parents really get involved in it.
Schools are the most important thing and studying is just a natural, must do thing. After you graduate grade 12, most students continue their education because it is really affordable compared to Canada education, which really cost you an arm and a leg when you are done and end up being stuck with all these student loans. This system does not exist in El Salvador.

This is why I really like the schooling system in El Salvador, which we found it really good and like I said it is taken seriously. Just to share with you an example......
All of my husband's cousins who live in El Salvador who are quite younger than us, all have jobs as a lawyer, dentist, we have few nurses, teachers, etc. and none of them ever owned any money to school or had to pay extra money to continue their education and they all had a guaranteed job at the end, and I'm not even making this stuff up, but every single one of them and this is not because they are rich or belong to an educated family, but because this is just the normal, this is how they always been thought, to become someone and that is what everyone is doing. Education, education and education. People love education in El Salvador. Education is the power in El Salvador.

Even the Sports Day is very organized and celebrated.
The schools also create fancy parades in the middle of the city or town that they belong to while shutting down pretty much all the streets.

I am not even sure how many graduations the schools celebrate, since my son, @joordanzzz had a graduation in grade 6, and there is also this huge celebration/graduation in grade 9, which is celebrated just like grade 12 graduation, with beautiful dresses and fancy dinners etc.

This is @joordanzzz grade 6 graduation.
I couldn't have been more proud of my boys. The did so well with their school even still struggling with Spanish. @joordanzzz even got Honor Rolls and did better than most of his Spanish speaking friends.

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@joordanzzz graduation. Having a picture taken with one of the girls from his class.</center.

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This is I, @joalvarez with @joordanzzz. My husband couldn't make it since he was working in Canada during this time.

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@joordanzzz with his best school friend.

Pictures were taken with Sony Cyber-shot W350.

Thank you for visiting my post. If you like it, please don't forget to Upvote, Follow, and Resteem, it is very, very appreciated. Any suggestions are always very welcome so that I can keep improving in this community.
God Bless You!

life education adventure photography colorchallenge

7 years ago by joalvarez (68)

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sunnylife (66) · 7 years ago (edited)

Wow! beautiful and very informative. Learning a language is not easy for adults but for them is just so easy. Children are like sponges! You boys are very smart!

The education system in El Salvador is kinda the same in my country PH. We wore uniforms, everybody was the same. I kinda like this idea. It's easy and saves money as well.
Classes in PH starts from 8am up to noon.
Lucky that you could chose there. I would chose morning haha (cooler)
School loans are very heavy in Canada or even in Europe.
A lot of my bahamian friends studied and went to your country or Cuba (took up medicines etc) it's cheap and affordable.

Are your boys planning to study there in the future?

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sweetim (46) · 7 years ago

Nice of you to give your personal review about schools in El Salvador. It will serve as an eye opener that there are schools that teach well and are very disciplined plus the tuition is not really on the high side. You have beautiful boys. Thanks @joalvarez. This was a good piece. Keep it up

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joalvarez (68) · 7 years ago

Thank you so much @sweetim for your lovely comment. It really means a lot to me and I really, really appreciate it.
Have a lovely day.

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zamzamiali (56) · 7 years ago

Hopefully your child can learn and school well in his new school. I also see a nice school uniform as you say, children will look compact and harmonious, no visible difference. As in my country, children also wear clothes or uniforms like that.

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joalvarez (68) · 7 years ago

I think that this should be like that everywhere because it makes it easier on the parents and you go to school to learn not to look cool or show how rich you are and it just looks very professional and clean which is also an important thing to learn as a child.

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zamzamiali (56) · 7 years ago

That's right @joalvarez. You are right, many things can be learned by children, especially about simplicity and respect for others. And most importantly, they are not yet stylish because their time is now learning.

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joordanzzz (57) · 7 years ago

It was annoying but also really cool. The swimming class was pretty fun and playing soccer every lunch was the best

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joalvarez (68) · 7 years ago

Yes. I bet the bus drive was pretty annoying too. But I think you made more good memories than bad ones. Maybe one day you will go back and see your friends again.

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joordanzzz (57) · 7 years ago

Ya maybe but not the bus kids

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baksi (43) · 7 years ago

I liked your post, you are a good photographer once made such beautiful photos, I'm crazy about their quality. thank you very much

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joalvarez (68) · 7 years ago

Thank you so much my friend. I love taking pictures especially of nature.

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nastassia (35) · 7 years ago

Great photos and you're lucky with the school, @joalvarez! My girls don't wear their uniform(

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joalvarez (68) · 7 years ago

Thank you @nastassia. I like the uniforms and I think all schools should use uniforms.
When I was going to school in Poland we always had uniforms and I liked them because I didn't have to worry about what to wear and spend much time on it.

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kgakakillerg (76) · 7 years ago

That's awesome post keep it up just followed you 👍⚡

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joalvarez (68) · 7 years ago

Thank you @kgakakillerg. Very appreciated.

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kgakakillerg (76) · 7 years ago

No problem it's my pleasure 👍

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yagoub (59) · 7 years ago

The beautiful thing in school uniforms is educating children about equality in everything so that they don't feel there is a difference between rich and poor...
Nice post my friend @joalvarez

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joalvarez (68) · 7 years ago

Exactly, my friend. Especially when you have kids that can't afford nice clothes and then the kids make fun of them or don't want to be friends with them.
I don't know why all the schools don't have uniforms. It's the best thing.

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amazing-place (13) · 7 years ago

Beautiful photo! I will follow you ;)

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joalvarez (68) · 7 years ago

Thank you @amazing-lace for your support and stopping by.

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cjclaro (63) · 7 years ago

A bed of green grass. That is so refreshing to the eyes and the kids surely would love the freshness it brings. Reminds me of school in college. Thanks for sharing @joalvarez.

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bloghound (63) · 7 years ago

El Savador pretty much looks like the Philippines :)

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nikolina (65) · 7 years ago

It was so interesting to read about other culture and education system and to hear the story from someone's personal experience.
We don't have uniforms in schools here in Serbia, even though there was some talk about it. I guess the first generation will be super annoyed, haha. But I do like the idea of equality and the simplicity of not having to think about outfits every day. :)
Well done to your boys on their achievements!

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jerrybanfield (74) · 7 years ago

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