Badara

[Drax]

EDUCATION FOR BEDWI
 
MANARA  ALBRAYD SRIA AL-MUSAMI
(If it’s in the Monsoon, it’s got to be true)
 
Education Ministry, November 17, 5693: Central Bank Managing Director Mariamne al-Qassem is also serving as Education Minister, so the Monsoon caught up with her after a Ministerial Council  meeting to ask her how the plan to improve education among the Bedwi was progressing and she responded:
 

When my brother was Chancellor, he outlined the problem and the plan. The Bedwi on the whole do not really want or see the need for their children going to our schools while we really think their children have a right as  citizens of Jumhuriat al-Badara to an education and the government has an obligation to deliver it.
 
What we tried was educational outposts in settlement villages which often are quite transient. We devised curricula where those who attend are receiving assignments strictly focusing on the next attendance to encourage short term commitment rather than fear of long term entanglement.  And we emphasize practical skills.  Math, prices, buying and selling, distances, heights, measurements, use of common tools, music, cooking, hygiene, room maintenance. And language.  They know a fundamental fact. Those who want to engage with the civilized world are much better if they can speak and for that matter write a civilized language.
 
We also made the outposts attractive and friendly to the Bedwi generally.  Starting with mail delivery service, veterinary care and electronics repair.  We have also allowed grocery vendors to operate at the outposts and other services at various outposts.  We have most recently been scheduling free dental care which has really been a success.
 
We are making progress.  A lot of children are getting some education. And we have been at it long enough that we have Bedwi instructing and operating many of the outposts.  Under ideal conditions, some students want regular schooling and we arrange for their transportation and enrollment in the regular school systems maintained by the Muhafazas.
 
So things are improving. Improving a lot.  But they are still a long way from where they really need to be.