Alfred Nadu: We actually wanted to locate the school in Maadi but the location was not really good. Here it is close to Ain Shams metro station so they are safe from Sudanese gangs, and here there is also a very big South-Sudanese refugee community, so we have community members around here.
Q: Which grades do you offer?
A: We offer grade 8, and then senior 1, 2, and 3. We are trying to expand the school because there is a demand from the community.
Q: And why did you choose to start with grade 8, senior 1, 2, and 3 and not other grades?
A: Because there is a demand from our people, there are a lot of schools that just provide primary. Actually last year we had just one class, we just had senior 3. And apart from the regular classes, we are going to introduce another educational center for adults in the evenings, so we can also give them the chance, this will include language courses like English and French. We did a survey and they mainly want English, French, and German.
Q: Do the students that come to your center struggle with English?
A: It depends, there are some students whose level of English is not so good, for example, South-Sudanese, Ugandans, Kenyans, are doing well, but others not really, this is because we want to introduce the language courses.
Q: Do you follow the Sudanese curriculum?
A: Yes, we use the same books from Khartoum, we get a hard copy from there and we make photocopies here.
Q: Do you have recognition from the Ministry of Education in Khartoum?
A: Not yet, but our students can still sit for the exams. We are going to the Sudanese Embassy with the list of our students, and they pay the school fees and they can do the exam. But there are recent changes, two or three months ago, Khartoum wanted every educational center like our community school to get a license, and to get the license we are supposed to travel to Khartoum physically and we are struggling with that. We do not know how it will be, we are struggling with that, for example, I have my blue card and I cannot go back to Sudan.
Q: Can you identify another challenge?
A: Yes, at the moment in senior 3 we have 27 students, and in grade 8 we have 35 students, and the examination fee is so expensive, it is 550$ just to get your index number and sit for the exam, and to process your certificate once you have passed you need to pay additional money, like 100 dollars or more. They changed that in 2019. Maybe they increased the price because of the economic crisis in Khartoum, but since the increase, we have seen that a lot of students do not sit for the exam as it is too expensive. And you know, it is not just Sudanese sitting for this exam, we have Syrians, Yemenis, Eritreans, Ethiopians, and more, so it is a huge source of income for the country.
Q: How many students do you have?
A: We have 85 students, in grade 8 we have around 25 students, and in senior 3 we have 27 students. In the other two classes, we have five and four students. For the arts section we have 15 students and the rest are in science. At the moment all of the students are South Sudanese but the center and the services at the NGO are for all refugees.
Q: Last year from senior 3 did you have students that went for the exam and passed?
A: We trained 14 students, but then 3 of them dropped out because they were not able to pay the examination fee, so 11 were remaining. All the 11 took the exam and all of them passed. It is very unfortunate that those 3 did not attend the exam because of the high fees, they were studying for so many months and preparing themselves, and finally, they could not sit because of the money.
Q: How many teachers do you have?
A: We have nine teachers, but not all of them are qualified. Most of them are not coming from the field of education. Even myself, I studied law in Sudan. But when they come here we train them, we tell them what they are supposed to do as teachers, how to manage a class, how to prepare a lesson plan, how to make students interact, and we provide training opportunities.
Q: How much do you pay the teachers?
A: The payment depends. If you are a full-time teacher (we have two) or a part-time teacher. It also depends on how many classes you are teaching. So the maximum would be 2.000 EgP/month, but we have some problems because the payment actually comes from the school fees that we collect from the students, and sometimes they do not pay, so we struggle sometimes to pay the salaries of the teachers on time.
Q: How much do you charge your students?
A: It differs, in grade 8 they pay 3.000 EgP and in senior 3 they pay 4.500 EgP, and in senior 1 and 2 they pay 3.750 EgP. We let them pay in tournaments. We are very flexible, and every family pays as they want, we do not have rules here, we are also from this background and we know that many families are struggling with money, there are some families that even pay in 5 or 6 tournaments.
Q: How much do you pay for the rent?
A: We pay 6.000 EgP and every year it increases by 10%. We started last year with 5.000 EgP. This is one of our main challenges. This apart from the services, the water, the electricity, everything.
Q: Do you feed the children?
A: No
Q: What is your timetable?
A: Our classes start at 8:30 and continue till 14:00, we have like six classes every day for all four classes at our school.
Q: Does the school fees include uniforms and books?
A: No, they must pay an additional 600 EgP for this
Q: Do you have donors?
A: Not really, we are working with StARS. We are partners and they are helping us in terms of training and other things. This could be the only donor that we have at the moment. And CRS pays the students like 1.200EgP/year for the school fees.
Q: Once they pass the exam at senior 3, you give them assistance with applying to the university?
A: Yes, we help them, also to get the scholarship that the UNHCR provides, if you want it you need to ask through the Catholic Relief Services, but I have not seen many cases of scholarships. But you know it is also hard because without a scholarship the university fees are expensive, like 10.000 EgP per year, around 600 US dollars, and many refugee families cannot afford that. What I know is that the South Sudanese Embassy is offering annual scholarships to migrants, so many refugees renounce their refugee status and apply for the scholarship.
Q: Once they do the exam they go to Wafidin?
A: If you go to Wafidin as a refugee without a scholarship, it is hard and you might need to pay extra money. Even if you go to university with a scholarship and you do not perform well, you don’t get the money anymore and even you must pay extra money.
Q: Do you consider that refugees from Africa face racism in the bureaucratic sphere?
A: Absolutely, South-Sudanese children face a lot of challenges in public Egyptian schools. This is because we have so many learning centers, and here they feel that they are not strangers. You know, even me that I am a male and an adult, I face a lot of racism at the street, so imagine a female black young girl, sexual harassment and a lot of bad things happen.
