TEACHING IS TO TOUCH A LIFE FOREVER AN INTERVIEW WITH SR. MARIA PACIS VOGEL

WAJIBU. Sr. Maria Pacis, we would like to start with the fact that Precious Blood Girls’ Secondary School is a faith-based school. Religious education is part of the curriculum in Kenyan public schools and religion is therefore taught like any other subject. However, we all know that students do not automatically absorb the values taught in religious classes. We assume that Precious Blood has a different approach to the religious factor. What does this approach entail and how does it show in the behaviour of the students? Do you have any evidence that religion makes a distinctive difference in the lives of the girls once they leave school?

Sr. Maria Pacis. The spiritual input in our school is part of the school’s two main objectives, namely (1) to help the students discover and develop their own personality in accordance with the demands both of good citizenship and of Christianity and (2) to prepare them for a successful Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education. Our education is holistic and the teaching of values is a primary aim in all our school activities. Values are taught especially by example for our teachers are role models to the students. That our students absorb the values we teach is evident from the fact that universities are very eager to accept our students and not just for their academic achievements.
I will just give you one example. At one time we had asked the late Professor Mungai, the then chairman of the AIDS Commission, to give a talk to our students in connection with HIV/AIDS awareness. He told us that he would come with some of his student volunteers since it was his opinion that peer counselling would have a much greater effect on the students than if he were the sole speaker. He came with about six students: all of them happened to have attended Precious Blood!

Our students are aware that spiritual values underlie behaviour. Many of them come to chapel to pray or to attend mass even outside scheduled services.

Any public school is obliged to receive students from other faiths. We know that in some of those schools these students are forced to attend Christian religious services. This militates against freedom of religion. What is the practice at Precious Blood as far as this is concerned?

In our school there is, as a rule, no compulsory attendance at mass. However, all students are expected to participate in a religious school function before exams when we have a “Mass to the Holy Spirit.” They must also attend the annual thanksgiving service. Our religious practices are clearly explained to students applying to Precious Blood and if participating in these services is completely against their conscience we encourage them to choose another school. On Sundays we ask our students to participate in the service, either at school or at a nearby Catholic mission but there is no compulsion. On Saturdays, we have a “Catholic hour” for Catholics instructing them in the Catholic faith, explaining or preparing them for the sacraments and assisting them to live out their faith in daily life. In addition, we also have Bible study, taught by Protestants for the non-Catholics. Those who belong to different religions are free to practice that religion in their own ways.

Competition is very much part of the Kenyan educational system. The achievement of students starts being compared to that of their fellow students as early as Standard One. Then there is the (often fierce) competition between schools for national rating. This system is in contrast with educational systems in a number of European countries where there is more emphasis on developing each student’s personal capacity, whatever their IQ. Can you comment?

Our conviction is that “competition divides, cooperation unites.” At Precious Blood we believe very much in team spirit. The teachers operate as a team and this is the same spirit we try to foster in the students. Consequently, they learn to be concerned, not just that they should excel as individuals but that all students in the class should do well. If there are students who are weak in a particular subject, they are assisted as a matter of course by those who do better. In fact, I have always told students that the evidence of having mastered a subject is exactly that: are you able to teach it to someone else. So they see it as an advantage. This cooperation is taught outside the classroom as well, in singing, in drama and in the students’ interaction with students from other schools.

Discipline is a necessary part of learning. But too much discipline can stifle creativity and can even kill the desire for further learning. How can the teacher assist the students to the point where they can discipline themselves?

For us, discipline is a tool in character formation; it therefore has to make sense. You cannot force discipline. We teach students to aim for certain goals and they themselves come to realise that hard work is needed to reach those goals so they learn to discipline themselves. In fact, our teachers do not supervise studies outside the classroom. Also, we entrust our students with responsibility in many areas. For instance, in the library, which is supervised by students, it is they who set the rules. Or rather, we should call them “guidelines” which is the term we prefer. That these guidelines work is evident from the fact that we lose very few books.

Many girls are somehow afraid of mathematics; they have the idea that boys are naturally more adept at this subject. But we understand that your students consistently get high grades in maths. To what do you attribute this?

We disabuse them of the idea that maths is a difficult subject. First, we show them by simple and practical examples that knowledge of maths is very useful to everyone. Then there is the fact that most of our maths teachers are women, they therefore serve as role models in this respect and they have the gift to teach maths in a way that the students enjoy maths classes and the logic of maths.

Recently an educationist, writing about the fact that Kenyans do not appear to have a reading culture, put a large share of the blame on the educational system. He said that most schools in Kenya are only interested in making students pass exams: they do not really teach them to develop a love for life-long learning. How would you rate Precious Blood in that respect?

Our students are always reading but not for the sole purpose of passing exams. We do not do anything for prestige; in fact, we have never sent a student away because she performed poorly. One year we became no. 2 in the national examinations by choice. That year we had a student who performed very poorly because of prolonged illness but we allowed her to continue even though we knew that her results would depress our overall rating. For us, integrity and the welfare of the student are more important than prestige. We also do not allow extra tuition during the holidays since we feel that during that students should be involved in other activities.

Precious Blood is one of the schools that receive the “cream of the crop” at the provincial level, at least as far as intellectual ability is concerned. However, some of the girls come from well-to-do homes, others from poor backgrounds. Whatever the case, once they finish their secondary school education, by that very fact the students are already in a privileged position. As you are aware, Kenya is one of the most unequal societies in the world. Would you say that education at Precious Blood inculcates in the students a sense of their privileged position and teaches them awareness about their duty to the disadvantaged?

We try. First, by making those coming from well-to-do homes feel at home with the students that come from poorer backgrounds; we do not permit the richer students to bring all kinds of luxuries from their homes. The food we allow anyone to bring after the holidays consist only of those items that may be found in any home, such as Blue Band and jam. And any food brought must be consumed in the dining hall; it is out of bounds in the rooms. Also, in performing chores there is no difference between girls from rich homes and those from a poor background, they eat and work together. Our surroundings are simple and our school provides few extras to the students; for instance, we have no swimming pool. Students also learn about the value of sharing in clubs, like the Young Christian Students Movement. This sharing is put into practice in community service, such as visits to the Nyumbani home for orphans affected by HIV/AIDS and in the sharing of the little they have with street children. Our students are very much aware of their privileged position!

In Kenya, the reason for the change in the educational system from the A-level to the 8-4-4 system came about partly in order to make education more practical. Students who did not make it beyond the primary system were supposed to at least have some basic skills to employ themselves. This tension between “education for employment” and “education for life” is a question that continues to crop up in educational policy statements. What is your view on this matter?

As I have mentioned, ours is a holistic education: we aim at education for life, education for service. For this reason our students engage in many activities such as drama and singing; they also participate in various clubs. These activities provide an emotional outlet for them and assist in character formation. At the same time it helps the students to get to know their strong points in whatever area that may be. ?

But our education is also practical. Students learn to cook as well as to keep themselves and their surroundings neat and tidy. Mothers are often pleasantly surprised when their daughters come home for the holidays: they have learned how to be of help in the house and will assist their mothers happily with household tasks. Therefore, even if our students don’t get the highest marks, at least they will know how to keep house.

Some final questions, sister. We would like to know how long you have been in Kenya. For how many of those years were you at Precious Blood? What are the changes you have observed in the school? And why is it that education has been such an evident success at Precious Blood?

I came to Kenya in 1973. I was posted at Kagwe Girls School for a year. Afterwards I went Precious Blood Kilungu, first as a deputy, and then as Principal for eleven years. I went back to Kagwe as Principal for a short time in 1989 and stayed there until the end of 1991. After that I was in Tanzania for some time before coming back to Kenya as Principal of Precious Blood Riruta. This was in 1994. I retired as Principal in 2001 but I am still living next to the school since I am now the Superior at the Convent.

The changes I have seen during that time? I believe there has been a deepening of the values and of the principles that the school stands for. This has been mostly achieved with lay teachers; we have only one religious sister on the staff right now.

Educational success? For me and for the teachers at Precious Blood Riruta teaching is a vocation! It is our conviction that God has a plan for everyone and as human beings it is up to us to realize that plan. The right kind of education can help us discover that plan. Being involved in this kind of education is deeply satisfying and is the reason why our teachers rarely leave the school for “greener pastures” even if this would mean a great improvement for them financially. One of my own teachers once said: “Teaching is to touch a life forever.” This is my own conviction and has been the driving force in my own life.