July 16, 2003
Kinkajou in Kati
Keita Maria Diarra, a coordinator and Ashoka Fellow from the Institut pour L'Education Populaire in Kati found out about Kinkajou through Tim's NPR radio interview. While we were in Bamako, we set up a meeting which happened yesterday at her school. We met with Maria and her colleagues, Kady and Yobi. They are a group of highly educated individuals who have received degrees, masters and PhDs in the States. Their feedback on the Kinkajou was extremely valuable. We also got to conduct the meeting entirely in English for the first time.
ABOUT Le INSTITUTE
Since 1990, Mali has been going through an educational reform. Marias organization works with the community to implement new strategies for education. They experiment with the curriculum and find alternative solutions. Because the government is slow at implementing any educational changes, Maria works through the Ashoka program to get the parents involved, like a PTA. The NGO strategy seems to be the most effective at promoting growth and change.
At the Institute, they run a mentoring program in the mornings, an adult training program, and a school curriculum for K-7th grades. Each year the school adds a new grade. In Mali, students must pass an exam after the 6th grade to continue their education. If they don't pass, they get kicked out of school. 20 kids, 100%, from the school recently passed so they got to go to Dogon Country for a field trip.
THOUGHTS ON KINKAJOU
Maria's main concern about the Kinkajou is that if books stay the same, if they are not able to change the content on the microfilm, then the minds of people stay the same. We need to come up with a way to be able to make microfilm or some alternative in Mali. Overall, Maria and her colleagues like the projector and want to implement it into their program. They understand the concept of intermediate technology in that the projector is neither a book nor a computer. In her office that is complete with two PCs a fax machine and a photocopier, they are used to modern technology. Maria wants to be able to provide new educational strategies that keep the students interested. She thinks that the Kinkajou can help her do that.
After our meeting, Maria invited us to her home for dinner. It was very generous of her and her family to welcome us. At dinner we discussed the prospect of developing a pilot study of the Kinkajou in Maria’s school. The teachers will start gathering their curricula and we will implement changes and look for alternatives to microfilm.
