2-16
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF VILLAGE-LEVEL INSTRUCTORS
A story:
When a training program is taught and run by village-level instructors, certain
problems and obstacles are avoided. But others commonly arise. Once, when we
were observing a training course taught by villagers, a visiting nurse was present.
Herself a trainer of health auxiliaries in a neighboring program, she was highly
critical of the way the village-level instructors conducted the course:
After listening to her many complaints, the village instructors
invited the nurse to give a class to show them how to do it better.
They suggested a class on “The Human Body and How It Works.”
So the visiting nurse presented a class on “Anatomy and Physiology.” It was
carefully timed: 40 minutes of lecture with 10 minutes for questions at the end.
She briefly and expertly covered each of the body systems, naming the major
organs and stating their functions. When she finished, she asked one of the health
workers if he had understood. He slowly shook his head. “I didn’t understand
beans!” She called on student after student to see what they had learned. But with
the exception of two who had studied in secondary school, her lecture had gone
completely over their heads. One of the village instructors had made a list of over
60 words she had used, which no one understood. He asked her to explain some
of the words. But each time she tried, she used 2 or 3 more words that nobody
understood.
The students then asked if the nurse would be willing to give the class over again,
but more simply. The nurse admitted she didn’t think she could. She asked one of
the village instructors to do it for her.
The next day, one of the local instructors led a discussion about “The Body and
How it Works” {not “Anatomy and Physiology”). Rather than lecturing, he started
by holding up a box. He challenged the students to ask as many questions as they
could in order to find out whether the box contained something living or not. They
asked questions like:
The instructor wrote the questions on the
blackboard and then opened the box. Out jumped
a frog!
Next, the instructor asked how we, as people, also do each of the things listed on
the blackboard. He started with what the class knew about the body, and built on
that, asking questions like: