Hard Work

I am totally amazed at how hard people here work.  Many people work at manual labor jobs where people-power is used rather than machine-power.  This is good because it employs more people.

Education is another place where we see hard work in action.  Primary school (K-6) is provided by the government.  There are also private primary schools.  There are national exams which last all day for a week to get into secondary school.  If you don't get a high enough score, you move to the manual labor group.  You may be selling oranges or cell phone chargers on a street corner or working on a farm. 

There are both private and public secondary schools.  Only 10% of the students attend secondary school.  If you score well enough to enter seconary school, there are 4 levels.  These are called Forms 1-4.  Each year you must take a national exam (all day for a week) to see if you can progress to the next form.  If you complete all 4 forms, you can go to Forms 5 and 6.  Forms 5-6 would be similar to our community colleges.  It is very unusual to get through Form 6.

Then you can apply to a university.  Again there are public and private universities.  As in the US privates cost substantially more than publics.  The government offers loans (no scholarships) to university students.  These are repaid with interest beginning one year after graduation.

I spoke with a Form 3 girl yesterday who told me her dream was to attend university, but that she needed to really excel if she was to achieve this dream.  She wanted a career where she had her own job, rather than working in her father's restaurant.