What has helped Finland to give equal opportunities to kids no matter their background has been the school system. The finnish education system is based on public education centers. There are some private centers too, but the vast majority up until now have been the public ones. The level of teaching is very high in finnish schools and so the results of PISA-test used to be top of the world for many years. Some changes are happening and I think that the Finnish educational system is going towards privatization slowly but surely. There are clear threats to this and I think every Finnish person should be aware of it.
An interesting detail that came up during the meeting in that in Finnish there are two different words for students depending on which grade they are in, so students before high school are called oppilas and students from high school on are called opiskelija. There is no such distinction in Swahili, so every student is called Mwanafunzi.
Koulu = School = Shule
Oppilaitos = Educational center = Kituo cha elimu
Päiväkoti = Kinderkarten= shule ya chekechea
Lukio = High school = shule ya upili
Korkeakoulu = Higher education center = Kituo cha elimu ya juu
Yliopisto = University = Chuo kikuu
Luokka = Class = Darasa
Opettaja = Teacher = Mwalimu
Oppilas = Student (in school) Mwanafunzi
Opiskelija = Student (from high school on) = Mwanafunzi (we make no distinction)
Luento = Lecture = ukumbi wa mihadhari
Mihin aikaan luento alkaa? = At what time the lecture starts? Mhadhara unaanza saa ngapi?
Minulla on koe huomenna = I have an exam tomorrow = Nina mtihani kesho
Matematiikka on lempiaineeni = Math is my favorite subject – Hesabu ndio somo ninalolipenda zaidi
Mihin aikaan pääset huomenna koulusta? = At what time you get out tomorrow from school? = Kesho unatoka shule saa ngapi?
Comments