Thursday, January 26, 2012

TOD and a School-Wide Epidemic

I hate being Teacher On Duty (TOD) and this was the week from hell.  The teacher who is teacher on duty has to wake up early in the morning to supervise students cleaning the school, check on all the students who are sick, greet all parents and visitors, discipline students who misbehave, grant permission for students to go to the village, and deal with any issues at the school like teachers not coming to teach.  There are few things I hate more than being TOD.  I don’t believe in corporal punishment and could care less if students go the village, so me being TOD just frustrates other staff members anyways.  But this week was AWFUL!  Nearly 75% of the student body was infected by something.  We had to cancel classes and make multiple trips to the hospital. There was this creepy insect that infested the school.  It was gross.  Students started getting sick.  Eyes were swollen almost completely shut, and students complained of headaches and other flu-like symptoms.  We don’t know if the problem was some sort of eye conjunctivitis or if it had to do with the insect, but there was an epidemic that swept the school and my village. The Peace Corps doctor recommended that I stay inside my house and not have any unnecessary contact with students… clearly he did not understand that I was teacher on duty and was the person that students came to with problems or illness. 

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