What students and classrooms look like in 15 countries around the world

From 2004 to 2012, English photographer Julian Germain traveled to 20 countries and took photos of 450 school classes there with students. These photographs are a good illustration of the states where these children study.

As is common in the Western world, Julian Germain collected most of the cost of this journey through donations from grateful Westerners. Trips to 20 countries for 8 years cost him about 200 thousand dollars, of which 120 thousand were donated by people, and 80 thousand he “got” by selling a book as a result of this trip.

(Total 15 photos)

Source: ttolk

1. Brazil. School Escola Estadual Nossa Senhora do Belo Ramo in Belo Horizonte.

It was a typical school for the children of workers living in poor neighborhoods. Of this school, only 8-10% enter the university.

2. Germany. School Agnes-Miegl-Realschule in Düsseldorf.

“You can see that the classroom is decorated with graffiti – this school is just saturated with youth subculture,” Jermain explains.

3. Yemen. Al Ishraq Primary School in Aqamat Al Megab.

This is a one-room elementary school in the mountainous part of the country. Here, children from 5 to 12 years old study at the same time, the older ones help the younger ones in their studies. Only about 15% of children after graduating from this primary school continue their studies in secondary school; no one enters the university from here.

4. USA. Beaumont High School, St. Louis.

This school truly reflects the reality of this predominantly black area of the city. The school is big and old. But the teachers here are quite strong, and students, for example, even study trigonometry. About 15% of graduates go to colleges and universities from this school.

5. Holland. Bornago College School.

Photographer Jermain says that of all the schools he visited in the world, the students of this Dutch school were the most calm, smiled affably and were not afraid to be photographed. This is the 9th grade, children are 13-14 years old.

7. Spain. School Colegio de Educación Público, Estados Unidos de América Huarte de San Juan in Madrid.

In this school, the music class is taught by members of the Madrid Philharmonic. “School classes in Spain were the smallest in terms of the number of students, among all the schools that I saw,” recalls Jermain.

7. England. School Deneside Infants School in the town of Seaham.

“This town, and especially the area where the school is located, is socially disadvantaged, there are many unemployed and welfare workers. But at the same time, unlike other English schools, the classes are very racially homogeneous - almost only whites study here, ”the photographer comments.

8. Peru. Escolar Secundaria Tiracanchi School.

This is a tiny village in the mountains. 25% of the people there speak only one of the Indian languages - Quechua. 80% of the inhabitants are peasants, 46% of houses do not have electricity. There is 1 teacher in this school and he is 67 years old. No one from this school has ever entered the university.

9. Ethiopia. Gambella Elementary School. This is a small village 420 km from the capital Addis Ababa.

The school has 5 grades. Teachers are the most respected residents of this village, as well as the highest paid - they receive about 70 dollars a month.

10. Bangladesh. Jessore Zilla School.

Pupils are very proud of their uniforms, because in Bangladesh, people in uniform are very respected. Most of the guys dream of becoming doctors and lawyers, but the reality is that from this simple school, the path to these areas is most likely closed to them. But there are a lot of military men among their graduates.

11. Nigeria. School Kuramo Junior College on Victoria Island, near the capital Lagos.

In fact, this is the only well-equipped classroom in the school, the rest are outdoors. This classroom and the furniture in it were arranged with charitable money from an oil company.

12. Taiwan. School Min-sheng Junior High School in the capital Taipei.

First, these students had lunch in the classroom with the teacher, and then he made them sleep for 30 minutes right at their desks. After that, they walked outside for 10 minutes and again began to study. The fatigue of these children can be understood - they have 8-9 lessons a day.

13. Cuba. School Escuela Primaria Angela Landa in the old part of Havana.

The families of these children live very poorly, but there is good medicine (at the level of Western standards), as well as children are fed free of charge at school.

14. Qatar. School Omar Bin Al-Khattab Educational Complex in the capital Doha.

“This school seemed to me effective (there are even teachers from Europe), but soulless,” says Jermain. Pupils are especially proud of their piercing mustaches.

15. Russia. School number 63 in the Kalininsky district of St. Petersburg.

These were the most ambitious students I saw during the trip - they are all going to go to university. They were also the only students who walked in heels, wearing Gucci and Prada. This class was more like a meeting of business people than students.