Nouakchott, Mauritania Report of what it's like to live there - 12/07/24
Personal Experiences from Nouakchott, Mauritania
School Name:
American International School of Nouakchott (AISN)
Background Information:
1. Are you the parent of a child(ren) attending this school? A teacher at the school? Or both?
Parent of child who attended this school.
2. What grade or grades do/did your children attend at the school? During what year(s) did they attend the school?
Kindergarten and 1st Grade
3. What years did you live here?
2021, 2022
4. What was your reason for living in the city where the school is located (e.g., government, military, corporate, NGO, retired)?
Diplomatic mission.
5. Are other schools available to expatriates in this city? Why did you choose this particular school?
The French School of Nouakchott is available. We chose AISN because it was the easiest option, bureaucratically, and it was out first tour in the Foreign Service. We did not know if our daughter would do well in a French speaking school.
If you start your children in the French school system, they can stick to it for the entirety of their school years without needing to test into it. In our experience, the French school in Nouakchott seems better than AISN - more rigorous, no shared classes between grades, more teachers. The French system is an "old school" system that teaches cursive, focuses on discipline and children being orderly, hands out homework, and pushes kids more than the American schools. It also forces kids to actually learn a foreign, world language, which ironically, they never really do when bounding from post to post as a diplomat... it also gets you out of the American social bubble.
While we are sticking to the American international school system, we look back and think it may have been a wiser decision to go the French route in Nouakchott because we wanted a more traditional school for our kids.
Admissions & Welcome:
1. Are the admissions and placement procedures clearly stated to prospective families, either on the school website or through other means of communication?
Yes, and quite easy... it's Nouakchott.
2. How would you rate the school's support and welcome/integration of new students and their families, and why?
Decent... it is a small school, in a small city, with a small segment of the population that can afford the only Anglophone school in town. So integration is easy.
Administration & School Procedures:
1. How is the overall communication between teachers and parents, and the administration and parents? How is communication facilitated?
We felt that it left things to be desired. We would receive request for complex projects like buying a lot of beads for the kids to learn how to count in a city where finding anything is very difficult.
2. Aside from school fees, are there required expenses such as uniforms, laptops/tablets, musical instruments, or field trips that parents are expected to cover? What are the approximate costs?
I forget; maybe the uniforms, but nothing too expensive.
Academics & Resources:
1. What personal or academic counseling resources are available at this school? Is there a dedicated college counselor at the school? Is he/she familiar with universities worldwide?
The high school here has maybe 10-20 students, maximum, for the entire high school. I'd probably not recommend coming here with kids in middle school and up just due to the small size.
2. Is there before and/or after-school daycare available? What are the costs?
Not that I remember.
3. Does the school have a library? How large is it? How updated are the books? Can students borrow books to read at home?
Small library, about the size of a very large living room. AISN does not look like a fancy private school despite the high tuition. Frankly, the library had what it needed and even allowed the parents to check out some of the great books inside.
4. What are the technology requirements for students? Do they need their own laptops/ipads? How is technology integrated into the classroom and homework?
I forget, but after 4th or 5th grade, the school starts to over-rely on tablets. Even in 1st grade they were starting to use tablets too much in my opinion but only at the school.
That is one thing I do not like about AISN, but it is a trend in American international schools, and AISN definitely is a "tablet lover." We wanted more worksheets, more traditional usage of hand, pencils, pens, and paper, but it was what it was.
5. How are information technology resources at the school. Are they up-to-date? Is there a computer lab?
Basically, kids start sharing tablets around grade one and eventually, maybe by 4th or 5th grade, they started bringing tablets home.
6. Describe the physical education resources at the school. Is there a gym? A swimming pool? Are there playing fields or tennis courts available?
There is an outdoor pool, outdoor basketball court, and a playground. It is adequate, especially considering the bombed out look of Nouakchott, but when you first see these facilities, they will not strike you as "private school." Of course, the whole place is infested with mosquitoes... a Nouakchott problem.
No enclosed gym but that is to be expected given the financial and technical limitations of the place.
7. What is the approximate teacher-to-student ratio in the grades that your child attended?
15-1 or so. Combining Kindergarten and 1st grade was an awful idea because there is a significant gap between Kindergarten and 1st grade with the result that the first graders really fell behind.
AISN simply cannot attract enough teachers. Nouakchott is a not an easy place to live - there are no malls, no amenities, no sewer system... it is rough. It is very difficult to attract and retain anglophone teachers.
8. Are Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses available in upper grades? If this is an IB school, is the full diploma required of all students?
Not that I know of.
9. Are students generally challenged appropriately by the curriculum? Please describe any particular strengths or weaknesses in this area. Do you have any thoughts how the curriculum is applied and implemented at this school?
No. My daughter was not challenged enough and often bored at school. The teachers, God bless them, did they best they could. In 1st grade, my daughter had three teachers because the first one left, the second one got inexplicably ill, and the third finished out the school year.
10. Is the amount and type of homework generally appropriate for the age and grade of the students?
I do not agree with zero homework for elementary school aged children. Had I known how easy AISN was going to be, and frankly, how easy, to put it simply, other American schools are, I would have placed my daughter on the French school track or maybe British.
11. What fine arts electives are available (music, drama, visual arts)?
The kids do some art at school, had a nice music teacher; the school tried.
12. Are the teachers at the school required to speak English as a first language--or at least fluently?
Yes for the main teachers, not the helpers (who are not teachers).
13. What services are available for gifted/advanced students at the school? Please describe your experience with these services, if applicable.
I do not remember if there were any, but I doubt it.
14. What services are available for students with learning disabilities at this school? Please describe your experience with these services, if applicable.
No professional ones. They combine classes for lack of teachers and barely have a high school.
15. What services are available for students with physical disabilities at this school? Please describe your experience with these services, if applicable.
None.
16. What services are provided for speakers of English as a second language at this school? Please describe your experience with these services, if applicable.
Not really sure, but overall, kids learn English as they go along.
17. What extra-curricular activities (including sports) are available at this school? Have your children participated in these activities? What activities do you feel are missing at the school?
I forget, but basically, some extra music or art, maybe swimming.
Social & Emotional Well-Being:
1. What is the climate for LGBT+ kids at this school? Are there resources they can draw upon? Does there appear to be any exclusionary behavior?
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania does not tolerate LGBT behavior in schools.
2. What is the climate for children with special needs? Is there a general attitude of inclusion for children with special needs?
If you have a child with special needs, I would caution against coming to Nouakchott.
3. Do expatriate students socialize with local students at the school? Are both groups successfully integrated into the school culture?
Yes.
4. Are there are any problems with exclusionary behavior, cliques, or bullying at this school? Please describe any problems your children may have experienced in this area.
Not that I saw.
5. What is the climate for students who identify as ethnic, race/racial minorities or religious minorities at this school? Are there resources they can draw upon? Have your children had any experiences in this area?
Not an issue. Outside of the somewhat expected poor behavior of some Mauritanian kids, the place is a melange where everyone gets along.
6. What can you say about diversity among the faculty and staff at the school and their experience in supporting minority students?
Not an issue.
Overall Impressions:
1. Please describe some of your child's/children's highlights and challenges during their time at this school.
Highlights: Appreciating good facilities, good teachers, and what a tough country to live in looks like. My daughter appreciates her current school far more because of her experience at AISN. The friendly folks that tried at AISN. Most of AISN's challenges stem from trying to make an anglophone school work, in a tough country.
2. What letter grade (ranging from A, excellent, to F, fail) would you assign to this school based on your overall experience? Would you choose it again?
C. AISN tried and we made do.
Some pointers.
- We witnessed firsthand electrical issues with the school's outdated generator. The school attempted to fix.
- Class levels are mixed even at elementary which reduces children's ability to learn at their grade level.
- We found there to be an overuse of tablets and did not think the school was challenging enough.
- Consider looking at the French school as an alternative option if you're coming here.
3. Please tell us anything else you think prospective parents and students should know about this school. Thanks for your contribution!
This place is for elementary school only, and maybe middle school if you really have no other choice. A decent American public school outperforms AISN, and of course, does not cost nearly as much.
