English Recordings

The school year in Nigeria runs from January to December. The year is divided into three semesters with a month off in between each semester. Students must wear uniforms, as well as obey rules for hair, jewelry, and accessory restrictions.
There are about 40 students in each classroom in Nigeria. There they will learn one of the three main languages (Hausa, Yoruba, or Ibo), math, and English.

The school year in Mexico runs from September to June. Students go to school Monday through Friday, and have optional classes on Saturdays. Students are required to wear uniforms. School days are divided into two sessions, one for the morning and one for the afternoon.

The school year in Kenya is divided into three terms, each 13 weeks long, with one-month breaks in between. School days are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Uniforms are mandatory. Most classrooms have about thirty students in them.
Many schools provide lunch. Because Kenya is experiencing severe hardships, some students save all or part of their lunch to share with their families. Students study the Kiswahili language.

Most Japanese schools have three semesters. The academic year begins in April and ends the following March, with breaks for summer, winter and spring. Uniforms are required and there are extensive rules for hairstyles, shoes, socks, skirt length, make-up, accessories, and more.
In each classroom, the average number of students is 29 with five or six computers to share between them.

Students in Iran go to school for 10 months a year, or about 200 active days, from September to June. The average number of students per classroom is 27. From ages 5 to 18, boys and girls are educated separately. Girls typically have female teachers, while boys are taught by men. Religious study in Iran is required. Men and women do study together at the university level–by 2006, over half of all university students in Iran were women.
Because many schools are in remote areas or do not have the money for such things as libraries, mobile libraries trundle across Iran to bring books to more than 4,000 children in 40 different schools. Each bus has two librarians and around 3,000 books. Students tend to get very excited when they hear the engine of the library bus coming their way.

The school day in France typically runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a half day on Saturday, although students do not attend school on Wednesday or Sunday. Lunch is a two-hour break for public school students. Students usually attend school from ages 6 to 18. The average number of students per class is 23. Uniforms are not required. The school year is from August to June, and is divided into four terms, with one to two weeks of vacation in between.

Costa Rica was one of the first nations in Central and South America to offer free public education. On average, there are about twenty-eight students in a classroom. Students are required to wear uniforms from ages 6 to 15, and supply their own lunches and snacks. The school year in Costa Rica runs from February to December. Students have vacation for about two months, from December to February, and a few weeks off in July.
In addition to the regular subjects–Spanish, math, and science–all Costa Rican schools now teach students English and computer science.

The school year in China typically runs from the beginning of September to mid-July. Summer vacation is generally spent in summer classes or studying for entrance exams. The average school day runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a two-hour lunch break. Formal education in China lasts for nine years. China provides all students with uniforms.
There are about 21 students in each classroom. All Chinese students study from textbooks that emphasize China’s unity, past and present accomplishments, and its future. Students in China also have great access to computer technology, with a computer to student ratio of 1:2.

Brazil shares the same summer months as Australia. The school day in Brazil runs from 7 a.m. to noon, and students usually go home at noon to have lunch with their family. Most schools require students to wear a uniform.
Students study many subjects including Portuguese, which is the national language of Brazil.

Students in Australia attend school for 200 days a year, from January to December. Summer vacation for Australian students is from mid December to late January. Students have two weeks of vacation between each term. The school day is from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and lunch is eaten at school. The average class size is eighteen students and there are about six computers per classroom.