This Is Cleaning Time

Everyday around 330pm our school stops classes and everyone, everyone, cleans the school. They students and staff sweep, mop, scrub, wash blackboards, tend the grounds, you name it and it is done. To signify the start of this they play A Whole New World over the PA system. Everyone lines up in the hallway a few things are said and then we meditate. I suppose we are supposed to be thinking of our connection to each other and the school, but I am not sure. After the meditation we break and clean for about 15 minutes. A lot of the students try to avoid working, especially the older ones. The linger in corners or just stand in doorways. I clean maybe every third day. It is a good way to talk to the kids and to show that you are with them. I just don't like the actual cleaning. At the end of the time more music is played, we line up again, there is a status check broadcast over the P.A. and then we meditate again before breaking for after school activities. I had heard about this before I came, but nothing compares to actually seeing it. The schools usually don't even have someone to clean for real, they just do it themselves everyday.