Ask any
school going child or their parent, what they want to be in future. The common
response is that they want to be great lawyers, doctors, pilots, university
lecturers, media personalities and any other career that is deemed to make
major returns in terms of materials accumulation and prestige. Try to pose to
the same people the question, how they want their eulogy to read. You will be
amazed by the responses. Most of them would wish people to know that they were
such great parents, humble, sincere, caring, a doting parent, a loving spouse,
a person of impeccable character and the likes, qualities to do with character.
These are the words of one experienced lecturer in a local private university.
If all
teachers could stop teaching and facilitate learning in our schools, and focus
on transformative education with a lot of self-reflection, then there is likelihood
that schools fires and other ills may be a thing of the past. We may even see
the death of the mentality that, until one of us in power, we cannot progress
economically and socially. What most
people lacks but ideally wish for, is a transformative education, one that
transforms an individual holistically, and as a consequence transform the
society, and everybody appreciate life and humanity in general. So far we have
only managed to acquire an education that explains our society ills by apportioning
blame to others. That’s why highly educated politicians and the clergy are
blaming a third force behind the schools fires. None is taking time to
self-reflect on how by either commission or omission, we could have contributed
directly or indirectly to the current anarchy. How often do we blame the police
for our reckless driving that result to road carnages?
Our
society lacks respect to those holding divergent opinion and those of different
profession, in particular the teaching profession, transport service,
meteorology, sanitary and cleanliness and the police service. The society should recognize, respect and
appreciate the role of teachers in mentoring the youth and by default shaping
the society. The good news is that at least some schools are positive in this.
A case in point is what was reported in the media about how a school in ol
kalou avoided destruction by summoning parents and together with the students
addressed the causes for their children grievances.
Something
unique came out of the ol kalou school meeting. The students demanded for more
play than study. It may have surprised
most parents but a keen observer will agree that we do not let our kids be
kids. Play is essential. Figure the situation that is currently live in most
private primary schools where each day, children carry homework (read
schoolwork) that they sleeply tackles until late in the night and supervision
of a house-help or a tired parent. A few hours of sleep and he wakes up by 4am.
The routine is repeated seven days in a week (Saturday tuition and on Sunday to
finish weekend homework). This scenario is repeated and maintained until the
child finish class 8 in the wild goose chase for 400 points and no learning.
Note that, our kids start schooling very early in life, at age 3. Hopefully, to
spend the next 19 years of their life in an exam oriented education that
promises nothing much but a bleak and hopeless life after school. This is pure
torture and very unhealthy, both physically and mentally. When do we expect
this child to play and be a child? We should learn from the Finnish education system
and relieve our children the burdens of a purist education system. Any educationist worth his salt is aware that
children learn a lot through play, the child develop physically and
intellectually through play.
There are
a lot of injustices and inequalities in our school system and the society in
general. The students are very aware of these injustices and inequalities.
Thanks to the learning they get through the much accommodative technology. They
are also aware that it is not the right way that gets its way to solving
societal issues but the most dramatic, selfish and militant kind of way that
gets its way. They have perfected what our politicians and clergy are good at.
We advocate for stiff cut throat competitions in national examinations where
the entry behavior are diverse while at the same time schools are endowed
differently resource wise. No wonder it is not strange that the politicians now
want to reintroduce the ranking system. Our students are conscious of the fact
that even if they were to score highly in national examinations there is no
guarantee that they will pursue courses that may lead to the career of their
choice. They are living witness to academically challenged classsmates who join
the parallel programs and pursue the course of their choice. They have seen how
the government shuns brilliant students who end up in the private sector
contradicting the immense investment in their education. Students who struggled
academically are the current role models of our children. Since they have
‘exceled ‘in politics, church business, tenderpreneurs name them. I am not
undermining the genuine efforts and hard work of academically challenged
students but social justice, prudence and integrity should take over. Since this
is a contradiction of what tutors preach in our school that, academic
excellence for a bright future.
The
other probable cause to the anarchy in schools is our culture, how we have been
brought up. Our current culture
determines how we behave and how we approach life’s issues. Road carnages (these are not accidents),
political thuggery disguised as fighting for rights (read self-rights), arsons
in schools (read teenage rebelling against unrealistic societal expectations
through the education system that rarely address their needs and wants),
impunity in the private and public sectors, among others are a manifestation of
a culturally confused society. I will
give a simple analogy, a keen observation of a washroom in a public and a
private university. It is a clear indication of the differences and
inequalities in how children are brought up. The presence of toilet tissues and
clean toilets seats in a private universities and the direct opposite in public
universities tells all. There is an
atmosphere of respect of properties and persons no matter the ranks. The lack
of dialogue and informal interactions between students and tutors is a recipe
for disaster. Such informal interactions create a sense of belongings and
acceptance by members of that community. There is a sense of ownership and the
members are inclined to be each other’s brother’s keeper. That’s why upon the slightest provocation the
students cause much damage to release the pent up anger and frustrations. In
public institutions we have a stratified society that propagates segregation
and your-problems- are- yours attitude. The best facilitates are for senior
administrations going down to students.
The
remedy to current fires was to give them a break, and let the raging hormones
cool down. Unfortunately this was not done and as a consequence more dorms were
lost to arson. Remember teenage loathe
laws. True, these are criminal activities but applying the law and imprisoning
the child may not be the best option. They just need guidance and probation. To prevent future occurrence of such cases
plus others that may not capture the media attention is to transform the
learning approaches and philosophy in our school system. It is a high time
school tutors establish a body or association that focus on professional
enrichment, similar to an initiative by local private universities. This can be
facilitated by school boards. Tutors
should make it a mandatory habit to regularly update their teaching-learning
skills, knowledge and attitudes. We should respect and appreciate our children
and let them be. Recognize that a child is a unique being and is capable of
making independent and rational thoughts. Reassess the boarding and transport
(for day scholars) facilities and all the concepts behind it. A lot of
resources are channeled in these facilities and especially transport of
children in primary school (but is is pathetic and a disaster waiting to happen). The boarding facilities should be cognizance
of the learners’ primary school background. The feeling that a boarding school
is a prison should be no longer the case. The Spartan thinking should cease. Again
it is high time schools privatize boarding facilities.
