The Sunday News
Charles Dube
LEARNERS should be grateful to their parents and guardians who despite the harsh economic times still send them to school. They should be grateful for that effort no matter whether they are sent to boarding or day school. Many parents send their children to school regardless of the fact that some of them were denied the opportunity to learn to high levels because their parents were financially challenged and could not afford the fees.
There are some of course, who dropped out of school even though resources were available. Such parents or guardians did not see the value of education at that time. Now they have been enlightened and they see the value of education and they do not want their children to fall into the same trap. They are doing menial jobs while their colleagues are doing better jobs because they persevered with learning. These parents or guardians want their children to do better and thereafter improve the lives of the former.
It is quite refreshing to hear a parent expressing the desire to pay school fees on time and telling whoever is listening that he wants his children to be educated, not to follow the uneducated pathway like himself. Learners should take a cue from their parents by making sure that they work hard at school. Discipline is key to doing well at school. Learners have no business concentrating on doing wrong things which will result in their parents being called for disciplinary hearings at school.
The new curriculum has seen learners being allowed to take gadgets like computers to school. This is commendable as the country cannot be seen lagging behind in technological advancement. However, parents and even schools should be aware that all that comes with advantages and disadvantages. Junior learners should be taught how to handle these gadgets first before use as there will be a lot of damages in the initial stages.
Learners stealing from one another cannot be ruled out.
Times are hard and parents are failing to raise enough money for fees at once. The Government, just like other service providers, came up with a plan where parents or guardians agree on a payment plan with heads of schools. This is a relief indeed as long as the system is not abused. Schools are disturbed with parents or guardians who can afford to pay the fees once but, they deliberately choose to stagger their payments. What people forget about such deliberate behaviours is that while schools allow staggered payments, they need that money for day to day running of schools, especially boarding schools.
It is refreshing to hear ministry officials reminding parents to make sure that they pay school fees, while at the same time prohibiting the sending of learners home for failing to pay school fees. Parents should play their part well.
Form One parents are generally unhappy that their children have been sent to schools they are uncomfortable with. This suggests that there will be a lot of movement of learners from one school to the other next term. People do not go along with the concept that a school is a school. They have their own preferred schools and are unimpressed when told to take their children to any school. Such arrangements will lead to many clashes between the Ministry of Primary and Secondary education, the former saying the latter is insensitive to their pleas.
Schools opened last week and some learners had not secured places and spent the better part of the first day waiting at schools in the hope of being enrolled. Last minute is dangerous, goes the adage. Tempers flared at some schools when parents were told that schools were fully enrolled and there were no more places. Schools take as much as they can to accommodate in terms of facilities, hence they cannot take everybody in. Parents should as well understand that.
People from many quarters have been generally unhappy with the implementation of the new curriculum and it seems their cry has been heard. While the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education maintains that there is no going back on its implementation, it is a welcome development to hear that the ministry will continue to assess the new curriculum. This is what the public wants to hear — that their concerns are being taken into consideration. Such assurance makes the public receptive to information and resistance will be a thing of the past.
In spite of all these challenges schools opened well and learners are excited. Learning should go on as usual though with more determination.
Communities should be supportive to schools. The new curriculum is bringing schools closer to communities, but, some communities are destroying projects initiated by schools. Some people are stealing fish from fisheries set up by schools. Some break bee-hives set up by learners to satisfy their lust for honey. Such destructive elements forget that they are stifling the education of their children.
People should let schools function normally and freely utilise the environment around them. Learners are also moving around the communities doing research, so they need to be helped. The new curriculum demands that learners work with what is within their environment. Seeing students moving around, getting into homes and seeking information should not raise eyebrows, but accommodate them.
In turn learners should not destroy infrastructure they have at their schools. It is expensive to restore what has been deliberately destroyed. It takes seconds to destroy infrastructure, but costs hundreds or thousands of dollars to repair or restore what has been lost. Many schools today are struggling to go back to their former glory because of lack of financial resources. Maintain what is there and maybe with time schools might afford to buy new things and put up new structures. Learners, leave those doors and window panes alone.
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