The Sunday News
Charles Dube
LAST week I implored people to enjoy the holidays despite the all-encompassing economic challenges. But the way things have turned out, it appears I jumped the gun as a lot of parents and guardians are still running around trying to secure Form One boarding places. They are blaming the Electronic Ministry Application Platform (EMAP) system for locking their children out.
It is an open secret that this new system is very unpopular with the parents and guardians. They blame it for placing their children at wrong schools. In such cases most of them rushed to decline those schools only to find that they cannot be accommodated elsewhere. They are carrying “pending” messages. Most of them are wearing worried faces as time is running out fast.
Thanks to the clarifications and assurance made to them by the Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Cde Edgar Moyo on 13 December, that parents facing challenges in applying online should approach their nearest school or online experts for help before the application closes. I would like to believe that those words from the deputy minister settled some people’s nerves. Though they had not secured places at least they were comforted by the fact that the system was still open until 21 December (last Friday).
The system still needs to be polished to iron out some teething problems as people feel it is not working as efficiently as they would want. It is quite unfortunate that with numbers of learners far outstripping the places on offer, some parents or guardians cannot take negative responses to their applications and end up using uncouth terms to the school authorities. Such need to be reminded that school authorities are human too and deserve respect as well. Respect is not one-sided but reciprocal.
In any case, what kind of treatment does a violent parent or guardian expect to get from the school authorities? In most cases the schools would be fully enrolled and left with no option but to decline any further applicants. Nowadays there are parents or guardians who behave as if they own the media. They threaten to take schools to the media for any slight misunderstanding they have with them. For example, learners are enrolled into schools through EMAP, and when somebody fails to get a place she or he threatens to go to the Press.
Is the Press so bereft with stories such that they can be used in people’s petty wars, I wonder? Barring all the problems associated with online registration, I hope all those who read the Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education’s statement on a story on the closing date for Form One pupils online registration are better enlightened now and are helping disseminate that information to others.
Times are hard. Parents and guardians are struggling to pay fees for their children. In the story cited above, a parent suggested that schools should attach their fees requirements in the application forms so that they do not bother to apply to expensive schools. While this is a genuine call, I do not know how feasible it is, especially nowadays when the economy and pricing regimes are unpredictable. According to the EMAP system schools just accept learners, not knowing their financial muscle.
There are many cases where many potential learners are withdrawn from accepting schools because they cannot afford the school fees charged there. It is a fact that it is unwise to send a child to a school you cannot afford. To all Form One learners who have been offered places, be it at boarding or day school, go there and establish yourself as an all-round learner. You should be intelligent as well as morally upright. Secondary education does not mean that you go and perfect your unruliness. Outshine others by excelling in all good things.
Having said all this, I remember in this column in the past calling for the revival of recreational places which used to be found in the cities.
Those helped keep children away from the streets where there is rampant abuse of drugs and drinking of beer by youths. I am glad that the call is now louder from various circles. I do not know what happened to our local authorities who seem to have abdicated from one of their key responsibilities of maintaining the facilities.
Those days the youth gathered at various centres where they participated in various games and were kept away from hazardous habits.
Nowadays because these facilities are scarce the youth are easily led to drugs and other dangerous activities. Our media is awash with stories of gangsters who have done this or that, even committing murder. This could be a case of idle minds being the devil’s workshop.
The youth are into beer drinking aided by lack of law enforcement especially that outlawing the sale of beer to people under the age of eighteen. When the economy gets tough there is nobody who follows the law. Nobody follows ethics when times are tough. Bars sell beer even to the youth regardless of age. Their mission is to make money. It is a dog-eat-dog situation and nobody cares about the repercussions of what they do. Learners get used to this during the holidays obviously long for this while at school.
Whatever projects are set up to curb this decadency should include all the stakeholders including businesspersons who seem to care more about profits than the welfare of children and learners.
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