The Sunday News
Charles Dube
Last week’s issue was all about students. We were looking at the positives from the children’s point of view, that they can utilise holiday time wisely with resources permitting. The last point raised concerned students offering help to people outside their institutions ignoring those among them.
There is always an oversight where deserving locals are left out. They are not helped even if they are sent home for fees every term. Nobody seems to see this. Some deserving cases could be having torn uniforms or shoes but ignored. Preference is usually given to outsiders for the sake of glory.
Glory comes even if beneficiaries are local. However, what is clear is that these social clubs students engage in are empowering them. They raise funds through various activities and they are responsible for their own funds. All this comes out clearly on the day of donation. These are noble gestures from enlightened students. When recommendations are written for the students to acquire scholarships, this comes in handy for at times they are asked what they would have done to assist their communities. Through such activities characters are shaped and students become responsible.
It is disappointing to come across A-level students who say they have never engaged in any sport or have never joined any social club throughout their learning careers. What does the officer writing the recommendation do? Does she or he have to lie on the student’s behalf? Team work is built through group activities. The introverts work with the extroverts as everybody partakes in the running of the club one way or the other. Students are empowered and develop necessary skills for the future, depending on what they do.
There are a number of organisations which are helping today’s students to get out of challenging situations. Apart from this, these organisations are also empowering, liberating and encouraging students to understand themselves. They learn not to be afraid of work. Students need to be advised not to look where they come from, that is their backgrounds. When students worry much about their backgrounds, for example, when from poor parentage, they lose self-esteem.
With low confidence it becomes difficult for students to partake in developmental issues. That is where church groups come in and offer counselling services to those who might be at the point of losing hope.
I remember some time back there was hullabaloo about the use of cellphones in schools. The discussion seems to have died down. But I am not really sure if the undeclared ceasefire was a defeat for one side or the other. However, the question people have is: are students using these cellphones productively in schools? A general observation is that when most of the students get into whattsap they spend hours hooked to it. No research would be taking place as they claim to be doing.
Schools not allowing the use of cellphones are frowned upon. But the reality on the ground shows that in most cases the cellphones are abused. They are not used as accessories to ease learning but they are diverting students’ attention away from the books. There is nothing wrong with buying children all these modern gadgets which are meant to make learning easy as long as you can afford it. It is a question of priorities. There are a lot of ironies in life.
We have heard of situations where parents or guardians are able to buy children expensive cellphones with a myriad of applications proving the high costs involved, but when it comes to school fees payment, they fall short. No hard feelings as parents are doing what is best for their children, but they should consider what is of top priority. Overindulgence before children pass should be avoided. Opportunities flourish more to those students who would have done well in their examinations.
Books are more easily available than cellphones. Books should be read and of course supported by what is found in the internet. We cannot deny that technology is making things easy — there are e-books now which are easy to carry. Days of moving about carrying big text books as if you are the only educated person around are gradually coming to an end with modern technology. However, before we get to that time we need to utilise the books as they have the information which helps us pass examinations.
Parents are responsible and know how to deal with their children who might want to be taken up by cellphones. They control the use of cellphones while children are at home. They confiscate the cellphones at study time and release them later. Those with children at boarding schools, they make sure the cellphones remain behind when schools open. They physically make sure that those cellphones remain at home.
It should not be forgotten that those cellphones taken to school make parents run as they always get calls from their children reporting even the slightest of illness which would not be known by school authorities leading to confrontations.
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