The Sunday News
Charles Dube, Highway to success
AT times there are current issues you cannot run away from, no matter how hard you try because they affect the people.
People continue to raise those issues in various fora. Form One online registration has come up hot with parents and guardians feeling hard done by it. There is a feeling that tasks are creating social class which had been removed over the years.
There are groups who feel that drastic action should be taken against unregistered or illegal schools.
Parents and guardians feel that online registration could be a noble exercise if only it could be fine-tuned, starting with educating the public on how it works. Many parents and guardians believe they were arm-twisted to take their children to schools which they did not prefer.
They woke up to find their children having been selected by schools they did not want. Faced by such a scenario they quickly declined those schools, not knowing that it was the start of their nightmares.
Their children were no longer selected by their preferred schools as they were met by “pending” messages. They carried “pending” messages around with no solutions. Of course, there were a few who declined and their children were selected by schools of choice.
The question doing the rounds is, “What can we do? What is the solution?” What makes matters worse is that most of the learners who find themselves with no boarding school places have very good grades.
Parents have not bought the idea that all schools are the same, they have their preferred schools and firmly believe that their children should go to certain schools. They cite many advantages for preferring certain schools over others.
The obvious one is that certain schools have high reputations when it comes to pass rate. Some take certain schools as family schools and want all their children to attend particular schools. There are visiting days, it is very difficult to split when going for visiting or consultation days.
Parents and guardians need to be listened to and understood. Meeting and discussing such things helps in striking a compromise. They should not just be dismissed as complainers. Some parents are running around just now looking for places because their children want assurance that indeed they are going to preferred schools. Some parents do not understand how they fell into their second and third choices instead of their number one choice.
They need explanations. Maybe more enlightenment could help to settle their apprehension. Out of all this hullabaloo there are those who did not bother to apply online.
They believe in talking their way into the schools. These are very difficult to convince that all vacancies have been filled hence they should try next door.
What is the policy on twins, in a case where both of them have almost identical passes?
Parents do not take kindly when they find that their twins have been selected by different schools. There has been a trend whereby twins were enrolled in the same school and going further to place them in the same class. I know there could be a blanket dismissal of points raised here as flimsy, but the fact that people are raising them shows that there is a need to address them. Remember our theme starting from last week is on discarding harmful norms.
The issue on online registration is that it is not giving applicants a second chance to connect with their preferred schools. Parents and guardians remain adamant that their children be enrolled at their schools of choice, period. One hopes that those in charge of this could look into it and listen to people’s concerns and map the way forward.
While the Government or the examination board Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Board (Zimsec) have not made stringent demands as to the state of task files to be used by learners, there is a feeling that these presentations will bring social classes to the fore. Files from the elite group of learners will be neatly presented, nicely covered and typed.
But those from the poor will truly be a sorry sight. There would be all types of covers, all types of strings tying them. Here you talk of files or pages bound by woollen strings as an example.
While typing is not compulsory, it is undeniable that typed or printed work is more presentable than otherwise. Parents hope some more workable solutions could be found concerning these tasks as they are found to be too heavy for learners at times. The little ones at Grade Zero come home extremely tired such that they cannot even play. What parents and guardians are yearning for is to be listened to and chart a better way forward.
Before I end today’s episode can I delve to a sensitive harmful norm that of illegal schools. Groups concerned with the rights of children feel the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is not doing enough to put a lid to these illegally schools sprouting all over the country.
To this end these groups use excerpts from the United Nations conventions to safeguard the rights of children. For example: “Children shall enjoy all human rights and governments have an obligation to protect children against practices of special danger to their welfare, such as economic exploitation, the elicit use of drugs, and all forms of exploitation and abuse.
They must also address the needs and welfare of children in exceptional conditions and difficult conditions so that they receive special care and attention.
These rights groups feel the parent ministry has the mandate to regularise the education sector. By saying it has nothing to do with illegal schools these groups feel that is not enough. They say these schools are mainly interested in making money rather than education and developing a child, thus they feel this has got to come to an end as a matter of urgency.
More to follow on this.
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