The Sunday News
Charles Dube
EXAMINATIONS are fast approaching and learners carrying books are a common sight nowadays. In the past the assumption was the learners concerned were coming from doing homework or those readying themselves for writing June examinations were repeating subjects failed in the previous year. But, now most learners with resources permitting are sitting both the O and A-level examinations in June.
While many learners used to fear writing their examinations before the end of the year that seems to have faded. Many learners have waded those waters and come out with flying colours. This has encouraged thousands to follow suit. There is nothing wrong with that as long as it has the blessing of the authorities. All this has led to the growth of private tuition, also known as out-of hours lessons. Again there is nothing wrong with these as long as there is mutual agreement between the parents and guardians on one hand and the service provider on the other.
Private tuition outside school is now common across the world and to pretend that it does not exist would be unfair. Personally, I have a problem with a teacher who recruits learners for private lessons from a class he teaches every day. The quality of service the teacher involved in such a scheme offers to the class is questionable. Chances are high that learners are somehow short-changed in class and get better service after paying more. I might be wrong!
However, experts give a candid view about private tuition. They state that: “The prevalence of private tuition may relate to the perceived importance of the subject studied at school.” They add that private tuition may be popular, but they believe schools remain the best place for learners to learn everything they need to — and in the appropriated way. Perhaps what has been noted by other teachers is if a private tutor teaches a learner different or conflicting approaches in the same subjects they study at school, it may prove counter-productive and confusing especially when it comes to examinations.
Learners need to be careful and verify information they get from private tuition with their teachers to eliminate confusion as they get into the examination room. But, the question is, why do learners resort to private tuition? Do they doubt the capabilities of their teachers or they want to experience other ideas from other quarters or is a result of peer pressure? Peers who have inadequacies in other subjects might influence others to join them even if there is no need.
Not all learners need private tuition in all subjects hence a clear cut decision should be made when opting for or against private tuition. But, as alluded to earlier all parents and guardians are free to decide what is good for their children with no undue influence from any quarters. In pursuit of the view given here, “effective schools provide all the support learners need and help learners to manage their own learning. When teachers focus on helping learners become effective learners, the need for additional tutoring is removed and learners’ performance in high-stake assessments improves.”
I have digressed a lot. However, I believe that the information relayed is relevant to all the learners who are heading for the June examinations. Examinations demand thorough preparedness from the learners. Learners to be fully armed with the knowledge of the subjects they will sit. There is no need for short cuts in the examinations. Learners need to know that when they get to the examination room they are going to answer questions provided on the question paper.
They should answer the questions provided on the question paper. Nothing else but the questions provided. In other words, no learner comes with his own questions from outside the examination room and expect to pass the examinations. On papers like the English language examinations, especially comprehension, they should not repeat question wording but answer the question.
For example if a question asks, how many people were there, and the required answer is two, simple state two without repeating the words of the question. Repeating the words of the question might result in mistakes as most learners have problems with grammar. There could be two versions of answers. One would say: “They were two” and the other could read, “There were two.” One of them is wrong and would result in the loss of marks unnecessarily.
The answer required was just the number two but the learner would have gone on to write something unnecessary therefore losing marks. This is just one example which can help learners avoid writing wrong answers by including what is not required. Registers have been removed from the O-level English Language Paper 2 examination. This could have been celebrated by others who do not know that language exercises have come back stronger.
Better language testing exercises have been introduced, such as those challenging learners to write correct sentences, testing knowledge on spellings and the like. For example, I challenge all those in Form Four to try this exercise and measure themselves:
The following sentences have gross errors. Re-write the sentences getting rid of the gross errors:
1. All his parents died when he was only two.
2. Raise you hand if you know the answer.
3. We persuaded him to go but he did not.
4. They bought the meat irregardless of its prize.
5. The master of ceremonies was late for the event.
6. Buhle got in hot soup for coming home in the middle of the night.
7. The doctor operated the old woman at midnight.
8. The police accussed him for speeding and overloading.
9. Try by all means to get there in time.
10. If it was you I would not have listened to such nonsense.
11. Educating a boy is better than a girl.
12. He was always number one in class.
13. Last year it rained so heavily that all dams spilt over.
14. Have I showed you where I stay?
15. The ostrich buries its head in the sand.
What is your score?
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