Halting the slide in education
September 29, 2011 | By KNews Editorial
The Education Ministry wants to see a turnaround in the fortunes of the school system. We are always decrying what passes for education these days because we have lost good teachers who opted to seek their fortunes elsewhere. And unfortunately, it has not been easy replacing them because experience is invariably irreplaceable.
The result is that there has been a decline in academic education. A greater number of children are leaving school either unable to read or write or as functional illiterates. Their thinking skills are underdeveloped because the teachers who are now most certainly in a stopgap role do not encourage lateral thinking.
But be that as it may, the administrators in the education system are always seeking new ways to help motivate the children. One of the more pleasing ways now involves rewarding children for regular attendance and good behaviour. This has been going on for about five years and the award ceremony is getting larger with each passing year.
What one of the organizers pointed out was that once the child is made to focus on attendance and good social behaviour then the wider society benefits. There will be less criminal activity, less anti-social behaviour and even a reduction in one of the scourges, teenage pregnancy.
Perhaps the greatest offshoot is the creation of conditions that would enhance learning. Within recent times, classrooms have become less conducive to learning. There are many reasons being offered for this strange development. For one, there are hardly any men in the classroom. The result is that the pubescent boys openly challenge the female teachers.
These teachers in turn avoid confrontation and pretty soon the boys are left to their own devices. They in turn become the disruptive elements. Soon the classroom becomes unmanageable. We have heard teachers say that they will not put themselves at risk. And they certainly do not. The Ministry of Education has not helped the situation.
Teachers across the country have been assaulted by schoolchildren and the Ministry has done pretty little. Some of these assaults have led to teachers seeking medical attention, often at their own expense. Parents have been known to enter schools and assault those teachers who have had cause to scold some child.
These are some of the things that have affected learning in the classroom. Yet the administration has not rolled over and died. Fortunately, for the sake of the country, there are still some bright children who manage to secure an education, but they rarely return to the classroom to help with the development of the system.
That is why the award ceremony for the performing children means so much to the society. Last Tuesday’s programme allowed for a certain number of parents to accompany the schoolchildren. Not many responded to the invitation.
We know that many parents work; that many are single parents who must fulfil the needs of the other children in the home; that some parents are scared of the classroom because they are illiterate. The latter fear that their shortcoming would be exposed, thus leaving them further embarrassed.
So it was that not too many parents were there for their children’s award ceremony. But the offshoot was that some parents would have seen the joy on the faces of the awardees and would have turned their attention to their own.
The school system accommodates a welfare department, but this is severely understaffed. The Assistant Chief Education Officer was grateful that there are teachers who have developed skills in sociology and some psychology. These teachers supplement the work of the welfare department by working with those children in their schools. This allows the welfare officers to visit schools where there is no teacher with the helpful skills.
There is counselling, something that is needed more than we could appreciate. Many children are troubled, but teachers more often than not do not recognize the problem. This too may be one of the reasons for the decline in education, through the disruption of the classrooms.
September 29, 2011 | By KNews Editorial
The Education Ministry wants to see a turnaround in the fortunes of the school system. We are always decrying what passes for education these days because we have lost good teachers who opted to seek their fortunes elsewhere. And unfortunately, it has not been easy replacing them because experience is invariably irreplaceable.
The result is that there has been a decline in academic education. A greater number of children are leaving school either unable to read or write or as functional illiterates. Their thinking skills are underdeveloped because the teachers who are now most certainly in a stopgap role do not encourage lateral thinking.
But be that as it may, the administrators in the education system are always seeking new ways to help motivate the children. One of the more pleasing ways now involves rewarding children for regular attendance and good behaviour. This has been going on for about five years and the award ceremony is getting larger with each passing year.
What one of the organizers pointed out was that once the child is made to focus on attendance and good social behaviour then the wider society benefits. There will be less criminal activity, less anti-social behaviour and even a reduction in one of the scourges, teenage pregnancy.
Perhaps the greatest offshoot is the creation of conditions that would enhance learning. Within recent times, classrooms have become less conducive to learning. There are many reasons being offered for this strange development. For one, there are hardly any men in the classroom. The result is that the pubescent boys openly challenge the female teachers.
These teachers in turn avoid confrontation and pretty soon the boys are left to their own devices. They in turn become the disruptive elements. Soon the classroom becomes unmanageable. We have heard teachers say that they will not put themselves at risk. And they certainly do not. The Ministry of Education has not helped the situation.
Teachers across the country have been assaulted by schoolchildren and the Ministry has done pretty little. Some of these assaults have led to teachers seeking medical attention, often at their own expense. Parents have been known to enter schools and assault those teachers who have had cause to scold some child.
These are some of the things that have affected learning in the classroom. Yet the administration has not rolled over and died. Fortunately, for the sake of the country, there are still some bright children who manage to secure an education, but they rarely return to the classroom to help with the development of the system.
That is why the award ceremony for the performing children means so much to the society. Last Tuesday’s programme allowed for a certain number of parents to accompany the schoolchildren. Not many responded to the invitation.
We know that many parents work; that many are single parents who must fulfil the needs of the other children in the home; that some parents are scared of the classroom because they are illiterate. The latter fear that their shortcoming would be exposed, thus leaving them further embarrassed.
So it was that not too many parents were there for their children’s award ceremony. But the offshoot was that some parents would have seen the joy on the faces of the awardees and would have turned their attention to their own.
The school system accommodates a welfare department, but this is severely understaffed. The Assistant Chief Education Officer was grateful that there are teachers who have developed skills in sociology and some psychology. These teachers supplement the work of the welfare department by working with those children in their schools. This allows the welfare officers to visit schools where there is no teacher with the helpful skills.
There is counselling, something that is needed more than we could appreciate. Many children are troubled, but teachers more often than not do not recognize the problem. This too may be one of the reasons for the decline in education, through the disruption of the classrooms.
