Beating academic underachievement

Tshwarelo Hosia | Monday June 16, 2025 14:21

Student achievement levels can only go up if students are subjected to a thorough instructional regimen while also students are sufficiently encouraged and challenged to fully apply and bring their best selves to the classroom learning theatre. Getting the basics right in the classroom is not an option and should not under any circumstances be compromised. Having a properly trained school principal in every school and a sufficiently motivated and pedagogically sound teacher in every classroom should be considered standard practice.

Any debate about the status of public schools, which does not give supremacy to, the interaction between teachers, students and content is tantamount to tinkering at the edges of the big issue and cannot therefore bring about any meaningful changes. At all the times there should be harmony and chemistry between the teacher and student and the content. Any sign of disharmony between the three vital factors could lead to catastrophic consequences. Another equally important channel that could raise student-learning outcomes is the courage to restore our national values, our self worth as a people.

We need to embark on a serious process of reflection guided by one single purpose of finding our own distinct national identity. The marathon of renewing of our national values should necessarily begin with reduction of the influence and role of government in our lives. We need to disabuse ourselves of the thinking that government is God and the government too should never play God. We have always been a brave and courageous nation, not known for despondency in the face of challenges. And certainly not known for transferring personal accountability to an institution called government. Let us first visit our historical inventory. In 1966, when we gained our national sovereignty, we inherited almost nothing from the colonial government, no infrastructure, no schools, no roads, no capital city and no military.

This means the institution called government was not an important factor in sustaining our lives. We the people, under God, took charge of our lives and dared to dream big dreams to change the trajectory of our national life with little or no influence from the government. We only had at our disposal our God given land and its rich and diverse natural resource endowments to exploit and harness to build the foundation and the future we desired. Now we have become our own worst enemies. We shun hard work, which had been the source of our national growth and renewal from time immemorial. The challenge is that we have become too fragile and comfortable to return to our old ways of living characterised by the spirit of hard work, bravery and courage to venture into unknown and uncharted territory. We have lost our faith in the abilities of our ordinary people educated or uneducated to rise to the challenge and perform extraordinary things as well as faith in God. Our children in schools no longer value hard work because we have inculcated in them a culture that insulates from sweeping and cleaning their own environment. We said to them the pen is mightier than working with their hands. From the stage of infanthood, our children are learning that white-collar work is more prestigious and rewarding than blue-collar undertakings. This culture is further strengthened at home where the children do not participate fully in domestic chores. They think domestic chores, cooking; cleaning the pots and making up their beds are the preserve of domestic servants and their parents. This is where we got it all wrong.

In 1981 President Ronald Reagan in his inaugural address tried to reset American minds when said. “It is time to realise that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We have every right to dream heroic dreams. So with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage and our strength. Let us renew our faith and hope.” In the same token, coming closer to the subject of this column, it is time to re-tool and re-educate our educators to approach differently the issue of raising student achievement levels in public schools.

For decades we have been running an education system that is failing to live up to expectations. Conventional wisdom has not carried us anywhere yet we continue to think that it can make a difference if repeated. In private schools, school principals play prominent roles in the overall health of schools. Above the school principal in private school setting there is a board of governors and parents who are fully conscious of the fact that they have no business in getting involved in the operational space. Too many cooks the broth in public schools, as there are too many varied and sometimes contradictory instructions to the school principals coming from several quarters. One major departure from the norm that public schools should embark on is to upgrade the status of the school principals. The school principal should and shall rule and take full command of the operational space with little or no interference from external players. Of course the board of governors, parents and the community should hold the school principals accountable.

Again no amount general talk unconnected to the classroom instructional core can make a difference. There is a tendency to skirt classroom issues while giving supremacy to peripheral matters. Yes, we can build new schools, refurbish dilapidated structures but change would continue to be an elusive target if there is a consistent lack of focus on strengthening instructional practices. The central ministry and other oversight entities should respect the school principal’s spheres of influence and interventions could be made where there is no adherence to policy matters. Some quarters think that government is the solution to problems at hand but in reality we the people are the solution. Schools cannot unleash their best energies and potential when the school principal and community play a minimal role in the transformation agenda. Lets allow principals to rule their schools.