The core job of a school

Tshwarelo Hosia | Monday June 29, 2026 06:00

Those who are merely content with the delivery of a narrow, subject-based curriculum are falling short of expectations. Schools require holistic teachers who master a wide spectrum of skills. Students deserve a little more. To be honest, a school was never designed to be a reformatory- workshop repairing and reconstructing ‘broken’ students.

This role has now become a major preoccupation, requiring further enhancement of staff skills as well as the provision of additional resources. Schools cannot therefore escape shouldering the double burden of implementing the curriculum and getting wayward students back on the rails. The need to expand educational opportunities to all eligible students has compelled schools to keep their doors wide open to accept and embrace ‘broken’ students who show up at the gate.

Inclusivity, motivated by the right of every child to receive education and training, does not allow schools to be selective in access to education. The right of every child to education is sacrosanct and therefore must be protected by all, not least by schools. Schools are duty-bound to perform distinct yet inseparable roles: driving the written curriculum and managing crises that have the potential to derail the course of learning. Students in crisis cannot learn. Schools therefore cannot afford to become subject specialists but should, of necessity, expand their jurisdictions to embrace additional responsibilities, such as fixing broken students, counselling, guiding the traumatised, and, in worst-case scenarios, sometimes feeding and clothing students from less privileged backgrounds.

The welfare component, which until recently was not clearly recognised as a school’s duty, has always been an integral part of a school. A school is best known as a beacon of hope for the hopeless. To carry out their functions properly, schools need a little help from parents. Parents should never think of a school as a dumping site for the little troublemakers they cannot manage at home.

The school governance structure is a bi-cameral system anchored on the principle of dual ownership. The system makes parents integral to school governance. The dual relationship between schools and parents is why schools implement two sets of laws: those enacted by the central ministry and those locally tailored with the support and expressed consent of parents through the PTA structure. What is the first duty of parents in so far as schools are concerned? The first duty of parents is to ensure that children walk onto the school premises with a teachable mind. Learner readiness for instruction begins at home. Parents should always ensure that their children are classroom-ready.’

Not only should parents ensure that their children bring the right learning materials for the day, but they should also make sure their children are physically and psychologically ready. Schools are littered with examples of students who come to school with the wrong textbook or with incomplete or unattempted homework.

This is a setback which cannot be tolerated. Sometimes parents have issues when they are sent home for these misdemeanours. Messy and dysfunctional homes do not help schools champion their cause effectively. Rather, disorganised homes place additional loads on the work of teachers. For example, a student who comes to school sleep-deprived and phone addicted cannot give studies maximum attention.

The little contribution parents can make is to ensure their children do not suffer from sleep deprivation while also avoiding phone addiction. Phone addiction is one of the most powerful addictions.

Students addicted to their phones rarely focus on their academic lives. Parents should have a restraining or moderating influence on their children. The problem is that some parents have given their children unfettered access to phones. And children become frustrated when they have to adhere to the school’s phone-away policy.

Schools generally have rules prohibiting the use of cell phones. But some naughty students, with or without their parents’ consent, continue to smuggle phones into the classroom. A single phone illegally brought into school can switch off a whole class mentally, resulting in some degree of academic disengagement. A smuggled phone is usually used to visit sites which do not add value to education. Parents should come to the rescue of schools. They should help enforce the phone-away policy because it is intended to keep students focused on their studies and improve student learning outcomes. No single student should be allowed to throw the whole school into chaos and anarchy.

The phone-away policy should be implemented to the letter and without any reservations. It is a good policy predicated on a desire to protect every student’s right to enjoy learning in an orderly and serene environment. In principle, many parents accept the phone-away policy. Nonetheless, some have issues when agreed sanctions are applied to ensure compliance. In some schools, phones found illegally could be confiscated for a specified period of time. Some find this punishment punitive while others find it appropriate.

Considering the damage a phone smuggled into school can cause, it is important for parents to understand the need to keep cellphones out of schools. It should not be seen as a violation of students’ rights to own and use cell phones. The whole idea is to secure the greater common good by protecting the integrity of the teaching and learning process. All in all, parents should never shirk their obligations to the school. Parents should reinforce positive practices championed by the school environment in the interests of learning. Schools, too, should embrace a holistic approach to teaching and learning. Adequately addressing the welfare component has become a critical aspect of teaching and learning. A hungry, sleep-deprived, and phone addicted student is not teachable material.