The season of labouring hard

Tshwarelo Hosia | Monday September 14, 2026 06:00

The season of labouring hard in the worst of circumstances should yield and pave the way for a new dawn characterised by adequate classrooms and an arsenal in every school carrying varied teaching and learning tools.

Challenges especially those impacting negatively on the future prosperity of children tend to generate and rekindle positive and patriotic responses from various sections of the nation: parents, communities and business.

We the people are now hard at work in partnership with government to better the conditions of teaching and learning. Perhaps the grave mistake which we as the people have made was to think that government has all the solutions to all problems in schools.

But with the benefit of hindsight, the country has awoken from its slumber and now experience has taught that the issues of education are national issues requiring our collective resources and wisdom. As a collective we should never again permit a situation where any child regardless of background goes to school without shoes or receives instruction in risky and uninspiring open space environments.

Fixing broken doors, windows and painting walls to get out of the way the visible signs of degeneration of our education system should attract the attention of every concerned citizen. Creating an environment that fully allows every child to unleash potential and show case talent is the beginning of a rock solid foundation for an academically prosperous future.

The classroom atmosphere, from the physical art works in the walls, the new computer lab and the vibe and energy from an inspired teacher should offer sufficient inspiration for all children to love their schools and endeavour to bring their best selves (body, mind and soul) to the classroom theatre.

Every child requires the kind of classroom infrastructure supporting inquiry, discovery and research. Therefore, replacing or refurbishing buildings which do not support academic prosperity cannot wait for tomorrow. It is a delicate work requiring some sense of urgency.

It is in this context of urgency that one subscribes to the Presidential concept of fast tracking provision of critical teaching and learning inputs via non conventional methods of construction. Our so called tried and tested brick and mortar conventional construction methods have failed to deliver as expected.

Schools need fresh buildings like yesterday and if conventional methods of construction cannot hasten the process of provision of new infrastructure, they should be swept aside to pave the way for quicker and less costly non conventional ways. Besides, conventional methods have proven to be too costly and sluggish.

What is more! Addressing the problem of physical infrastructure in schools is one aspect of the revolution schools require. There are two revolutions which should be executed simultaneously. One is the cosmetic revolution dealing with physical and tangibles and the other is a quiet revolution revolving around the inside of a classroom.

Appearances of a school excite and inspire students while good pedagogy in the classroom changes student - teacher - curriculum engagements and the trajectory of student learning outcomes. Overcoming the barriers slowing down movement towards academic prosperity in public schools necessarily requires the two complementary and mutually reinforcing revolutions. The physical upgrades accompanied by upgrading of classroom instructional architecture.

Here is the limitation of developing one side of the revolution and leaving the other unattended to. Schools don’t not just rot outside; they degenerate within the classroom too. When stuck with ancient teaching approaches schools won’t make effective use of the new enabling physical structures. Often when the uninitiated hear of the construction of a new classroom or a computer laboratory they think automatically academic prosperity has arrived. Nothing can be further from the truth. The arriving of a new school infrastructure of course prepares the ground for good teaching and learning. This is because dilapidated buildings have a demoralizing effect on both teaching and learning troops while making the whole business of classroom delivery almost impossible. So getting the problem of infrastructural problems out of the way is a welcome development.

However, it should be remembered that good infrastructure is the means to an end and not the end itself. Refurbishing buildings, painting walls, installation of new furniture or adopting a new curriculum do not necessarily mean that the job is complete.

New additional classrooms on their own cannot alter the trajectory of the education system when archaic teaching and learning habits remain intact. The extent of the damage the education system suffered over the years requires a total and unrelenting revolution, shaking the foundation. No half revolution can bring the desired outcomes.

Achieving a durable and enduring impact therefore requires simultaneous investments in the physical environment and the pedagogical architecture.

Without the twin revolutionary changes, the turnaround that the system of education desperately needs will continue to be an elusive target. My advocacy note to funders and philanthropists is that: continue and sustain the momentum of investments into construction of additional schools and classrooms.

However, consider coupling school infrastructure developments with teacher building capacity programmes to raise pedagogical standards while perfecting the aesthetic beauty of the environment in which our children take instruction.