Let�s do something about our education
Mmegi Editor | Tuesday January 24, 2017 11:13
In the 2016 results, no candidate has satisfied the requirement for the award of Merit compared to one candidate obtaining Merit the year before, according to the BEC statement. About 28,291 students (67.46%) out of 41,938 who sat for the examination failed the three year JC course by obtaining grades D and below, while 13,647 students (32.54%) out of the same figure are the ones who passed the course.
We continue to see heart-breaking decline in results from Primary and both Junior and Senior Secondary Schools. Parents’ non-participation, unmotivated teachers and delinquency are amongst reasons given as causes for such poor results. As a nation, we should not turn our minds away from any of these and more. Solutions to these problems are not to be provided just once. Parents need to make it their responsibility to do all they can to support their children. As BOSETU rightly argued, looking at the examinations by centres (schools), all schools falling within the top 15 are from urban centres. This brings up a question of whether resources are availed proportionally to all schools, taking into consideration specific needs for producing better results.
As stated by its secretary general Tobokani Rari, BOSETU has always held this view that “we do not need to dig deep to hypothesise the reasons for this disappointing results. The issues of reduced contact time due to unresolved hours of work quagmire, ballooned class sizes, automatic progression policy, the collapse of in–service structures, administrative crisis of schools are some but a few factors that have done a denting blow to our education system.” We call on the government to either do as suggested by BOSETU or prove that it is not the solution and provide their alternative. The Unions who represent teachers always bring these reasons forth. We cannot continue turning a blind eye to them.
It is well known that our children have access to smart-phones, video games and many other things said to be bad for their education. The truth is, these can also be used to benefit the children. What is important is monitored use of such. Parents need to make sure that all these gadgets are put to good use.
The growing issue of drug use should be dealt with. Students use drugs from a tender age and in most cases parents only realise when it is too late. These they obtain within the vicinity of their schools. We need security agents to help deal with this nasty situation as the drug dealers are mostly known. There is a lot that needs to be done to improve the quality of education in our country. It is not just a problem of failing students or their parents; it affects the whole nation and everybody should get involved one way or the other to make education great.
Today’s thought
“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family”
- Kofi Annan