The school head was out of order
Mmegi Editor | Tuesday May 30, 2017 11:07
Late coming should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. In Botswana, we seem to have no respect for time to a point that there is an adage called Botswana Time or Nako ya Motswana.
When a meeting is scheduled for 8am, people will start arriving at 8:30am or even an hour later. This late-coming hampers any progress on discussions since late comers will always enquire about matters that have already been discussed and even resolved. This culture is seen everywhere in social gatherings and official gatherings where excuses range from a puncture, to traffic congestion to a malfunctioning watch. It is terrible that this culture is passed from one generation to another, as in the case under discussion.
Parents should ensure that their children respect the importance of time management at a young age, and therefore should take them to school on time. The children will then grow up knowing that time is essential and is a very expensive commodity to waste. Nonetheless, school heads should appreciate that they are human too, and they work with parents on many issues regarding the welfare of the students, to ensure that the environment of learning is conducive. The teachers often call meetings where they also come late, forcing the parents to stay in schools for a prolonged time than they had budgeted for.
Meetings are called and parents are made to believe that they will last for two to three hours, only for such meetings to go into the lunch hour and beyond. Another example is where parents are invited to collect reports for their children, and they sometimes find a disorganised team of teachers, poorly coordinated events that result in parents missing a day from work, the very essential element that enables them to take care of their children.
It is therefore our position that school heads should not behave like robots and unleash punishment at the slightest provocation. Last year, somewhere in the North East District, a student was denied entry into school because she was wearing a trouser instead of a dress. The matter was a clear sign of school heads and teachers getting drunk with power over the people they are supposed to serve and protect.
A good relationship between teachers and parents is very important to provide a conducive learning environment and both parties should try to compromise and appreciate each other’s challenges. The Selebi-Phikwe incident of locking the parents inside the school premises was not the solution to the problem and therefore the school head was being disrespectful of them.
Today’s thought
“Try to open up your mind a little, and move away from rigid opinions of what people should do and be - unless you have been there.”
– Ann Rule