Students Should Use Cellphones � Dow
Onalenna Kelebeile | Monday August 28, 2017 16:59
At the BOSETU delegates’ congress here on Friday, Dow said in this current era of Information, Communication Technology (ICT) in every sphere of life, including schools, time of thinking cellphones and laptops disrupt classes is over. She said there is nothing wrong with students using those devices. “The problem is not the gadgets, but rules on when they should be used. There should be regulations on what gadget to use and when,” she said. She added teachers should then manage their classrooms and make sure that the gadgets are used properly and according to teachers’ rules. “Computers are no longer a subject but a learning tool,” she noted.
The minister said she acknowledges concerns over conditions of service for teachers such as hours of work and teachers who double as boarding masters. She said tension between teachers and the ministry will never go away because they are necessary but they should be managed properly. “This is the nature of employer/employee relations and that is why trade unions are necessary to agitate for better conditions of employers,” she said.
She stressed that in-service training for teachers is very important and said the world is moving very fast hence no one can assume that what he/she learnt four years ago is still relevant today.
“Open online teachers courses and improve yourselves at personal level,” she said. Earlier on, BOSETU president Kwenasebele Modukanele expressed concern over the dilapidation of schools that he said are not conducive for teaching. He also added that the fact that some teachers continue to share houses as a result of shortage of accommodation is not good for productivity. “Curriculum has to change with time, in-service training for teachers is dead and schools have become battlegrounds as indiscipline continues to grow,” he said.
Modukanele added that the level of indiscipline has turned many school into breeding grounds for criminals but teachers are never protected against unruly students. He added that teachers have been on go slow since the 2011 strike and encouraged them to go even much slower and incited other civil servants to do so.
In response, Dow said that childrens’ behaviour problem is a fact, but to suggest that schools are battlegrounds is not true. She also denied that schools are dilapidated. She also dismissed that teachers are on a go slow, but said there are many teachers who till take their job seriously regardless of challenges they are facing at work. “They are unhappy, but they teach. If you believe that you are not consulted well on curriculum development we then should engage each other to see how this can be improved,” she said.
The minister stressed that teachers are provided with housing though sometimes it is not enough. She also maintained that the introduction of pre-primary school is very important. “It had to start even when the resources are not enough and we already see the benefits,” she said.