The baton exchange
Friday, June 16, 2023 | 20 Views |
The relay race analogy is relevant to the three levels of 10-year basic education. Ideally a seamless and flawless exchange of baton is supposed to occur from pre-primary and primary school, junior to senior secondary levels.
But in reality there appears to be a crisis of baton exchange. Lack of a strong synergy and communication across these levels is a vexing challenge which should give classroom practitioners on the ground and policy makers at the central office sleepless nights. Here is a very interesting scenario. There is a clear and pronounced achievement gap between the three levels of basic education. The primary sub sector seems to be ticking all the right boxes and continues to rule the roost while its secondary school sub sector is shaky and wobbling.
It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...