By Ezekiel Nabieu
As institutions of learning continue to remain closed indefinitely pupils and students continue to frolic or laze at home, engage in some useful pursuits or some mischief. Meanwhile teachers and lecturers bide their time, missing summer schools now prohibited and wishing that their institutions could be re-opened any time now. Time is available but it can only be meaningful to us variously according to what we use it for. An hour in a cell may be experienced like 24 hours in freedom. Therefore time depends on the imagination.
So what are we our learners doing with the extended time available to them? Obviously they are going to use it as they like it or as their parents or guardians like it. Idleness is not only the mother of vices. It is also the devil’s workshop and a disgrace. It is an incontrovertible fact that education in Sierra Leone which has already been deteriorating in recent decades has suffered from the ripple effect of the insidious Ebola scourge.
Elsewhere education standards seem to be dropping while advancement in human scientific knowledge goes on apace. It’s going to be the whale of a task for the ghost-hunting minister of Science and Technology to restore educational levels to the status quo ante the nineteen sixties without a wand.
The present circumstances of non-formal learning are beyond the ambit of the lecturers/teachers and learners but something positive can be done to redress the situation. Where there is a will there is a way.
From my teaching experience at the Sierra Leone Grammar School I learnt about fast learners and slow learners. It was pointless trying to transform slow learners into fast learners. It would have been a futile ultra-human attempt. The fact is that the level of native intelligence with which each individual is endowed by God is never quite the same even for twins. Therefore the duration of time to be devoted to each level should vary in order to achieve the same results. Which is why some students have to repeat classes and examinations to achieve the same results attained by their peers in a shorter time.
Under these circumstances it is not necessary for brilliant students to take extra classes now as requested by teachers for mercenary purposes. Some students could read or listen to a lesson only a couple of times which can take a slow learner more hours of swotting to understand.
I am going to feature two categories of learners in this piece. The first category is of learners who are not education-oriented. These are they who are the pleasure-loving ones. Some leave their homes for school and do not attend classes. The boys go to the playing fields, gambling dens or simply gambol around. The girls may leave for school in uniform with other clothing that they change to engage in their truancy.
The sedulous find their way to libraries or set themselves special study periods. After all it is syndicates that have been irrationally stopped and not private study at home. Limited syndicates could have been allowed for senior classes with the protective procedures by the teachers who are educated anyway. Incidentally incidences of the Ebola contagion have not been reported in spite of the convergence of hundreds of worshippers at a time.
ROLE OF PARENTS AND GUARDIANS
During this blank period of formal learning the buck for learners stops at the dining room tables of their parents and guardians.
“There are three degrees of filial piety. The highest is being a credit to our parents; the next is not disgracing them; the lowest is being able simply to support them.”-CONFUCIUS They should?
SHOW INITIATIVE
If your child or ward seems unable to master a certain subject or is overwhelmed by the amount of homework he or she receives, try to brainstorm a few solutions together. For example you may need to create a better study area at home. You can help in setting up a schedule to get the most important tasks accomplished. He or she may benefit from having the assistance of a tutor.
KEEP YOUR CHILD FOCUSED ON THE GOAL OF EDUATION
Education should equip your child to grow into a well-rounded, responsible adult. The goal should not be merely to learn how to acquire wealth. Yet research shows that many young people pursue education with that very goal in mind-to get rich. The Bible promotes a balanced view to material things.
While it acknowledges that “money is for protection,” it also warns that “those who are determined to get rich” will not find real happiness –Ecclesiastes 7:12 Timothy 6:9.
LET YOUR CHILD LEARN THROUGH ADVERSITY
Many school teachers say that as difficult as their students can be to deal with, parents can be even worse. Some parents are quick to intervene and protest when their son or daughter gets in trouble or performs poorly on a test (not in the pristine days of Ezekiel Nabieu). Such parents are doing their children no favours.
BE REASONABLE WITH REGARD TO HOW MUCH EDUCATION TO PURSUE
Do not assume that your child must attend a university to make a decent living. There are other options that are less costly. In fact in some cases those with trade skills can make as good a living as university graduates if not better. Check the U.S.A! As a last word take the advice of John Wesley to his preachers “Never be unemployed for a minute. Never be triflingly employed. Never while away time.” This is a piece of advice which parents and guardians should pass on to their children and wards in this period of travail.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY
It would appear that the buck should shift from the dining room tables to the desk of the Minister of Education, Science and Technology. The problem is not about chasing out elusive ghosts. It is not about physics or calculus. It calls for strategic policy thinking in which recycled ministers could be included if they are not to be regarded as redundant. Making up for lost time so that we can come back to normal schedules is not going to be as easy as eating bananas. It's going to be an acid test like the result of the three-day lock-down over which there is yet some dithering by ostensible think tankers. Absence of occupation is not rest. A mind vacant is a mind distressed.
(C) Politico 09/09/14
