Falling standards of education

Falling standards of education
By The Post
Sun 23 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT

The concerns expressed by Fr Paul Samasumo, the spokesperson for Zambia Episcopal Conference, on the quality of education provided in our schools deserve serious considerations.

While we esteem and applaud the efforts which have been made to build more schools, we feel it’s necessary to join Fr Samasumo in drawing attention to some of the problems which beset our educational institutions at present.

It is more and more widely recognised that standards of education are not only not rising, but are actually falling.

Clearly, there can be little hope of creating an environment favourable to the emotional, intellectual and spiritual development of pupils when schools suffer from a serious lack of teachers and teaching aids.

Solutions to these problems will demand generous increases in the resources made available to education.

This will have very practical implications for the way in which our national priorities are established and the budget distributed.

A school is part of the larger society and therefore what happens in society is reflected in the school. A school is not simply a collection of buildings. It is more than that. A school is first and foremost a place where teachers and pupils come together to teach and to be taught. Teachers play a very big role in what is called a school.

The enjoyment of the right to education would be enhanced if teachers were well trained and were committed to their duties in education. During school hours, teachers have the care of the children.

They take the place of the parents and are responsible to them.

They should not only be good instructors but above all virtuous persons, for no human person can give to others what one does not possess.

The influence of a good teacher is great. A good teacher is always respected; a good teacher is, like a good doctor, the friend and guide of all.

It should be the legitimate ambition of every teacher to earn this respect and confidence.

Clearly, there are serious problems in our education system.

The enjoyment of the right to education would be enhanced if there is an acknowledgement of the problems that beset our educational system and if there is a willingness to solve such problems. Problems should not be swept under a carpet.

Education on an increased basis is necessary if our children are to increase their knowledge and to become enlightened citizens, and, in the modern world especially, to be equipped with those skills by means of which they may acquire a reasonable degree of material wealth and at the same time contribute to the good of the community.

Some of our schools are merely buildings and not schools.

We say that because in some of these schools, there is no proper or adequate interaction between the teacher and people. Children spend years in school without learning much.

They will be recorded as having completed this or that grade but without any knowledge to enable them to advance in education and in life.

It is impossible for a child to make it to university or higher college from most of our schools.

This is so because of the lack of good teachers and inadequacy of facilities. It is not enough for a child just to pass through a classroom for seven, nine or 12 years.

The quality of education they receive in every grade they attend is very important.

Otherwise we are wasting their time and their lives.

Education means developing the faculties of a person’s mind, heart and body in such a way that a person will be gradually prepared to take one’s place in society as a useful citizen.

The kind of education some of our children are receiving reminds us of the Bantustan education that used to be offered to black people and apartheid South Africa – education that was designed to take them nowhere but make them feel they have gone to school and are educated.

Providing such education to our children is deceiving them, is doing them an injustice.

The sad part of all this is that it is the children of the poor, especially the rural poor, who are receiving this Bantustan type of education which doesn’t even give them an opportunity to go to college or university.

Opportunity for higher education should not be on grounds of economic position. Deep frustration begins with half or low quality education.

To make quality education opportunity readily available to some sections of the population, while others are impeded from them, is to create artificial feelings of superiority and inferiority.

The right to education entails the right to integral and holistic education, an education that gives the child a chance to move forward in life in all dimensions – intellectually, economically, politically, socially, culturally, emotionally, morally, spiritually and so on and so forth.

A society which values its future affords the highest priority to providing quality education for all its young people.

And a sound education will aim at creating an environment favourable to the physical, emotional, intellectual, relational and spiritual development of pupils and promoting their creative potential.

It will also aim to provide them with appropriate training and skills which will equip them to make a living in the actual circumstances of the country.

What we need in all parts of our country and for all our children is education and schools that seek excellence, while aiming to provide education for everyone.

Thus, what we require is an education that is integral – an education that is directed towards the full development of the child and empowers the child to participate actively and intelligently in the social, economic and political life of our country.

This calls for the standard of education in all our educational institutions of the same level to be equivalent.

The conditions relating to the quality of education provided in all our schools must be equivalent.

The government should set minimum educational standards for all our schools, including the private ones.

The right of all to education entails not limiting any person or group of persons to education of an inferior standard.
The right to quality education must not be denied to our young people or we throw away their lives.

And teachers have an indispensable role to play in our education. This means that adequate attention should be paid to their recruitment, training, motivation and remuneration.

And one clear lesson for truly sustainable development in our country is the need for a good educational system.

There is simply no possibility for our country to develop unless we create a solid resource base of well educated citizens, with the skills, experiences and motivation to build our country.

The dramatic decline in the educational system at every level over the last two decades or so, especially in terms of quality or education opportunities for our young people, is not only a very sad situation but also a very dangerous one.

We say this because this means that all our efforts at economic reform will be meaningless if significant commitment is not made to improve our education sector.