...What Teachers Say
Today, I had opportunity. I met a few teachers and head teachers of prolific schools in Nairobi. The focus of discussion was the importance of community service in developing responsible, disciplined, holistic, value based individuals who become good citizens. This was in a forum hosted by Ufadhili Trust where I sit on the Board of Trustees. I had opportunity to share my thoughts, and especially those issues disturbing me on how students are educated and prepared for the “big bad world” and the workplace. They had some interesting insights.
First, none of them became defensive, which is partly the response I had expected. Instead, they pointed out that society today is not the same as it was when I was in high school 15 or so years ago, or even 20 to 30 years ago. Young people today face the challenge of too much information from all sources and must manage this information, for the most part on their own. Secondly, the social and legal frameworks are very different today. In days gone, the teacher was the ultimate know all and be all. With the change in access to information and definitions of rights of individuals and children, teachers often find themselves barred by court orders on how to treat children, including reversing suspension orders. Thus, teachers have to constantly look over their shoulder and ensure that as they attempt to educate and mould the students, they also comply with new and more liberating laws.
Teachers and schools also have to contend with the political environment. The increasing democratic practice is also demanded by students in schools. Head-teachers find that it is more reasonable to address open forum rather than remain closed, or secretive in challenges of administration. In schools where this is applied based on clear rules of engagement there have been measured levels of success in school management and overall performance. The downside is that politicians do not provide particularly good role models for students on how to lead, address and manage conflict or resolve issues.
I had also expected that the teachers and head-teachers present would come out with guns blazing about the role of absent parents. However, they seemed more concerned and understanding that the economic situation was dire and for the most part parents had a greater duty to ensure the child was able to stay in school in order to make a better living for him/herself in life. I should clarify that there was only one private school represented in a room with ten schools represented.
I shared with these teachers the challenges that I see in working with youth trying to implement projects. The limitations of communication skills both written and oral; poor presentation skills; limitations in etiquette and in some areas with little numeracy skills even by those who have completed “O” level education. The teachers did concede that there were deficiencies in the current curriculum but restricted themselves from critiquing it too much.
My greatest concern remains is that we are failing to educate Kenyan children to be responsible citizens. The focus of the school curriculum is on passing exams (which they agree is the measure of success for every school and head-teacher) without necessarily passing on numeracy and literacy skills. But these teachers have inspiring stories to share.
Stories of students demonstrating leadership, compassion, and academic excellence. And this is seen out of co-curricular programmes which the “brave” schools have initiated. “Brave” in the sense that they allow students a few hours away from books and do participate in activities within and outside school that run them the risk of poorer performance in national examinations. One teacher from Kenya High School says she recorded a straight A in 2006 as a result of Bill Lay’s mentoring 40 students under the Junior Achievement Kenya’ Company Programme. At Sunshine Secondary School, the Community Service Coordinator cum English teacher reported how students helped raise money for a fellow student whose family land had been auctioned – they helped the family purchase land and build a modest house; helping to set up their schoolmate with a modicum of hope for life. She also told us that students helped the school raise a significant portion of a KShs 2 million medical bill for one of the teachers – on a voluntary basis. In another school, we were told about students identifying an orphan girl and one of her classmates convincing parents to pay her fees and allow her spend the holidays in their home.
All is not lost. However, there must be intensified and structured efforts to balance the success of academics with development of the individual in a holistic way. Co-curricular initiatives that provide students with opportunities to identify and explore their talent must be part of the curriculum. Any teacher will tell you that there are those students for whom this component excites and triggers better academic performance. Thus, even with these inspiring stories, I know we are not out of the woods yet.
