So I leave my home early in order to meet up with an 8:00am class in Unilag. I got to my bus stop at 6:00am and I see, at least, 3 teachers at the gate of a school receiving children.
This is not my first time seeing them but it’s midterm break in most schools in Lagos so I wonder why it’s teachers who are receiving children. So, while waiting for a tricycle (marwa), I ask the teacher closest to me – did I mention the school is at the bus stop? – ‘Are you not on break’. She responds, ‘Good morning to you too. (Well, that’s when I realise I have verbalized my thought without greeting) We are on a week break but parents aren’t so we have a work roster. Some members of staff are home now and we’re working for 2 days’. ‘Good morning, so sorry for being rude’ I hastily reply. ‘But are caregivers not supposed to manage this affair?’, I query. She replies, ‘We’re all on the roster to close by 6:30pm’. I say, ‘okay, well done’ and move along, well what else can I say?
Same old story of exploitation of teachers by school owners. They give their whole life to the school with almost no time for personal development. And what’s the salary? When children don’t understand what’s being taught or do not perform to expected standard, it’ll still be the teachers’ “incompetence”!
My angst is not about these teachers, they’re adults who should have been trained to know their rights.
The school doesn’t even conform with the minimum standard in terms of security, and that’s what I’m able to see from the outside. Who knows what’s on the inside.
Anyways, I digress. About the children, as I was saying, I worry. How can someone (or a set of people) who has been up at 5:00am (of course to get ready to report to duty before 6) have any strength left by 12:00pm to care for children’s learning and emotional well-being? Do schools not really know how energetic children are? “Last last”, they’ll play something for them on screen or put them to sleep. Lobatan!
If, as a parent, you’re bold enough to drop off your child at 6:00am when it’s still dark only to pick them up when it’s dark again, then you should be bold enough to ensure the best care for that child (without being obnoxious, of course).
If schools are to receive children early only to release them late, then they should have shifts, I think. A fresh mind engaging the children from 6:00am should hand them over to another fresh mind by 12:00pm. This may be expensive but teachers are paid paltry some in most cases anyways.
What I’m saying is reduce the staff workload for the betterment of the children.
We complain that the present generation of children do NOT know HOW to play, we have to teach them to play. The coming ones will be worse in the digital age if this trend continues.
The present generation have poor social skills since they don’t interact much with humans. You wanna take a wild guess as to why?
being21stcenturyMuslimah 