MOE summer school will not remedy learning loss
Dear Editor,
Poor parental supervision is the major contributing factor to approximately 120,000 students falling out of the education system in the year or so since face-to-face classes were disrupted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
In my community alone, there are many students who have gadgets, can access Wi-fi but are still not logging on to classes. These children, mainly boys, hardly sleep, have no responsibilities at home, and have no proper parental supervision; they simply play video games and browse the Internet all day and all night.
The summer school programme, now in effect, is not a long-term fix for the problem as only the committed students who were already engaged in teaching/learning activities will attend. So, the learning loss experienced by the students who were disengaged from the system will still not be rectified. I believe more needs to be done to capture and re-engage these students. The remedial intervention must start at the community level by engaging the parents through various parenting programmes as well as offering incentives such as food packages, monetary aid, grants, and scholarships to assist them, especially single parents who need the support.
So, although the Ministry of Education (MOE), teachers, and the other relevant stakeholders are making every effort to get these students back in the loop, it is going to be challenging, especially if they don’t get to the root of the issue – poor parenting skills.
This is a crisis and must be tackled with urgency. The best response is mass mobilisation at the community level, which must include a conversation with the society about how to manage our children’s education in the midst of a pandemic. All must be on board to save our children from illiteracy, poverty, gangs, crime and violence.