Principals speak
FOR primary school principals in KwaZulu-Natal, the focus should be on minimising the amount of homework pupils receive instead of completely stopping it.
The principals, who declined to be named as they are not permitted to speak to the media, stand by the saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”.
An Overport principal said that at his school, pupils in the foundation phase – Grades R to 3 – were given homework, while a no-homework policy had been implemented for those in Grades 4 to 7.
“Our foundation phase learners get half an hour of homework a day for their development. The pupils from Grades 4 to 7 don’t get homework because many of them rush off to religious classes after school.”
If they did not complete their normal work in class, then that work must be completed at home, so they were on par with the rest of the class the next day, said the principal.
“We cannot stop homework, but we can minimise the amount given to pupils so they still have time to play.”
He said his was one of the top-performing schools in the area.
A Chatsworth principal says pupils are being bombarded with homework.
“There is so much to cover in the curriculum and teachers have limited time, so some of the work is carried over as homework. I have had parents complain about this load on their children. We cannot do away with homework, but perhaps we can minimise it for the younger ones.”
He said that prior to 1994, it was a rule that foundation phase pupils would not do homework, and their results were good.
A Phoenix principal said he did not support a no-homework policy as it would lead to children becoming lazy.
“For a child to attain success academically, he or she must revise their work, and homework helps them do just that. However, schools, together with parents, need to find a balance between the two. Removing homework from the equation will not work.”
A Verulam principal added: “Scrapping homework makes no sense. A better idea would be to limit the amount of work given to pupils, allowing for time to play and other activities. Homework helps parents understand what their children are learning, and we cannot just take that away.”