QUALITY EDUCATION -WHO IS AT PLAY?
IF I had a chance to address the nation on education standards I would go like this: “Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to comment on education standards in the country. I will not waste time to make a decision on whether the education standards are high or low because the words high and low are relative terms. I will concentrate on how to improve the quality of education” at least this is a safe approach.
Stakeholders may wish to critically analyse the following points which may or may not affect the quality of education depending on the situation at a particular time. TEACHER EDUCATION
Secondary level: We have a well established School of Education at the University of Zambia with well qualified and experienced lecturers. I applaud the specialisation in training that secondary school teachers are availed with. Teacher trainees choose teaching subjects either by preference or in alignment to their performance at school certificate level or both. This means that the secondary teachers will teach only what they are trained for and what they are comfortable with. Now see the contrast with their primary school counterparts.
Primary Level: At primary school level the teachers in general have no choice to specialise unless its Special Education related issues. What I mean is that they are forced to like and teach all teachable subjects at primary school level. As you know some people are natural science oriented and may not like teaching the behavioural sciences. On the other hand some people may not like to teach Mathematics-related subjects but prefer the behavioural sciences instead. Are we punishing our hardworking primary school teachers by forcing them to teach all available subjects?
One may ask why they don’t specialise at primary school level but force teachers to teach even subjects which they don’t like. I know that methodology covers up for everything but don’t we see the torture in some teachers’ eyes? The issue of specialisation at primary school level is dependent upon a number of factors and will need an overhaul of the whole education system. Hmmm, when will that overhaul materialise? I need the whole newspaper to answer that. PLACEMENT/ RECRUITMENT
In the past, teachers were recruited from government training institutions upon graduation. Due to technicalities over the years, teachers have to wait for some time before government advertises for available vacancies. Actually for one reason or the other, it seems impossible to absorb all the trained graduates roaming the street. Is Zambia training more teachers than demanded? This is confusing because there are certain parts of the country which have suffered due to lack of well trained teachers.
Do the freshly trained teachers lose some of their enthusiasm during the waiting period? Do we lose some of our well trained teachers to other sectors due to the long wait? I don’t know who to blame for this situation. Is it possible to train only a few teachers at a time and recruit them there and then instead of training as many teachers as possible and then let them compete for chances of being recruited?
I believe that teaching has to do with moulding the mind, soul body and spirit of human beings so it is different from other professions because any mistake in the making of a teacher will be disastrous. Teachers make a doctor, a nurse an engineer, an accountant, an architect, an agriculturist, a lawyer and the list goes on. Teachers must be perfectly made if that is possible because of what they are expected to produce in society. I will safely conclude that the well being of the teacher is part of improving quality education. TEACHER-PUPIL RATIO
I don’t know who to blame for the very disturbing pupil teacher ratio prevailing in the country. Have you ever wondered why the same teacher will perform wonders at a private school but face challenges and compromise teaching standards when teaching at a government school? Well one of the answers is the pupil teacher ratio. At private schools and also at government schools run by the church, mostly the Catholic church, UCZ and SDA, the class size is reasonable enough for any teacher to handle and this helps improve quality of education.
In government schools however, class size is outrageous to the extent that slow learners and shy pupils drown in the crowd (large class). The well trained teacher is overwhelmed by the crowded classroom. I commend all the teachers who try their best to work very hard under difficult circumstances. I also encourage those who have given up and just wait for the salary to come not to lose hope. One day a miracle may happen and government schools may come back to a normal size of 35 pupils at the most per class. THE CURRICULUM
Successful curriculum change should involve a steady and proper roll out at a reasonable pace. Quick implementation which is usually pushed by donors who have injected their money in the system does not improve quality at all. Implementation of new curriculum should allow for the writing of new books to suit the new syllabi and allow for the proper and complete training of teachers selected to handle the said changes.
Implementing the new curriculum before the above measures are taken care of is simply lowering the standards of education. The curriculum which should embrace the Zambian context should at the same time be compatible with international standards. This means that the Text Books should be tailor-made for Zambia and be written by people who understand the Zambian terrain and socio-economic issues. The local publishers must be given a chance to write books which children will understand very well. EXAMINATIONS
In Zambia and probably in some other countries as well, the same Final Examination at grades 7, 9 and 12 levels is used for both selection and certification. In other words, the government does not subject a learner to serious entry exams to another level (grade 8, 10 and tertiary). However, some higher institutions may subject their entrants to some kind of test upon application. Some private and church led schools do subject their learners to an entry exam because they have small numbers and they can easily manage. It is a good move.
The implications of the absence of entry exams is that even a pupil who did not study and was copying during the exams will just slide into another level easily and cause chaos thereby compromising quality. I know that the selection process is a hustle on its own and adding an entry exam will only worsen things though the fact remains that selection exams support quality improvement. SCHOOL FEES
If the school fees are too high and I mean abnormally high, it might hurt the operations of the school in terms of the relationship between the education provider (Teachers, support staff and the Principal) and the receiver (parents and their children). A call by the providers for participation on a development project on the school may receive a cold hand with receivers quoting the high fees in response all the time.
If the fees are too low and I mean too low, the school might give an impression of offering low education standards so it will attract low calibre of learners and repel the crème de la crème. THE INSTITUTION (Location, Infrastructure)
The infrastructure at any learning institution has a bearing on the quality of education that will obtain at the same place. Dilapidated classrooms with lack of chalkboards or white boards are no fun to learn in. Broken windows and dirty unpainted walls have a bearing on the learning mood thereby compromising the quality of learning. Can you imagine a teacher sleeping in a rented grass thatched hut after 4 years training at the university? This is demoralising.
The location of a learning institution matters a lot. I passed through a certain school which was infested by noise pollution, air pollution and was surrounded by stagnant green water which revealed live mosquito larva. The mosquitoes at that location always have a delicious ready meal of the pupils every 10:00hrs (break time). I think it will not be wrong to say that their teachers are also bitten by the same mosquitoes in the staffroom. Needless to comment on the quality of learning obtaining at this school because it is a well known fact that it is poor quality. POLITICAL INFLUENCE
Parents and the public in general normally use political figures to force school principals to enrol their children. This creates over enrolment which compromises quality. The school principle is answerable to the employer, the government and has no way of refusing the coming in of the extra pupils. WHICH MEDIUM?
Our country has moved from using local languages as a medium of instruction to using the English medium and then back to local language. The donor community has advised Zambia to teach using a familiar local language of the particular area in the early years of learning. Frankly speaking there is no familiar local language in certain areas which can be used for instruction (teaching). Take Lusaka for instance, the Chinyanja that teachers are supposed to use as a medium of instruction is not familiar to certain children because the capital city has people from all over the country.
The final Examination of the familiar local language Chinyanja written in Lusaka is actually Chichewa which is never spoken by any child. Due to the existence of the 73 tribes in Zambia, we are unable to come up with a familiar language. This language issue is compromising quality of education. Who is to blame? No one I guess.