WHEN ARE WE GOING BACK TO SCHOOL?
IT was interesting to see learners from pre-school to university lazing around at home waiting for an announcement to allow them go back to school.
The little ones in pre-school seemed unworried while the secondary school going kids had mixed reactions.
The worst hit were the tertiary level learners because their fouryear degree could drag to five years or more if the stakeholders are not careful.
A number of things had happened due to an outbreak of cholera probably one of the worst in the history of Zambia. OPENING DAY
The official opening day for government and some private schools was 15th January, 2018 but this was not so due to health-related concerns. If I were not polite I would say that schools which had dirty surroundings were not allowed to open.
However certain schools had clean surroundings but lacked running water or had running water alright but some of the toilets were broken and could not flush or function properly.
Some parents and learners were shocked when an announcement was made that schools which met the requirements laid down by the authorities would be allowed to open by 22nd January 2018 and yet this was right in the middle of the cholera-related complications with new infections still coming up. It was said that schools in the epicentre would remain closed. What about cross infections by children from cholera prone areas who go to schools which are in cholera free areas? CONFUSION
It is important to remember certain happenings by using pen and paper so that we can refer to them in future and avoid making the same mistakes. It is said that we learn from mistakes.
Keeping certain unpleasant events under the carpet to appear clean is the biggest mistake one can ever make. One is advised to face the mistake, analyse it and learn lessons.
By 22nd January, 2018, Health Inspectors had not finished inspecting all the schools in the country and so not all schools were sure of whether they should open or not so the following things happened:
1. Schools in cholera infested places knew what to do and they remained closed. This is a good point.
2. Schools which had been cleared by government knew what to do and they opened gracefully. This point is both good and bad. It is bad in that pupils coming from epicentres to learn from cholera-free areas may have innocently infected their colleagues. It is good in that the pupils will not lose much learning time since their school has been allowed to open.
3. Schools which were not inspected were not sure whether to open or not so some pupils reported to those schools rendering themselves vulnerable to infection amidst the cholera epidemic.
Some of these schools were closed the same day after hours of uncertainty. Others were closed after a few days of opening creating a “what a waste of money” situation for those who had travelled to boarding schools.
The pupils were unnecessarily exposed. This was very very bad and we have learnt a lesson. We should never ever do such a thing again in future!
4. Schools which were not cleared by government were told to do something in two weeks time so they knew exactly what to do and they did not open. This was a good point. SCHOOL CALENDAR
The truth is that even those schools which were cleared for opening on 22st January, 2018 may have been affected in one way or the other by the fact that their counterparts were still closed.
There are certain activities which are connected to activities of other schools such as sports, science fair etc. A good school always networks with other schools and this enhances healthy competition.
It is always good to learn from others. A school which operates in isolation may not notice its mistakes. We pray that the disturbed school calendar will be synchronised soon. CLEANLINESS
Every human being is born with a “seed” of cleanliness. In other words every human being is born with the potential to be clean. We are all naturally inclined towards cleanliness.
Even a little baby feels uncomfortable when filthy. He will cry until he is cleaned up. It is no wonder that we have a saying that CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS. Now if we look at the converse we will say DIRT IS NEXT TO .. ...
What I am trying to say is that every human being should feel uncomfortable with dirty surroundings.
By the time children start school they will have already learnt from parents how to use the bathroom and leave it clean enough for the next user.
The children will have already learnt from parents how to take care of the hardware like taps, sinks and toilet pans. The teachers just add on the knowledge that the children already have.
Situations where a tap is repaired in the morning and broken in the evening by some pupils are unfortunate. If only we can get our children and even adults to understand that we don’t need to wait for people to die of cholera to start cleaning our surroundings.
If everyone was doing their work properly in terms of proper garbage disposal, collection and processing we were not going to disturb the school calendar.
If sewer taps were undisturbed and repaired with drinking water well taken care of at both national and home level, then the school calendar wouldn’t have been disturbed by the cholera outbreak.
If each one owned a toilet,
We should all learn a lesson from this outbreak of cholera. A lot of things could have been prevented if everyone took responsibility and did what was expected of them. Cleaning, sanitising, tidying up etc should be an ongoing procedure whether one is at school, at home, in the shop, on the street, in the bus and indeed anywhere else.
which is possible in this day and age, then the school calendar wouldn’t have been disturbed by the cholera outbreak. If there was no unnecessary rural urban migration, the school calendar wouldn’t have been disturbed by the cholera outbreak.
I can go on and on but the important thing is to learn a lesson from this embarrassing experience. VANDALISM
It sounds funny to talk about vandalism in schools. One would think that the education that the children receive would help them to take care of school infrastructure especially the ablution block which is crucial in terms of the school being certified clean enough to open.
Should all toilet pans be broken within an hour of being replaced? Should water pipes and taps be guarded 24/7 upon installation? What do these little ones do in order to break so many things?
The elders who steal water pumps and water tanks from schools have no words that can match their description. It is evil to disadvantage a school by vandalising its property.
You never know who will learn at that same school in future. It could be your grandchild. Most schools which were told not to open were victims of vandalism.
Stiff penalties by school management on vandalism may help to contain it. For example if a child breaks a cistern, the parents should replace it by buying two of them. This penalty is cruel but intimidating enough. LEARNING/TEACHING MOOD
When all is said and done we have a task of bringing our children back to learning mood after they have experienced the opening and closing of schools within hours.
The disorientation that manifests from such an action of prolonged holidays is not good at all. We hope that the teachers are not demoralised as well. An acute situation of none learning mood may call for a high level motivation.
As for higher learning institutions, the situation is even worse. I know a first year student in medical school of Ndola who complained that they were about to start writing tests when they were told to go back home due to the cholera outbreak.
Since they don’t know when to open it is boring to keep studying for the tests. SOCIO-ECONOMIC ISSUES
Prolonged holidays have economic implications. Some parents are struggling economically and they suffered to find money for school fees and school requirements for children in boarding schools.
They might start using the resources that they kept for their child’s use in boarding school while waiting for schools to reopen. For example, if there is no laundry soap at home they will be forced to use the soap which was reserved for use at school when schools re-open. WAY FORWARD
We should all learn a lesson from this outbreak of cholera. A lot of things could have been prevented if everyone took responsibility and did what was expected of them.
Cleaning, sanitising, tidying up etc should be an ongoing procedure whether one is at school, at home, in the shop, on the street, in the bus and indeed anywhere else.
Looking after the environment is a divine responsibility. Lord have mercy on us! I wonder how Heaven looks like. In a future article I will write about how to catch up on lost learning time due to cholera.