Lawyer urges inclusion of national goals in teaching and learning

ALEGAL practitioner and university teacher, Wahab Shittu, has stated that aligning national goals with classroom practice would prepare students to tackle the 21 st century challenges.

He bemoaned a situation where students are made to learn in traditional school environments, stressing that this has caused delays in the development of the child’s critical skills.

Shittu spoke at the 21st speech making and prizegiving day of Doregos Private Academy themed, “Understanding the rights of a child in the 21st century education system.”

The legal practitioner disclosed that upon completion of formal education in South Africa, the national curriculum gives room for students to use science and technology to understand the world.

He said: “There is need to recognise the importance of social and emotional learning, culture, arts, health and nutrition in this century education. Despite ambitions such as these, many students continue to learn in traditional school environments where they sit at desks, passively listen to a teacher’s lecture, and memorise a limited curriculum that is further reinforced through often outdated assessment practices.

“Teachers often receive little professional support to deliver a balanced curriculum and if not updated and resourced they continue to use instructional practices that emphasises memorisation and repetition.

“Students in these settings tend to spend most of their class time bored and disengaged. In such environment, they are unable to learn at their own pace often leading to delays in the development of critical skills.”