…Critics say, ‘children are being over-schooled’
The long vacation as it is usually referred to presents the students and teachers the best opportunity to be off school work for about eight weeks in Nigeria.
Summer holiday comes with the challenge of ensuring that children do not lose grasp of what they had learnt in school and/or deviate into unwholesome acts.
To avoid idle moments, and ensure schools make some money to foot teachers’ salaries during the holidays, many schools come up with the idea of summer lessons.
However, many stakeholders and experts in the education sector have argued that it amounts to overburdening the children.
Olusola Balogun, civil servant argues that subjecting children into another academic activities some few days after the end of the school session is counterproductive.
“This to me, is all about how schools’ owners can make money for their personal interest. A school in my estate is charging parents N15,000 per child, imagine how much the owner will be harvesting with 100 children in attendance.
“The government should do something about this, but unfortunately, the government is either weak or partners in the crimes; don’t forget that many private schools are owned or co-founded with politicians,” she said.
Balogun advocates that the children be allowed some resting time to engage in other life-enhancing activities such as vocational or technical skills acquisition to give them a balanced learning experience growing up.
“To develop a holistic child, such a child must be taught skills besides academic works,” she noted.
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Oyebola Ajetoro, an education consultant, sees the summer holidays as a period basically for mental rest for children after a whole session of learning, waking up early to meet up with school bus or the school assembly, the long trek for others and many other factors.
However, she said due to pressure of the economy on parents, and also bearing in mind the forthcoming school bills, that the new session holds, most parents barely permit their children stay an extra day at home after the vacation day, hence, the idea of summer school.
“Summer vacation for children should not only be educational-centred, the holiday can be optimised with several activities which can nurture the child for the tomorrow.
“This is a period whereby the children can have hands-on training on their choice vocation like tailoring, shoe making, hairdressing and many more,” she said.
In addition, she said; “Now, children are having the advantage of enjoying more of tech with the development of coding/robotics and many more. All these still cut across the domains of learning (cognitive, affective, and psychomotor) just as it is done in the classroom setting.
“Summer lesson is ideal if it is channeled to the other needs of a child excluding that received within the four walls of the school.”
Blessing James, a teacher, said during summer holidays, children should be encouraged to learn new things both academically and socially.
“It is an opportunity to develop social skills. Schools organise field trips, science expositions, art and crafts- weaving of different things such as caps, pullovers, and table cloth, among others.
“Dying of different patterns on clothes, baking and introducing children to robotics which is the in- thing now. Children are free to express themselves, learning is done with ease. The pressure of adhering to the strict curriculum pattern is gone,” she said.
Besides, James reiterated that summer holidays should also be a period when children are given a glimpse of what they would do in the first few weeks of the new session.
According to her, “This makes them confident when they get back to school. During summer lessons, reading classes can be organised to help improve literacy skills children and build them to have love for reading.
Since, summer lessons are done during the holidays, organisations like Red Cross Society, LAWMA, Fire Service, pharmaceutical companies, and other non-governmental organisations can have sessions with the children on different pressing issues bothering on their general wellbeing and how it always affects the society.”
James believes such acts would help curb crimes and vices to the barest minimum during the holidays, since the children are engaged with productive ventures.
Abiola Omosebi, a teacher, said: “Let me use myself as example even as a teacher; I enrolled my kids only once throughout their basic education and I discovered that it’s just a waste of time, as I’m privy to an information that most schools use the proceeds to pay teachers July and August salaries which is usually half payment.
“In addition, I believe it’s a time for the pupils to rest, learn a skill, travel to the village or outside their environment, and bond with parents.”
Blessing Ema, a teacher, frowned at the fact that things are not well-aligned in the Nigerian ways of maximising summer holidays.
“During the summer holidays, families should create time to bond with their children instead of the usual jumping out for work, parents should have time for devotion with their children.
“Besides, they should make out time to check what their children are doing with their gadgets to avoid allowing them being exposed to immoral values.
“I think engaging the children in vocational skills acquisition is ideal; everything shouldn’t be about academic; children should rest from brain works and engage in craft works,” she said.
