When the glass is full, where do you add more water?

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OPINION

By Dr Grace P’ Karamura

It is an analogy that was used by one African president in reference to the fate of his people, that had been in exile for decades. Unknown to him, his rhetorical answer caused him problems.

But I am using that analogy here for a different reason. That is, the kind of education we are giving our children and its likely effect on their young minds.

Go to any part of the country, most especially in our elite schools, which are competing for limelight and grades, and you will feel for the poor pupils. By 7:00 am, sometimes 6:00 am, they are expected to be in class ready for lessons, regardless of the distance some of these children walk. In most cases, the lessons will go on until 6:00 pm, with the usual short break and lunch breaks.

For the boarders, the pupils will have had prep after supper and in some extreme cases, I understand, some schools even have preps, in the wee hours of the morning. We are talking of primary school children, some as young as 10 years old!

Unlike our time when I started Primary One at 10 years old, at such an age, they are already in Primary Six, preparing for Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).

Imagine an 11- or 12-year-old being pumped with different subjects, moreover at odd hours, from Monday to Sunday!

When I asked one of the teachers why they damage the children’s heads with such unnecessary teaching, the answer was what I really expected!

Parents now take their children to those top schools that appear in newspapers and on TV when PLE results are out. To remain competitive, most schools have to follow the trend, regardless of the effect it may have on the children.

Despite such pumping, it seems to me that the school syllabus has not changed that much from what we had in the 1970s into the 1990s. I understand that most schools mostly pump the children to finish the syllabus early enough, leaving enough time, especially Primary Seven, for revision!

Parents and teachers, as much as we are exhilarated when our children’s results come out, aren’t we really contributing to their head damage, psychologically speaking. However much we pump them, their heads are like a glass of water. There’s much water that a glass can take in and beyond that, the rest will spill over. And I think this is what is happening to our children. There is much their heads can absorb in and I bet the rest just evaporates.

Just for comparison purposes, my primary school lessons in the 1970s started at 8:30 am, 10:30 am – 11:00 am, break, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm lunch break, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm, games. This applied to all the schools countrywide. We actually had more play time in games than in the afternoon classes. In the UK, classes start at 9:00 am and end at 3:00 pm, inclusive of all other extra-curricular activities.

Children, especially at such young formative years, need enough time to be themselves, time for games and other physical activities other than being confined in classes. It is in such activities that they bond, form lifetime friendships and have their minds developed.

There are also safety issues. Drive through Lake Mburo National Park from Mbarara to Kampala. You will meet children trotting to school as early as 5:00 am. Imagine such an environment with wild animals lurking everywhere. It is even a situation of concern for our young girls. Does it really make these children more academic to be in class by 7:00 am, Monday to Sunday? Doesn’t the head need rest?

Such education will indeed produce children who may score top grades, though I am not sure that it is producing independent, all-around students at the end of the day. To preserve a whole year for revision and newspaper questions and answers must surely have some sort of effect on the whole education system.

A very interesting admission from a boarding school teacher two years ago: In his school, apparently day students tend to perform much better than the boarders.

They have some time on their way home and back to rest their heads off from books. They have time to be themselves, to cool off, to play, unlike boarders who are sent back for evening prep after supper! Why should a primary school child go for night prep? I only did serious prep in Senior Three. In addition, look at the content these children are fed on. I took time to peruse some of their textbooks, and past paper exams they do.

Truth be told, I would fail some of those papers if I were to sit an exam with them. To appreciate my concern, try to do homework with your Primary Two child! You will only be saved by Google! Education is not only what we learn or cram in class, but the whole environment around us contributes greatly to shaping us into an all-around citizen.

The writer is a Ugandan living in the UK