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Education, the call for everyone

The Ugandan education system has become more pathetic than before. The reasons are rather anonymous, which however, may not be discussed in this presentation. Great a number of youths have graduated and not got where to fit for a living. As a result, most of those still pursuing academics have lost morale. They have tended to give less effort to their studies, and this has affected their performance more.

The argument that formal education is useless, as some youths say due to the skyrocketing unemployment even to the highly qualified is void, yet to say that it has become less relevant to the needs of these youths cannot scamper our conscience incognito. Formal education may not as quick enter you into an employment opportunity, but sure enough it will at one point in time. A person who is educated is not equal to one who is not. You cannot have chances to the same opportunities. Having other skills informally or non-formally is a great advantage that is only seen by formal education qualifications. These papers act as mirrors that link the former to their positions.

Some students have given a cold shoulder to the work of class after seeing what happens in the outside world; this is wrong. Every dog has its own day. We must be more focused. As mentioned earlier, you may be having a number of skills outside formal education but your employer can only see them after you have submitted your formal education documents. Do you not wonder why some government employees have proven incompetent as compared to other people outside that office? But then what is the difference? The former was employed because that is what their formal documents showed, whereas the latter remains outside that office because no one could see his competencies. The advantage for this is when you have those skills in addition to your formal documents, your boss would see you as an excellent employee and there your reputation is built.

We have very good mechanics around the country but they are not working in the government. There are more excellent constructors that are not employed by the government or by big companies. These are just a few of those we can talk about. We have also seen many people becoming so excellent at their work places and winning their bosses’ favour simply because they have these extra skills; this is only realised at work and this work must have been attracted by some qualifications. We can conclude that formal education is one of the greatest first qualifications to attract you into a job opportunity, in which you will be able to exploit any other skills that you may be having, and less of this, the other skills and competencies are hardly recognized unless you employ yourself.

As you equip yourself with important skills in areas like leadership, entrepreneurship or business skills, communication skills, carpentry and others, paying more attention to academics is needed. You cannot ignore school or class work with an imagination that there are no jobs for you.

To do this well, however, there are three major parties to play their vital roles; the student as the first beneficiary, parents as the initiators and teachers as the administrators and guides into what is planned to be delivered to students.

A parent who pays fees sacrifices a lot for their child to be at school. Despite the economic situation, they do that with expectations of a bright future for their child or themselves too. It is an opportunity cost that is taken with pain because there are a number of more lucrative ventures they can actually invest in like buying land, building rentals, and other short term profitable businesses like operating a shop, hotel, and others. The decision to instead invest in their children is therefore a show case for their much love to their children.

A child who does less of what is expected of them and therefore fails or attains less than the expected is rather, to my opinion, a typical hypocrite to their parent. Any child in school should reflect on the fact that there are other children on streets and back home that pray and fast for that opportunity to be at school but all in vain. Fate has put them there. Why should you play with your academics and tomorrow work for these very children in lower offices? This will be scorning and humiliating.

School should be paradise for you. I always say, whereas in other western countries where things are better, in most African countries, the only thing a “child” under the age of 20 can do to please their parents so much is pass with very good grades. Such parents will do anything to have such children get the best form them. The irony is you, failing to concentrate in academics, hence fail, and even get out without any other skill outside formal education that can sell you even to the smallest part of the world.

Teachers, who in fact take most of the children’s academic time than any other party, have a role, besides covering the syllabus, to impact the children with positive life skills. These people who take more of their early age in school have less knowledge about the real world outside. The in-charge of this impact is the teacher; their early age longest associate. They need to be exposed either through illusion, fiction or physically to this reality. They must understand that the world outside is that of work and not begging for this stops when they leave school. That one must eat from their sweat and no other option. That the world punishes laziness and negative attitude towards work harshly. That the core value for survival there is respect for everyone and everything; humility and hard work is virtue.

The children must know that being out of school is not being out of hell; it is not necessarily getting a job or good life; the opposite may be true but in addition to the above values, patience is key. All these, a teacher can do in their creativity; the trust the children and society have in you is not in vain.

All in all, considering what Sydney J. Harris says, “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows” and John Dewey says “Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself,” we must not give up. We can only change this world with this tool; Mandela was right. Parents must continue investing in our children, not by only paying fees but also by finding out and guiding their focus, punishing the evil in them and not leaving it to teachers alone, children must work to attain the best and teachers must do beyond what the syllabus dictates. Here, we shall attain the best by doing the same thing differently.