Upcountry insight: How ready are students for the new school term?

EASTERN PROVINCE The first term has begun, coming days after the festive season. Yesterday a good number of students and pupils reported back to their respective schools. Many of the young eager faces looked fresh for a new beginning. At the parks, students could be seen smiling as they struggled with their luggage to secure themselves places on buses and taxis that would take them to their schools. Unfortunately, the beginning has coincided with fuel scarcity and raising taxi fares. It is really touching to see students caught up in this situation and spending more on transport than they had originally budgeted. In spite of all this our concerns are whether parents have done enough to prepare their children for the new school term. Have they sent children back with school dues, to avoid being interrupted in the course of the term? Many schools across the country if not all have increased fees in order to meet the day today running expenses and it remains a question whether the parents are ready to meet the increment. Unless school head teachers heed the advice of the state Minister of primary and secondary Education Joseph Murekeraho, not to increase tuition, without consulting parents, then many parents will be caught unawares; which may make it hard for them to meet the increment and other necessities. Like being able to meet the school requirements, another point of concern as students resume school is discipline. When students break off for holidays, the teachers get a break from ensuring discipline among learners and it remains the duty of parents to ensure proper behaviors of their children and to guide them accordingly. However, some children pick up certain poor habits during holidays due to laxity of their parents. Due to different backgrounds, teachers should be able to mark such behavior changes. During holiday, students are not only supposed to rest, relax and interact with relatives, but also to polish what they learnt at school by comparing notes and ideas with others. It’s therefore, hoped that parents accorded their children more time because during holidays they have enough time to consult widely. Only recently a campaign was launched by minister Murekeraho, to deal with indiscipline cases among students. As part of the campaign, it was decided that the school disciplinary committees would be mandated to follow up indiscipline cases among learners; by inspecting and reviewing student conduct on a daily basis. The move comes shortly after Parliament’s Commission revealed prevalence of Genocide ideologies in several upcountry schools. Students should abhor such ideologies as a matter of urgency. There is absolutely no reason for the country to waste its resources educating people harboring ideologies that plunged the country into mayhem. Disciplinary committees in schools should not wait for cases to be reported to them but should try to track students and or teachers sowing hatred among others. It also calls for everybody’s input including parents and teachers to achieve the intended objectives of the disciplinary committee. The committees on the other hand have to encourage the students to report any signs of bad manners because as it advances to higher levels, it turns from being merely unruly conduct to extreme misconduct. What generates contention is whether children learn Genocide ideology from schools; through constant interactions with fellow students, or they pick them from home. Nevertheless, it should be the work of educators to cultivate discipline among learners and eradicate any of these bad ideologies that may have crept into these young minds, bearing in mind that the youths are the future leaders of the country. Ends