Wednesday 10 January 2018

Is This That Easy?

I have found many people take teaching young learners a very casual affair. When I excitedly share the idea of opening my own school to teach little children they frown and give their opinions with surprise “Ae…bhura bhurilai padhaune aba?”; “Testa bhuralai padhauna ta ke chha ra?” or some even say, “PhD garera pani testa sigane ketaketi lai padhaune ra?”

It is as if teaching young children is not a ‘real’ job at all; apparently anybody can do it. This is further confirmed by those people who come to my door asking for a job to teach at my school even though they are not sufficiently qualified. A World Education report indicates that there are around 250 million primary school age children worldwide that lack a standard basic foundation of knowledge although almost half of them are in school. There are several research studies conducted in different countries which show that many children spend two or three years in school without learning to read a single word. Why is this case?

Obviously, one of the main reasons is the recruitment of less qualified teachers at early grades, as the same World Education report says that in northern Nigeria, for example, 78 per cent of 1,200 basic education teachers were found to have “limited” knowledge of English after taking a reading comprehension test and correcting sentences written by a 10-year-old. The situation is not much different in Nepal either. For instance, there was a study conducted by the government of Nepal in partnership with the US government to assess reading ability of students from grades one to three in community schools and the findings were not encouraging because a substantial percentage of students were not able to read even a single Nepali word correctly; and teachers are massively blamed for this. 

The early years are the most formative years for children when they need to get enough exposure which can help them to shape their future life. It is said that greater investment in educating children in early grades will lead to more positive results. It is unfortunate for developing countries like ours where the teachers who teach at lower grades are the least qualified. How can students achieve broad knowledge and skills when they are being taught by teachers with limited knowledge and inadequate teaching skills? 

Teachers must not only master the subjects they teach; they must also be aware of contemporary issues and they must develop strong teaching skills to impart the lessons to students. We know that the early years are a strong basis on which children’s later learning depends. Therefore all concerned people should make sure that children at this stage get every opportunity to flourish in all possible aspects.

For this, they need well qualified teachers who are informed about child psychology, learning and teaching theories and most importantly they must understand individual student’s learning needs and teach addressing those needs. In my opinion, it is a wrong belief that one should not be qualified enough to teach little children or anyone can enter the class because it is easy to teach bhuraburi. If not more, the early grade teachers should also be as equally qualified as the teachers who teach at upper grades.
(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Friday, Dec. 22, 2017 
[The pictures on this blog are posted here with permission from their owners or have been gathered from various sources on the Internet. If you are the copyright-holder to any of the photographs herein do not hesitate to contact me. They will be swiftly removed if desired so.]



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I would appreciate any and all suggestions on making improvements (as long as they are viable).