Wednesday 30 January 2013

Locked Out of School

There are some great new initiatives being implemented by new CEO's in various ministries here in Samoa.  Some of them I have found were pretty good and am quite interested in seeing how they pan out.  One particular initiative that I find a little contradictory is where all students at Government schools will be sent home if they arrive at school after 9:30 am.  Ok, I see that this is trying to curb tardiness at school but at the same time it is giving students a reason to be late.  If I were in high school and didn't want to got to school all I would have to do is hang around at the bus stop until 9:30 then rock up to school  and get sent home and have a reason as to why I am not at school.

Obviously that is the devious rascal side of me that no other teenager would ever dare think of doing.  But teenagers these days have a lot of responsibilities at home and if they have a legitimate reason like taking a parent to the hospital or the dentist surely they should not be penalized for showing up to school late and wanting to learn.

The whole point of having free schooling for primary and secondary students in Samoa is to encourage them to get out and get an education so that they are able to make a better living and increase the standards of living for themselves and their families.

Tardiness is but a minute issue when it comes to getting our students into schools.  Perhaps the introduction of truancy officers whose sole responsibility is to police the streets and bringing students who are purposely skipping school to their respective schools would be more helpful?

Again people always see the faults in new initiatives and sometimes need to just hold back on giving criticism to see where it may take us, but I feel in this case there really is no point to it.  If a child is late put them on detention, don't give them a reason to skip school.

No comments:

Post a Comment