Deal with backyard schools

unregistered or backyard schools. The phenomenon has become so popular that every other street in the high-density suburbs of major cities has an unregistered school or a makeshift school offering extra lessons to children in the area.
So common are scenes of children with satchels and no uniforms seated behind a house listening to some dubious teacher delivering unplanned lessons.
These backyard education facilities range from a small class to small colleges, but have one thing in common – they are not registered.
Educationists argue that this phenomenon, that started during years of the harsh economic climate by the so-called enterprising teachers, should surely be brought to an end to ensure that it does not continue to put a dent on the country’s education system.
A lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University Zimbabwe Godfrey Museka says unscrupulous people were now reaping off parents as they have hijacked this demand for education.
That can only be permitted in a system that is failing to step its foot down and direct the education of its people and the country needs not to be drifting that way.
As such the Government should with haste move in to stop instances where students are crammed in a house still under construction with no proper ablution facilities.
The current environment where teaching is taking place anywhere other than school environment calls for authorities to move in to help protect parents’ hard-earned money that is being drained for no tangible benefit.
Clearly backyard schools are threatening to destroy the orderly education ystem of the country and the Ministry of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture needs to stop the rot.
Because of inaction by the education authorities such schools are mushrooming in each and every high-density suburb in Harare and other areas. They are taking advantage of the country’s challenges in availing infrastructure at existing schools and construction of new schools owing to the biting illegal sanctions.
Government should thus move in fast to outlaw these schools as most of the individuals have seen an easy way of stealing people’s hard-earned cash yet giving no value to the children and the country.
In most instances these backyard schools are not teaching the approved syllabus and in the recommended period while no care is taken to ensure that the teachers are providing pupils with correct material for their age. In some instances pupils in different grades are taught the same staff. That is destroying the child and cannot be allowed to continue.
With the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture moving to improve the monitoring of registered schools, now that the availability of resources is improving, Government should not leave this blemish on the school system to continue. Though Government is still battling to provide education facilities to children, this should never be taken as a licence to abuse children and operate schools that are not in conformity with the country educational policy.
The declaration by the ministry that the vehicles procured for district educational officers will also be used to monitor the operations of illegal schools and improving the quality of education should thus be followed with action. Implementation of the idea would ensure that Government does contain the indiscipline brought about the advent of backyard schools.
It is thus critical that Government acts now to ensure that they disabuse parents of the notion that it is fashionable for a child to enroll with some private teacher to enhance performance in school.
In the same line Government should make it mandatory that anyone intending to provide extra lessons must be a qualified teacher and associated with some registered Government or private school. This will ensure proper monitoring of remedial lessons and that pupils get the best out of the money paid.
As the Deputy Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Lazarus Dokora argues, the children in such backyard schools are being rushed through concepts by unqualified people who are doing it for money and not for the love of the profession.
As such a syllabus that is supposed to run for a year was being done in a term.
Parents are to blame for placing the trust of education of their children in the hands of people they know are not qualified. They need to be taught what to expect from a school, something that is clearly lacking.
The mushrooming of these backyard schools has resulted in children being forced to attended school eight hours daily, leaving them with no time to play and involve themselves in other activities that help grow their mind.
It is within this line that the recent de-registration and closure of 124 unregistered colleges by Government is appropriate. The bulk of the colleges were operating illegally offering diplomas and certificates from international colleges.
While these institutions could have come as a welcome development for secondary school graduates offering practical skills necessary for self-employment such as computers, bricklaying and sewing, they need to be properly registered to ensure that we maintain quality.

 

 

 

 

Educational experts argue in as much as the country is battling to absorb the thousands of graduates that are being churned out by the school system it imperatives that a certain level of quality be maintained.
They argue that the school system was under threat from these backyard school and colleges that are often employing unqualified people to teach the children.
Those intended to participate in the education of the country are welcome but should always follow registration procedures set and recognized by the country educational bodies and offer examinations that are approved by the system.
The advent of backyard schools together with the phenomenon of extra lessons goes to the root of reduced funding to education sector.
But with increasing funding being direct to education system, it is critical that measures be put in place do away with the lawlessness that has crept into the system as the two have become means of extracting money from parents.
There is a general agreement among education stakeholders that backyard schools are unnecessary and hence should be taken of the country’s education system.