"Despite having the world’s richest economy, the United States still struggles to make quality education accessible to many of its children..."
The above quote is an excerpt of a blog post from 2017 after Bill Gates, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, donated an astounding sum to help transform the education sector of the U.S.
Seriously, when I saw this post few days ago, the first thing that came to mind was a question: "How do you transform an already well-established system?" Let's talk.
For God's sake, schools in the U.S. appear to me as "just perfect," the way they are. For any one needing the right education to make a mark in the world today, schools in the U.S., among others are the most craved for by propects from Africa and other continents of the world.
When partly or Fully-funded scholarship openings are published, we (Africans) don't give it a second thought; such opportunities are just priceless we can't afford to miss.
We hope that we'll gain great community development and leadership insights that could be replicable in our various Nations of origin. We hold these overseas schools in high esteem because of the standard and quality they propagate. "They are just perfect, the way they are", we perceive.
But inspite of this already "established" nature we see, someone, Bill Gates, through his foundation, gave out $1.7Billion to "transform" it.
Oh yes, you read that right; $1.7 BILLION!
As I thought of this move and recalled the condition of my country's education system, I wept!
Just today, a friend sent me a clip of how she was trying to teach JSS2 students to recite the alphabets...
Yes, the alphabets, I mean:
A for Apple, B for Ball, C for Cup, D for Dog... A concept, they ought to have mastered as kindergarteners.
This move was the result of a directive by the state's authority having discovered the failed state of education in the state. The exercise is to be carried through out all classes; Js1 - Ss3...
And painful was the fact that they (the students) weren't getting it correctly. It's that terrible!
The worrying question was, "how have these students been writing and passing their basic school exams since?"
"What's now the hope for success in WASSCE they'll have to pass as prerequisite for admission in higher institutions?"
Our education system is in jeopardy and a deep mess! And instead of striving to also "transform" it by investing heavily; financially and otherwise in the necessary infrastructure to foster quality, such as:
- Restructuring the curricula to equip students with profitable skills,
- Building teachers' appraisal institutes to ensure only qualified teachers teach in class rooms and so on,
It's only saddening we find our government using the "insignificant" fraction of the total budget alloted to education to provide "free food" for students...
Pause: Please what's the correlation??
They do this so that after a few years, they begin to insist that this same "vibrant populace" (youth and students) have emerged to become only slothful, and waiting to get free healthcare and free housing along side the free food...
It's painful really that our governments either can't see far or have just decided not to.
Can't they see that giving FREE FOOD to IDP camps in dire need would be most appreciated than when it's given to students (usually at international schools)?
Well, at least some of us think with our heads...We know they do all of those not to fulfil their obligatory duties but to gratify their political cravings; they can't control their appetite, so they end up been misled by their greed!
That too shall soon end!
For a school, offering "full or part scholarships", and even giving "free exercise amd textbooks" to students would be well appreciated as both an "aid" and "investment" into the future.
You sef, check am na...
“Every student should get a great public education and graduate with skills to succeed in the marketplace, the role of philanthropy here is not to be the primary funder, but rather to fund pilots, to fund new ideas, to let people — it’s always the educators coming up with the ideas — to let them try them out and see what really works super well and get those to scale.”
This is how a Visionary thinks and speaks...
I just hope someone really understands the intent of this whole write-up.
Looking the other way round, we see how entertainment has been highly praised and overrated beyond education.
Most children today just hate school, for the reason that they could just hustle their ways to the top, perhaps be the next winner of the BBN show than "waste" plenty years in school, studying hard only to get lost in their mirage for a comfortable life therafter...
I'd like to let the photo below say the rest:
BBN - Big Brother Naija, is a reality T.V. show hosted in South Africa for Nigerians rated +18. Please look it up here perhaps you don't know about the show.
This whole thing just weak me, I swear!...😢
Disclaimer: @tomset do not own any copyrights for photos used. They were randomly downloaded from the internet. Thanks.
