The minister of Education and Sports, Janet Kataha Museveni yesterday instructed pre-primary, primary and day secondary schools to ensure that pupils end the day by 5.00PM. The minister also wondered why a nursery kid needs to be in class as early as 5.00 am. She said government is going to enforce this directive. Her concerns, shared by this columnist, form the subject of today's tough questions.
***************************************************************************************************
- Why should a nursery pupil, three years old, be in school at 5.00 am?
- Are they going to study, play or sing nursery rhymes?
- How do school owners or the school management gain by having children early in school?
- Do school proprietors/managers mind about the mental and psychological growth of pupils or they are just after money?
- Do they realise that children are human beings that need enough rest?
- Are they using our children as pawns in their quest to excel academically and thus attract more pupils?
- Does going to school early or studying longer hours have any correlation with future success of these children?
- Or put differently, will these children, who arrive in school this early, end up being astronauts or will they come up with an invention that will dramatically change the world like Facebook or Twitter?
- Will they become the next Mandelas, Barack Obamas, Sudhirs, Wavamunnos?
- Why do parents easily give in to these schemes by schools?
- Are were powerless?
- Do we fear to ruffle the feathers of school owners or that our children will be victimised if we complained?
- Why can't will all put our foot down and put a stop to this nonsense?
- Why has it taken government long to realise that this practice is harmful to children?
Tough Questions will be a regular column, raising questions on issues and events that dominate society. The column will just pose questions but not seek to answer them. That is the role of the reader. It will be published by The Nile Post every Thursday.
