OPINION: Teachers need to be considerate, learners still adjusting to school routine
Each morning I hear children in my neighbourhood crying or running around with their parents because of their reluctance to go to school. This is understandable since even adults would need a lot of counselling and psychosocial support to adjust after the unprecedented two-year break triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Despite the prevailing circumstances, some teachers have failed to adjust to the current situation. For them, it is business as usual. Some are handling the minors with an iron hand forgetting that they have been out of school for two years, which calls for a change in tactics to get the children back to the learning mode.
This is the time for the teachers to dust their notes on pedagogical skills and find better ways to handled learners instead of resorting to physical punishment. Many children shying away from school are running away from physical punishments, harassment and harsh language by the teachers. Some children have outgrown their classes and needed to be handled with extra care. I know children who have feigned illness to stay away from schools just because of being threatened by teachers.
This is not the time for teachers to act mean and tough. It is time for the teachers to wear their best smiles and parental hat to help the learners to adjust to the class environment after a very long break. Fairly to do is likely to worsen, the problem of school dropouts as many children might actually runway. School managers need to pay keen attention to what is happening. Parents should also be alert for any warning signals to work with teachers to help the learners to adjust accordingly.
The author Ahmed Wetaka is a journalist
