It goes without doubt that one of the most honourable role/job in every society is the role teachers play, though I would not consider it to be the most admirable. They are individuals empowered to perform the role of enlightening populace of any civilised society, a living antidote to eradicate the influence of illiteracy. It is a profession that has been in existence for generations, to some it is a career path, to some it is a duty they are passionate about, while to some it is a job that comes with a pay cheque. Regardless of which of the following it is the role of teachers remains the same, impact knowledge, discipline and formal education.
As noble as the profession is it doesn't signify that it is all teachers in their various disciplines that qualifies to be one, you can't impact what you don't have but despite that we still have qualified teachers in the system. Not all schools out there can afford to employ teachers with good recommendations and degrees but they try as much as possible to employ anyone they believe is capable of impacting knowledge on students, anyone with as low as secondary school certificate. It is something I have witnessed in some rural communities, especially some unlabelled private schools. To an extent the level of education they impact is limited to their level of knowledge and skill which has an impact on the students but is it enough to blame a student's poor academic performance on the teachers? Honestly yes we can but not entirely, a teacher's role in it is just a piece of the puzzle.
In successfully ensuring a student's good academic performance there are three major players, Parents, environment and the teachers. I'm someone who happens to be serving as a teacher in a rural community school as part of the requirements for completion of mandatory program for all graduates in my country, a scheme known as NYSC. If I'm being honest, it is not a role I would have chosen if I had a say in the matter, which means it is a role I play but not by choice. Being in the system, as a teacher there are things I have been exposed to that I never knew existed until now. They say a writer is a sum of their experience but not just a writer, everyone is. Without deviating from the topic of discussion, you might be wondering, what does these category of people have to do with a students academic performance?
Let's pick up one at a time, Parents!!! The first agent of socialisation, a child acquires formal education from school which means a child education never began from school. There are other things that exist within the process of a child's acquisition of knowledge the aspect of Informal education. A child is just a blank slate when they are born, they start learning things from their parents little by little which forms their cognitive understanding of the world and anything that matters. Eventually they come of age, for parents that values education and can afford it they put their child in the educational system, a school. A system built/structured to assist children in acquiring formal education.
Even at that, a child still comes home everyday from school to their parents, which means they spend more time with their parents than in school. Having said that, the parents are empowered with responsiblity of ensuring that their children does their assignment, read their books, observe any area they are lacking and come up with possible solutions to improve their child's academic performance even if it means registering them for extra lessons or contacting the school. How many parents does this?
A picture taken during a sensitisation exercise
It goes without doubt that a parent pay a school to educate their children/child but it doesn't change the fact that a child's welfarism is still the responsibility of parents. Nowadays we have parents who have completely neglect this duty, leaving their child at the mercy of others judgment. At the end, a child can have many teachers, schools but a child only belongs to one parent. Which means a parent and their child will always be the ones to reap the consequences of the parents neglect. So why can't a parent take up their responsibility before it gets worst?
The environment, it could be anywhere, a place, community, town a child lives. Like I said earlier I currently teach in a community school in a rural community. The thing about this community is that they value farming than any other thing, they consider it their only means of survival. Only few parents allow their children to attend schools, while the rest prefer to send their children to farm without the privilege of acquiring formal education. The ones privilege to go to school don't really care about their studies, all they care about is to acquire O'level certificate and after that it is the end, only about 3% of the students population care about continuing their academic pursuits.
The government try as much as possible to provide the community free education which includes free books, though it isn't enough but the little they are given they barely even touch it, I can't remember the last time I saw any student in the library. Their academic performance is so poor, only very few students can speak good English in the entire community. Majority of the students hate participating in academic exercise but whenever the school ask them to cultivate or harvest the school farm, they become very excited.
A picture taken during farming exercise
Farming is the only life they know and care about, it is an impediment that has been placed on them by their environment. In a situation like this a teacher can only try their best, I mean how would you impact knowledge on students who are not willing to learn. Even their parents and the community are not really helping matters, illiteracy is like a god in this community, they don't fear it, they embrace it. Places like this exist all around the world, so tell me what is the fault of the teacher in this situation? A teacher is just a tool for impacting knowledge, what we can do when there are other forces at play? So why not focus on the Source of the problem instead of blaming the tool.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "The teacher's fault" in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
Image 1 - Source
All images used are mine or else indicated otherwise
