04/08/2017
THIS IS A BREAK. OUR KIDS TRULY DESERVE A BREAK...FROM ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES!
By Samuel Ajayi
Saw this woman yesterday (she lives a couple of houses away from ours). She usually courtesies me whenever she sees me on her way to her shop. On her way yesterday, I saw her with her two boys and I asked why they won't stay at home and she answered:
"Won n lo lesson ni sir."
To non-Yoruba speakers, it meant they were going to lesson. I then asked the woman when the kids vacated and she said last Friday. I could not help it:
"Won gba holiday ni Friday, e de n mu won lo si lesson ni Monday. Haha! Kinni won n ko gan?"
(They vacated on Friday and you are taking them to lesson on Monday. What exactly are they learning?)
This is this issue with many of us. We do not know these children need breaks from their routine (schooling) just the way we too need a break. As a shop owner, you may decide not to go to shop one day. If anyone asks you, you simply say:
"Mi o le l'oni joo. Mi o le wa ku jare." (I am not going today. I can't kill myself).
The reason is simply because our body just needs rest and a different routine for that day. This is how these kids feel too when they wake up one morning and say they don't feel like going to school. But because of their vulnerability and the fact that that decision is not entirely theirs to take, we compel them to go.
Some of these kids don't miss school once in 13 weeks they spend in a term. They are always punctual. Shouldn't they be allowed to rest during holidays? What exactly are they learning?
Going down memory lane. I remember schooling in the 70s and 80s. We were always singing:
"Holiday is coming;
No more morning bells.
No more teacher sticks.
Goodbye scholars,
Goodbye teachers,
We are going to spend
A jolly holiday."
Why can't we allow these kids to have a jolly holiday as we too used to have during our formative years. A child is not moulded by the amount of academic activities he or she is exposed to. It is a combination of so many things. No one wants a brilliant child but who is anti-social and does not know anything outside his or her text books.
If they are mature enough, they can start learning a skill. It is also part of learning.
This is a break. Please parents, give these our future glories a break they unreservedly deserve...
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