Anne Robi: A NON-PROFIT civil society organisation, HakiElimu, has commended the government’s move to reopen schools at the end of this month, saying this will help protect children’s right to education.
In addition, the organisation urged the government to frame a friendly learning timetable that will help students and pupils catch up and readjust after months of missed classes.
HakiElimu Executive Director, Dr John Kalaghe, said this while officiating at an online forum on how the school system accommodates the negative impact of Covid-19 on learning.
The forum that brought together education experts and child rights activists was organised by HakiElimu to mark International African Child marked every June 16.
“It is good for the government and other stakeholders to draw up plans that will help students and pupils catch up and readjust to compensate the classes missed once they return to school,” he said.
Dr Kalaghe said challenges caused by the coronavirus (Covid- 19 ) pandemic should be an opportunity to improve and strengthen teacher-student/pupil interaction as well as teacherparent relationship with regard to learning.
“There is a key lesson we have learnt during this time of Covid-19 when schoolchildren were forced to stay at home. It’s high time we put in place specific guidelines on how parents can be part of the child’s mandatory learning process,” he said.
Dr Kalaghe explained that there was a need for the government to ensure the curriculum and syllabus in schools contained a section that emphasised the mandatory relationship between parents and children’s learning.
“We also suggest to investment adequately in the use of information communication technology (ICT) in teaching and learning. We must come up with a way of how schools can utilise ICT in an appropriate way to teach and help students and pupils learn,” he said.
He also noted that the challenges caused by the pandemic should be an opportunity for the government and stakeholders to draw up plans that could help improve child protection at home and in school.
Speaking during the forum, child rights activist Evans Rwamhuru said the school management should put in place facilities that would help protect children from the spread of coronavirus, as well as prepare schools to respond to a second wave of the pandemic in case it reoccurred.
Commenting on International Day of African Child, the HakiElimu boss said the day should be used to think and reflect on traditional education challenges to Africa and lessons brought about by the spread of the coronavirus.
AfricaPress-Tanzania
