Let Us Implement Pathway
Ignatious Njobvu | Monday July 30, 2018 13:10
This makes education the common denominator for all existing developments regardless of demographic factors. Keeping up with the modern trends in the educational systems is not an option. As a matter of fact, the opposite will have devastating long term effects on the lives of the population. As a continuation of the story posted a fortnight ago, we ought to critically look into our envisioned educational projects and assess the feasibility of actualisation.
Implementation is the process of breaking the lines between our dreams and reality, which is in fact the next step after coming up with the Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP). It is encouraging to learn that some projects as outlined in the strategy such as pre-primary education, training of school leadership to effectuate supervision and embedding of ICT in the daily teaching and learning has hit the ground.
Government together with the private sector ought to be appreciated for hiring IT personnel especially at primary schools and providing necessary equipment for such.
Pathway that affects mainly the secondary education is the focus of this writing. In my last submission I gave an example of Agriculture pathway, that the essence of making agriculture practical by growing crops and rearing animals on a large scale in a chosen school is the starting point.
The commissioned school must have enough land to even include basic Agriculture engineering. The school must allow for enrolment of learners who are going to focus more on Agriculture practices in addition to those who could have secured a senior secondary school placement on merit. We must not forget the recruitment of agriculture technicians and assistants who are going to be helping assess the learning activities.
I want to focus on arts and sports. The nation seems to be having so much talent in music, film making, athletics, dance, poetry, painting just to mention a few. The Makwala’s, Amantle Montsho, Lizibo’s of the future can be systematically developed and nurtured by our education system.
A properly arranged system would see a massive development in the areas of arts and sports creating employment in the process. The good part of it is that learners would be having passion for what they would be doing with prior knowledge propelling them to greater heights. How do we start putting up this good arrangement? We first need to find schools that have good sporting facilities and big enclosed halls. Mogoditshane Secondary School as an example.
Furnish them with qualified personnel and equipment necessary for them to kick start. Just as projected under the Agriculture pathway, these schools must be ready to enrol learners who would have not necessarily met the criterion laid for a senior secondary school placement but would have rather signalled the passion, talents and abilities at junior secondary school in areas of sports and arts.
Their exceptional performance at junior level should land them a place in senior secondary schools that would be pathwaying sports and arts. Critical to all this process is learner profiling at junior secondary school. Training on how to carry out diagnostic assessments to determine learner prior knowledge and abilities should be done as soon as yesterday. Teachers at this level should be in a position to provide information on individual learners on all matters including non-academia. The information will help guide placement of various students into various pathways.
In addition, it will guide policy on matters relating to pathways that need to be systematised. I am proposing speedy action on this issue.A gradual and simplistic approach to pathway implementation will render success to this vision. We can refer to such pioneering schools as centres of excellence.
A budget can be drawn for this as it will target one or two schools. It will also allow for evaluation and gap filling as we expand to other schools. At a time when we are talking economic diversification, educational pathway is key. We are to look at tourism as our next issue.
*Ignatious Njobvu is a Performance Improvement Coordinator at Maun Senior Secondary School & OBE Task Team Four Core Member.