AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers Each has an online edition Right at the outset, let us be clear: we do need schools, no question Covid has taught us that unequivocally Covid has given us the opportunity to look at schools differently and it has clearly shown us that we need schools but not for the reason that we always thought We have sent our children to school, all down the ages, for the academics, for the qualifications, for the knowledge, yet Covid has shown us that we do not actually need to send them to school for that; children can learn such things on-line, off-campus, in small groups That is not why we need schools Quite simply, profoundly, definitely, we need schools for the social development of the children Such things cannot be learned from books, from the internet, in solitude They develop by being together This was reinforced a short while ago at a Conference of Heads where they indicated that there was no theme for the Conference; after being denied the opportunity of having a Conference for several years they simply saw it as a crucial opportunity for them to “celebrate being together” again In truth, that declaration is a perfect summary of what schools should be about Schools, indeed education as a whole, is to be a celebration of being together Firstly, therefore, school life should be a constant one of celebration We love celebrations and will take every opportunity to celebrate birthdays, marriages, anniversaries, graduations, promotions, special achievements Schools also love to celebrate special occasions, be they Open Days, Speech Days, Assemblies, victories and more To celebrate is to honour, to express appreciation, to recognise the importance, and those are all necessary and life-giving — far more than instilling knowledge Celebrations are joyous, fun, positive occasions, and school should be all about that every day — not dull, boring or negative We look for reasons to celebrate and yet every day there is plenty to celebrate Schools must celebrate — not the ‘Whats’ (results and resources) but the ‘Whys’ (vision and values) Let us make schools into places of constant celebration of life and hope Secondly and more specifically, education should be a celebration of being Currently, schools are all about doing (in the false understanding that the more we do, the more good we must be doing), about achieving (pushing and promoting our results, both academic and sporting), about working and studying The essence of “being” is of life (which speaks more of values than victories), of the present (not the past or the future) and of the person (the All Black mantra of “a better person makes a better player” is true also of pupils, parents, employers) We must celebrate the individuals as they are and assist them to be better people, not least alongside other people Thirdly and more crucially, education must be a celebration of being together Schools are places where we learn to engage, understand, support, lead, follow the vital “soft skills” We cannot live outside community after school so we must learn to live in unity within the school community Children come to school to learn to live with other children, to accept responsibility for their actions within the greater community, to work with others They need to learn about humanity and humility, about service and responsibility, about compassion and competition They must learn not to be dependant but also not to be independent — rather inter-dependent As the teacher quotes the poet Thoreau, who stated that “most men lead lives of quiet desperation” so there is a danger that we are leading schools of “quiet desperation” We must seize the day and look at education differently In short, who we are speaks more loudly than what we do — when will we ever grasp that It might help to stand on our desk — not sit behind it Then celebrate together Source: The Independent All Zim News is a central hub for all things Zimbabwean, curating news from across the country so no story is missed Alongside aggregation, our team of nationwide reporters provides real-time, on-the-ground coverage Stay informed and connected — reach us at admin@allzimnews.com. Source: Theindependent
