There is a well-known own adage that goes: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
The phenomenon whereby Matric learners in Gauteng schools, especially in Mamelodi schools go to school every day of the week is a classic example of the above adage.
From Monday to Monday these Matriculants, including grade 10 and eleven learners at some schools, can be seen carrying their satchels and heading to their respective schools.
For the past year or so I have been trying to get Basic Education spokesperson Steve Mabona to explain how this phenomenon came about and whether its feasibility was scientifically researched.
Up to now he has failed to respond to my queries and when I learned that Matriculants will be sitting for their final exams later this month, I decided to jot down a few words with the hope of sparking debate among you as readers.
I asked Mr Mabona on several occasions without success as to whether education specialists or psychologists were consulted and what their recommend were regarding the “everyday schooling” phenomenon.
I then had to resort to my personal layman’s observation in this regard and I have come to the conclusion that “everyday schooling” is not suitable to all learners because some of them end up being “book drunk” after studying hard every day for close to 11 months including on public holidays.
During this period of “studying hard” what happens is that they don’t get to engage in other aspects of life except studying for their exams.
They don’t go to church any longer, they don’t go to weddings and funerals, they don’t party, they don’t play sports, they don’t go to the movies or soccer matches as all that they are engrossed with is to “study hard” for their exams.
It is my opinion that this scenario conversely makes them dull young men and women as they become stereotypical, one-dimensional characters.
And I am sure that many of you dear readers would readily concur with me that the overall aim of education is to help learners to become wholesome, rounded human beings rather than handicapped individuals who can’t multi-task or improvise when the need to do so arises.
After eventually qualifying as professionals in various fields in the long run, these learners won’t live in a world where they will be stuck to their professions 24 hours a day for the rest of their lives.
As lawyers, doctors, accountants, teachers and scientists, they will for instance be compelled to run an amatuer boxing or soccer club, be chairperson of an advocacy group, run for local or national elections as political candidates, be chairpersons of a church group or run a charitable NPO.
So why not prepare them now to multi-task in life instead of turning them into bookworms.
Some people that I spoke to regarding “everyday schooling” told me that this phenomenon is actually not a government education policy, that it is merely a discretion of various provincial education departments, school districts and individual schools, but the Gauteng Education Department knows about this phenomenon and supports it openly.
Those in favour of this phenomenon opined that it keeps learners away from the streets, helps them to concentrate on their studies and eventually this improves the Matric pass rate.
But this one-size-fits-all approach is detrimental to some learners, because after writing their final examinations they become mentally exhausted and no longer want anything to do with studying or educational matters and they instead resort to what is popularly known as a “gap year,” whereby they don’t further their studies at all in the year that follows immediately after their Matric year.
This applies even to learners who have passed their exams well with several distinctions.
And some of them never ever get to further their studies at all as they end up working at some retail or restaurant and after getting used to being paid a salary, they no longer possess the desire to further their studies.
Some girl learners among them end up being pregnant during the gap year and as they are now parents, their responsibilities make it impossible for them to further their studies.