The Don'ts are costing us a generation

Is it coming to a time where we will speak of the days when we went to school as legends to the children that are in our loins now?

The Don'ts are costing us a generation

 God forbid, that the joy of peer gathering, the pureness of friendship and socialisation will be held at bay.

Shall we be narrating the, “I before you saga?” and narrating how school is one of the best experiences one can ever get. One gets to relate with all sorts of characters as destiny aligns, friends, business partners and future spouses probably. It is the time we get to know one’s character without any veil, as compared to the social media replicas. Fun wasn't suspicious, different schools visited each other and competed in debate, sports, only to mention but a few. Parents encompassed round the pitch cheering on their children as the school cheer leaders stood behind the goal posts of the opponent goal keeper and sang all manner songs to frustrate him such that their strikers could net the ball. Victory was a team work effort between the on-field participants, other students and the parents. What a joy to remember! The bonds which were developed lining up for porridge at breakfast or during study trips are surely stronger than those which will ever be developed via Zoom and Google class.

Having said that, only the lucky few have had access to the online classes due to lack of accessibility to gadgets and the overly charged data to access internet. It is funny watching a child in kindergarten jumping in front of a phone during the "Physical Education" lesson or class, you heard me well, physical education lessons are held online. YouTube videos are played during classes rather than the all involving singing and dancing. What has continuously happened is a total wastage of time and resources. Those with access to online classes can't be promoted to the next class and we can't say they are still students of the classes they occupied before a royal decree that has since made them sit at home. We simply have no particular academic class. So what happens to those who haven't had the same privileges? They have resorted to working with their parents, working in markets, some have married or gotten married off and others turned to work as house helps. There will be a task difficult in likeness to collecting water in a woven basket; to re-channel such children back to school. This steadily will give us a nation depleted of human resource to drive us to the goals we really crave.

Culture is what defines us, we have learnt our norms through peer to peer, the legends in different communities carry moral values and in turn warn the children about different manner of things. It is a pity that our teens are rather “keeping up with the Kardashians” and they know all about them than the beads story of Gipiir and Labong which teaches them the dangers of being attached to material things, among other lessons.

Life can be compared to a plant undergoing transpiration, the water lost to the environment is continuously replaced with that drawn by the roots from a filled pool under the soil. The fully grown plants give seed to which they provide shelter until those very seeds become young plants which replace the plants phasing out. This ensures life continuity and legacy preservation, generation across the other. The choices that the adults are making today are detrimental to the generations to come. Continued school closure means a deficiency of a pool that feeds the professional world. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers and all other professionals will have to work past retirement age because there won't be suitable replacements. The next in line will be under equipped for the job because at the time they had to gain physical exposure, skills and experience, the lawmakers decided that it wasn't safe to gather physically.

Someone out of excitement and imagined gains suggested that the president should be awarded an honorary doctorate in medicine for fighting Covid-19 but what should we award him for the sustained negative impact of denied access to education? Education is important no matter the form, it's how we can manage to manoeuvre and survive. We know how to, what to, where to, when to, and why to because someone taught us! My heart wails for the lawless, under skilled community that this mandated life will culminate into. Have a little concern for the little ones, open the schools now.

WRITTEN BY: DERIC HOPE LWASA.

The writer is a member of the National Christian Students Association. (NCSA Youth)