Education
Parents’ Assistance Required in doing Children’s Homework – Stakeholders
Some parents and teachers in the South-South have justified parents’ assistance to children in doing their take home assignments, saying it is not transfer of responsibilities from teachers to parents.
The parents who made the justification during a survey carried out by newsmen in the region, said the practice helped parents monitor whether or not the teachers did their work well
They also said it helped in boosting the bond between parents and children as well as enable them to monitor the performance of thier children.
A Calabar-based teacher, Mrs Margaret Ada, said that parents assisting their children and wards do take home assignments helped to create bond between the students/pupils and their parents.
“Teachers are not transferring their responsibilities to the parents by giving them take home assignments as some people think.
“The practice ensures that parents get really involved in their children’s education. Some schools have realised that some parents have no knowledge of the activities of their children in school.
“Education is a collaborative effort between teachers, parents and children. Parents just have to be involved and that is why assignments are given,” she said.
She however noted that some parents felt the assignment were sometimes far above the understanding of the child.
According to her, in such situations parents can call the attention of the teachers and this helps to boost the bond among the parties.
A parent, Mr David Akpan, said that take home assignments, no matter how difficult, was part of the teaching techniques to help students/pupils understand better.
“It is necessary for the parents to assist the children in their take home assignments. It is only a lazy and irresponsible parent that sees it as a burden,” he noted.
In Yenagoa, a parent and teacher, Mr Jonathan Epegu, said ideally such assignments were designed to ensure that children recalled what they were taught in school and make them do the assignments on their own.
“Parents are supposed to supervise their children and not do the assignments. The education of children should involve parents as well as teachers,” Epegu said.
She however said that at times, students were given take home assignments beyond their range of knowledge.
“I agree it happens. My children bring such assignments that are beyond their scheme of work,” she said.
According to Mr Maduabuchi Eziukwu, some teachers ‘overload’ children with assignments on a daily basis and over burden parents who are increasingly finding it more difficult to eke out a living.
“I only assist when children have difficulties because when you do the assignments, the children do not learn anything.
Eziukwu however said that parenting required a lot of commitment and advised that parents should create time and have interest in the educational development of their children.
Some teachers in Benin told newsmen that take home assignments were meant for students and pupils to master the topics taught in class.
Mrs Blessing Emmanuel, a teacher at a private school in the Edo capital, said no teacher would give students assignment on topics not treated in class.
“I understand the fact that some parents see the assignment given to their wards as bulky whereas it is not, she said.
For Mrs Treasure Emokpahe, a teacher, assignments are given to students to ensure they comprehend the topic very well.
She said that giving assignments to pupils and students was never a ploy to shift responsibility.
In Asaba, the proprietor, African Elite International School, Mr Ikenna Okafor, said that development of children was meant for both teachers and parents.
Okafor said giving children alignments to do at home did not amount to transferring responsibilities to parents.
“It helps the child to play less and study at home. It also helps parents to find out if the teachers are teaching their children job well.
“It helps parents find out whether their children are serious with their studies and makes the children to open up to their parents about their teachers’ bad behaviours.
“When both teachers and parents join hands together to help the child, you will find out that the child is always the best,” he said.
Also Mrs Chibuzo James, a parent said: “Every responsible parents should be able to show love to his or her children by assisting them to do assignments.
“By so doing he or she will even know how much teachers is doing in the life of his or her children.
“That a parent assists the child does not mean the teachers are transferring their duties to them,” she added.
Also, Dr. Bassey Bassey, a parent in Uyo, said that parents should be involved in the academic development of their children in order to monitor what their children and wards do in school.
“If everything the children do starts and ends with teachers, then parents will not know much about the education of their children and wards. It means they don’t keep tap on what their children do,” he said.
Bassey said if assignments were not given to children, because of their short attention span, their mind would be moved away from academics.
He said that giving of assignments did not mean transfer of responsibilities to parents, but a way to keep children busy at home.
“It is not true that some teachers have made it a habit to give students or pupils take home assignments and expect parents to solve them,” Bassey said.
Contributing, Mr Patrick Titus said children did not really need to learn from the four walls of classroom alone but also from home.
He said that parents helping their children do assignments was not out of place, adding that both teachers and parents should join hands in academic development of their children.
He noted that take home assignments helped boost the bond between children and parents.
Also speaking, Miss Iquo Uwa, a teacher at Royal Academy School, Eket, advised that assignments should be done in exercise books in which notes on the affected topics were copied.
She said that by so doing pupils could do such assignments on their own without parents assisting them.
Uwa however, said that there was nothing wrong in parents helping children to do assignments.
“It is not dodging responsibilities by teachers but parents being involved and knowing what their children are taught in school,” Uwa said.
Meanwhile, a lecturer in the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Dr Williams Wodi, says absence of monitoring and evaluation of teachers is partly the reason many teachers now outsource their scholarly responsibilities to parents.
According to him, the current trend of teachers presenting students with homework to be assisted by their parents is wrong.
He said: “In those days, zonal supervisors visited schools at least once in a month to know whether teachers are properly trained and to find out what students are taught.
“But in the absence of monitoring and evaluation, what we have masquerading as teachers nowadays are mostly auxiliary teachers who do not know classroom management procedures.
“They (teachers) simply load pupils with all manner of homework, sometimes flog them for not doing their homework and chastising the parents for not assisting the children.
“So, what teachers do now is to transfer their responsibilities to parents because they don’t understand what is expected of them.
“This is so because some teachers are not properly equipped and trained, and as such, they shift their responsibilities to parents,” he said.
He also blamed poor remuneration of teachers in the country for such “transfer of responsibilities.”
“Teaching profession in Nigeria is among the least paid whereas in a country like Finland teachers earn more than politicians, including the country’s prime minister.
“Until there is proper monitoring and evaluation, proper procedure for teaching teachers classroom management and how to evaluate students, we will continue to have what we have now,” he noted. (NAN)
A graduate of the University of Maiduguri, Shianya Ebwaseh, said the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) helped improve her Grade Point Average (GPA) to 3.50 through financial support that enabled her to concentrate on her studies.
Ebwaseh, who graduated from the Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, said this in an interview on Monday in Maiduguri.
She said financial difficulties had previously affected her academic performance, as she struggled to meet her daily needs while pursuing her degree.
The graduate said she resorted to selling fried chips and groundnuts on campus to support herself, sometimes missing lectures because of the time and energy required to run the business.
According to her, the introduction of NELFUND’s student loan scheme relieved her financial burden through tuition support and a monthly N20,000 upkeep allowance.
“Before NELFUND, I struggled with my GPA because of financial challenges. I sometimes missed lectures after spending hours frying and packaging chips for sale.
“But when NELFUND came, I stopped the business and concentrated on my studies. My GPA improved to 3.50, which is Second Class Upper,” she said.
Ebwaseh said the financial support also enabled her to attend lectures regularly, purchase learning materials and prepare adequately for tests and examinations without constant worries about money.
She added that her examination scores improved significantly after she began receiving the support, attributing the change to increased concentration and financial stability.
The graduate, who said she accessed the scheme in her third year, described the application process as simple and encouraged other eligible students to apply.
She also said the programme had helped financially disadvantaged students remain in school, particularly those whose parents could not afford tuition fees and upkeep.
Ebwaseh appealed to the Federal Government to sustain the initiative, emphasising that withdrawing the support could expose many students to financial difficulties and possible dropout.
She said the scheme had given beneficiaries an opportunity to pursue their academic ambitions with fewer financial distractions.(NAN)
The Ondo State Government has congratulated the 637 newly absorbed teachers and other personnel into the state public teaching service, urging them to uphold professionalism, discipline and dedication in the discharge of their duties.
The Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Princess Ademulegun Olufunmilayo Brown, gave the charge while addressing the beneficiaries following the successful completion of the absorption exercise.
She described the development as an important step towards strengthening manpower and improving the quality of basic education across the state.As part of the exercise, the distribution of employment letters commenced on Wednesday, 28th October with beneficiaries from the Central Senatorial District, while those from the Southern and Northern Senatorial Districts received their letters on Thursday, 29th, and Friday 39th, respectively.
Addressing the beneficiaries, the Chairman described their appointment as both a privilege and a call to service, urging them to demonstrate integrity, punctuality, discipline and commitment to their responsibilities.
She emphasised that teachers play a vital role not only in imparting knowledge but also in shaping the character and future of pupils.
The Chairman further charged them to familiarise themselves with the rules governing the Ondo State Public Service and the teaching profession, while embracing continuous professional development and effective teaching practices that would improve pupils’ learning outcomes.
She assured the beneficiaries of the Board’s commitment to strengthening basic education delivery and urged them to reciprocate the confidence reposed in them by the state government through exemplary service.
She therefore directed all newly absorbed personnel to report to their respective duty posts within one week of receiving their appointment letters, warning that failure to comply could result in forfeiture of the employment opportunity, subject to applicable regulations.
Princess Brown expressed appreciation to Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa for approving the absorption, noting that the initiative reflected his administration’s commitment to addressing staffing needs in public schools and advancing the education sector under the OUR EASE Agenda.
She also commended the committee constituted by the Governor to oversee the exercise, chaired by Engr. Bola Taiwo, with Dare-Atunse and Pastor Omotayo Akeju as members, and Princess Abike Bayo-Ilawole as Secretary, for ensuring transparency, fairness and adherence to due process.
The Permanent Secretary of ODSUBEB, Princess Abike Bayo-Ilawole, explained that the absorption exercise was undertaken to address outstanding issues arising from last year’s recruitment exercise and ensure that qualified personnel were properly captured.
She disclosed that the screening covered the three senatorial districts of the state, with more than 1,000 applications and related correspondence attended to. She maintained that the process was conducted without bias or prejudice, in accordance with the principles of fairness, transparency and equal opportunity.
She urged the beneficiaries to complete and submit all necessary documentation for proper integration into the Board’s administrative system. She also warned against surrogate service, stressing that no teacher would be permitted to delegate his or her official responsibilities to another person. Anyone found engaging in the practice, she cautioned, would face disciplinary action.
In their goodwill messages, the Board’s Full-Time Member I, Hon. Christopher Olorunfemi; State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Ayodele Samuel-Leke; and State Chairman of the Association of Primary School Headteachers of Nigeria (AOPSHON), Comrade Olakunle Akintoroye, congratulated the beneficiaries and urged them to uphold the ethics and dignity of the teaching profession.
They also advised the newly absorbed personnel to remain law-abiding, respect constituted authority and demonstrate diligence and commitment to improving the standard of basic education in the state.
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Fajana Recheal, Olugboji Funmilayo and Adenike Oluwaseun expressed gratitude to Governor Aiyedatiwa for the opportunity to serve in the state public teaching service.
They also appreciated the Board and the screening committee for the successful completion of the exercise, assuring that the beneficiaries would justify the confidence placed in them through dedication and exemplary service.
The University of Agriculture, Orerokpe Bill, sponsored by Senator Ede Dafinone, representing Delta Central Senatorial District, has passed through its third reading in the Senate.
Dafinone announced the development in a statement, describing the passage of the bill as a major step towards expanding access to education, promoting agricultural development and creating opportunities for young people in Delta State.
The senator said the proposed institution would help unlock the agricultural potential of the area while providing greater educational opportunities for future generations.
“This is more than the passage of a bill; it is a statement of purpose, a promise of progress, and an investment in generations yet unborn,” he said.
Dafinone urged constituents and other stakeholders to sustain their support for the proposed university, stressing the need to translate the legislative milestone into lasting benefits for the people.
He said the initiative was aimed at strengthening education, encouraging agricultural innovation and creating opportunities that would benefit generations to come.
“The future of our children is too important to leave to chance. Together, let us champion education, drive agricultural innovation, create opportunities, and build a legacy that generations will celebrate,” the senator said.
He described the passage of the bill as a significant milestone in the effort to advance development in Delta Central and expressed optimism about the vision behind the proposed institution.
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