Some stakeholders in the nation’s education sector have kicked against organising summer classes for students on holidays from the normal academic session.
They argued that instead of additional academic activities, which could drain the children mentally and physically, introducing them some vocational skills would help them better during the long vacation.
According to them, the term ‘long term break’ is supposed to be a period of rest from academics for the children, but if the school decides to introduce holiday lessons, it should be strictly vocational activities to give the children some relief from academic work.
An educationist. Mr. Gabriel Dedeke, said that organising summer classes was not new, but the arrangement usually lacked the necessary aspects that should be covered.
Dedeke accused some of the schools organising summer classes of exploiting the parents of the students enrolled in them, saying that the children usually ended up without gaining much academically.
He said; “Summer lessons are not really a new phenomenon. It’s just that private schools have now built it permanently into their structure. It has some negative sides, which the schools need to correct.
“Some schools have stylishly made it compulsory, hence they become vindictive towards any student who fails to attend. They also teach subjects that they are supposed to teach at the next level in these lessons and refuse to teach them again when school resumes, to spite those who did not attend the lessons and leave them at a disadvantage.
“These holiday lessons do not have serious hands-on components; no skill acquisition is built into these holiday schooling. It shouldn’t be overpriced,” Deleke cautioned.
A parent, Mrs. Anulika Nwakamma, spoke in the same vein, saying the long holidays were meant to enable the children to rest their brains from everyday academic rigours.
Nwakamma also maintained that if there is any need for children to have extra lessons during this period, it should be outside the normal academic activities and with new set of teachers.
She said; “It would be a good idea if schools could do life and crafts coaching and remove curriculum academic summer lessons. The teachers or tutors at this time do not necessarily have to be the regular teachers of the same school.
“I have my sister, she is a teacher and does not believe in the summer classes. For her, it is a time the children should relax a little from academics works and read books of their choice and learn how to do other domestic work that school hours won’t create time for them to do. Her children have always topped their classes, by God’s grace,” she opined.
Also speaking, another parent, Muslimaa Apampa, said; “For me, I advise that we let our kids rest for a while from academics, while on holidays and go for vocational training, instead. At times, this can help guide their parents where there vocational passion lies. I usually encourage my own kids to do this during their holidays because it’s a way to prepare them for the future.
“We all know that all over the world, there is really no job security anywhere. You could be working in an organisation today, and tomorrow you are shown the way out. We should encourage our children to start inculcating in their subconscious the entrepreneurial spirits,” she advised.
Extra lessons dull brains- Experts
But some education experts have argued that children should be allowed to stay back at home during long vacation, which is the period meant for them to rest from the rigours of academic activities, rather than enburdening their brains with more academic work during the holidays.
They also argued that too much academic work would affect the children psychologically.
Speaking on the matter, an educationist, Mr. Francis Omolade, said; “For me, it is not necessary at all. In fact, if school is well organised and had taught what was required during school session, the summer class is not necessary. More importantly, too, children and teachers are supposed to rest during the holiday.
“From the psychological point of view too, there is a certain degree of rest the brain requires. Unfortunately, with our system of education, the child’s brain is not given the required rest. Imagine the routine of some pupils: 8am to 2pm normal school work, 3pm to 4pm school lesson, 5pm to 7pm private lesson. Then home work from school, ranging between 2-4 subjects. This is not good for the health and psychological well-being of our children,” Omolade said.
For another educationist, Mrs. Peggy Udoaka; “school owners come up with excuses that the children will forget what they learnt. But the truth is that in psychology, which is a course every educationist should have done, there is no such thing as forgetfulness.
“In fact, the brain needs to relax after it has undergone enough stress during a session. This gives the brain more absorbing capacity. That’s the essence of holidays originally,” Udoaka revealed.
A psychologist at the University of Lagos, Prof. Oni Bamilole Fagbohungbe, argued that the children should be introduced to something new during vacations rather than bore them with more academic works.
The university don, who criticised school proprietors for organising summer classes for the purpose of making money, said that the children should be given the opportunity and training to become versatile.
Fagbohungbe said; “what proprietors and owners of schools are doing is very wrong. The children should be introduced to something different because that is how they can be versatile in life. This is the period we can allow the children to rest. They have spent three months doing academic work, they need something different. The children get bored from human angle and, psychologically, the brain tends to absorb less.”
Summer fees used to pay salaries – teachers
Some teachers in private schools, however, said that the school proprietors usually insist on the organisation of summer classes for selfish and pecuniary reasons.
According to them, the school owners have formed the habit of banking on the fees paid by the students for settling the salaries of their staff during long vacations.
A teacher at the Dr. Soyemi Memorial Secondary School, Mr. Adeyinka Adedoyin, said; “many greedy school owners use the money to pay August salaries, because they tell their staff that no school fee is coming in August. So, they make it compulsory for teachers and children.
Some don’t even use the proseeds to pay the salaries at all if the teachers refuse to do summer classes, which is irritating.
Whenever colleagues in other schools tell me there are no salaries for August because they didn’t do summer coaching, I get angry at the school owners,” Adedoyin declared.
Another teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said; “this has been the trend ever since and the schools have a means of making students attend the lessons on compulsion.”
Summer classes are beneficial- Proprietor
The Proprietress of Cheillien Montessori School, Ogun State, Mrs. Nwankwo Ugo, argued that summer classes were not totally for academic work, as being portrayed by many.
She said that it usually featured vocational studies, while the period was also used for introducing the ‘next class’ syllabuses to students.
“Vocation is usually part of summer lessons, literacy and social activities. The three hours in a day is usually mixed.
No summer lesson can be vocational activities alone,
” she said.