Stakeholders fault abuse of 'take-home' assignments
Education stakeholders in Northwest geopolitical zone have flayed the flagrant abuse of 'take-home' assignments by some teachers.
In their responses to a survey on the issue, conducted in Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states, respondents observed that students and pupils were often overloaded with such assignments.
They acknowledged the wisdom in such assignments, but noted that it now served as a shield for incompetent or lazy teachers, who hid under it and pushed their responsibilities to parents.
They suggested the introduction of a policy that would limit the number of take-home assignments issued to pupils.
Mr Aliyu Idris, the Overseer, Kaduna State Schools Quality Assurance Authority said the authority was taking steps to address the practice
Idris, who stated this in an interview in Kaduna, explained that while take-home assignment was part of school activities, the practice should not be in such a manner as to over-stretch pupils or students.
He acknowledged that assignments sometimes formed part of continuous assessments of pupils and students, but noted that the practice was being abused by some schools.
He said that the authority would discuss the issue with heads of Departments of Private School and Quality Assurance, towards addressing the anomaly.
"Assignments help to involve parents in the learning process of their children by taking into account, the different needs of learners.
"Certainly, if homework is assigned in a meaningful manner, it will make positive contributions to the learning process, but it is not acceptable when it becomes too much.
"We will discuss the issues and see how we will tackle it," he said.
Also, the Executive Director, Lifeline Education Foundation, Kaduna, Mr Tijjani Aliyu, said that while take-home assignment helped students to understand better, it should not be too regular.
Aliyu observed that the practice of giving too many take-home assignments was more prevalent in private schools that put pressure on teachers to cover syllabus by all means.
He pointed out that even when the idea was to improve learning outcomes through parents' support, many times the children did not learn much because of the daily voluminous take-home assignments.
"In fact, sometimes it is what the teachers themselves do not understand that they give to students in the name of take-home assignment for them to figure it out with their parents.
"I am also of the opinion that take-home assignment should not interfere with, or undermine other curricular activities, including those that are social in nature.
"It is also crucial that learners are given opportunities to be involved in meaningful leisure activities, and not overload them with assignments," he said.
On her part, Mrs Yaoh Bola, a class teacher, Juthanbit International School, Mahuta, Kaduna, said the essence of assignment was to enhance learning process.
Bola said that the idea was to reinforce what the pupils learnt in school, with a view to ensuring better understanding of the subject matter, adding that it also helped to cover syllabus.
"The take-home assignments also provide opportunity for parents to participate in educating their children because some pupils understand better if their parents also re-emphasise what they learnt in school," she said.
A parent, Mrs Kubai Philip, said that the take-home assignments were too frequent and too much, sometimes up to three subjects daily.
"My child in primary two in a private school always comes home with assignments of up to three subjects and too frequent.
"I am willing to support in improving the learning outcome of my child, but too much assignment is becoming unbearable," she told the correspondent.
In Kano, respondents believed that issuing too many take-home assignments was a smart tactics of teachers shifting their responsibilities to parents.
"Because of laziness, teachers in most private schools, transfer their work to the parents.
"They should realise that not all parents are educated; for some parents, checking homework is a demanding task, as some of them are too busy earning a living for their families," said Malam Isah Labaran, an educationist
Labaran, who is a retired Headmaster, said he was not against issuing home-works, but detested teachers shying away from their responsibilities by loading pupils with too much assignments.
Another parent, Mr Tijjani Kura, said there should be synergy between school and home for the pupils for effective learning.
Kura however noted that although home-works were of great advantage, there could be times when such assignments were beyond the capacity of parents.
On her part, Mrs Temitope Faseyitan said that assignments were supposed to be done with the help of teachers in schools.
She however, advised parents and teachers to join hands in raising the standard of education of children.
In Zamfara, a cross section of education stakeholders, including parents, teachers and policy makers in education sector who spoke to NAN, said the approach could be counter-productive if inappropriately handled.
A teacher, Mansur Shehu observed that some teachers were not qualified to teach, as such always gave pupils home-work on daily basis, thereby shifting responsibilities to parents.
A parent, Nura Musa, who is also the Special Adviser to Gov. Matawalle on Printing and Publication, said the practice was against principles of teaching.
"Shifting responsibilities to parents under the guise of home-work, is not proper, but there is no problem if given out in good faith," he said.
But Malam Mainasara Umar, a primary school teacher in Sokoto state, said take-home assignments encouraged parents to monitor the progress of their children, educationally.
According to him, the assignments serve as mirror for parents to have an idea of what their children are being taught in school.
"Take-home assignments will show the quality of teaching; teachers giving take-home assignments are on the right track and fulfilling what was expected of them," he said.
Also, Malam Aliyu Bello, a Secondary school teacher in Sokoto, said that take- home assignments served as reminders to pupils on what they learnt in class.
"Take home assignments always engage the pupils to remain committed to what was taught in schools, and shy away from unnecessary play at home," he said.
In Kebbi, some parents also opined that some teachers were deviating from their fundamental responsibilities of educating pupils and students.
One of such parents, Alhaji Umar Faruq, said some teachers hid under the take-home assignment arrangement, to shy away from their responsibilities.
"I totally disagree with the idea of giving pupils homework, especially on daily basis; some of these teachers are academically weak; they lack teaching qualities and teaching methods; they rely on pupils to answer question they cannot solve," he insisted.
Faruk explained that the curriculum of education of learning 1993 as amended, did not encourage homework on daily basis, but instead, encouraged class work.
Also in his contribution, another respondent in Sokoto,Malam Nuhu Tukur, a teacher, said giving out home assignment to students remained one of the major challenges being faced by today's education system.
Tukur attributed frequent issuance of homework by teachers, to laziness, adding that some of the teachers did not possess the requisite qualification to teach.
"As a teacher, you are expected to mentor a child to enable him/her achieve his/her career in life; a teacher is supposed to be a father, a mother, a guardian, a mentor, and above all, a path to self actualisation," he said.
He recalled that in those days, teachers took their time to explain concept to the understanding of slow-learning pupils, but lamented that today, salary is the priority of most teachers.
