Ngundu Francis Mokomba- « We are optimistic that the GCE Ordinary level results will be better at the end of this academic year »

-Ngundu Francis Mokomba, Regional Delegate of Secondary Education for the Southwest Region.

Ngundu Francis Mokomba, Regional Delegate of Secondary 

Education for the South West Region.

You began the year with a Regional Sector Conference. We are in the first Quarter of the Academic Year and the First Sequence Exams just rounded through. What were the salient points that were raised during this Sector Conference?

Usually at the beginning of each year is launched  at the National Capital and in that launching, the Minister gives guidelines and the path to follow in a given academic year. We organize a Sector Conference during which we high light and give directives. As far as the Sector Conference for the Academic Year 2015-2016 is concerned it was packed full because we decided to present papers. The directives were given and it was realised that it was better to give out these directives through the presentation of papers.  Papers were presented on periodic documents. This highlighted how they have to be  presented. Papers were  presented on assiduity, punctuality to work and the ideal school environment. When you get to some schools, you find the environment very inviting while in other schools you have nothing attractive.  The rich question and answer session was an indication of how attentive people were during the paper presentations.

We notice that while the the GCE Advance Level results were good, the Ordinary level on the other hand were continuously going down. What do you think can explain this trend ?

It will be easy  though presumptuous to say that it is because the Ordinary Level Examinations have more candidates because they are found every where unlike  High Schools that are not as many as the first cycle establishments.  Lack of teachers may be one of the key factors militating against good results for the ordinary level. Otherwise, it would be difficult to find out why the GCE Advance Level which is supposed to be more difficult presents a better percentage than the Ordinary Level. Quickly one can say that since teachers are fewer in many suburb schools which have just the first cycle , they could not perform very well. We could also say that for sometime now, we’ve been noticing this decline even in township schools as far as the GCE Ordinary Level is concerned. That means we have to start looking at subjects like English Language. Is it that the setting has some difficulties that is more complex and that the ideas are not being understood. The teachers also may not have mastered how to set questions for their children which might explain what is happening that too many students are failing the ordinary level English and other subjects. The subject associations have taken this up and they are trying to give seminars and find out reasons why this is happening. We are very expectant and we think that at the end of the academic year when exams are written this year, we are optimistic we will get better results because we are tackling it very seriously.

Some quarters are of the opinion that the source schools like the primary schools send in very bad products. Pupils who are supposed to have passed the Common Entrance in List A end up not being able to read and write and pose enormous problems in secondary school.

I think those with this view have a point. Many times, you find a child who has passed in List A because he’s been able to tick the Multiple Choice questions and pass but when it comes for interviews its a problem. Just to fill out some forms, write their names and where they come from becomes a problem. Sometimes, the examination itself does not reflect the real picture of what the child is. It is true that many schools don’t groom the children well before they come to secondary school but this however is not to accuse all teachers of the Basic Education  though it is true that some teachers don’t do their work. There is also a lot of corruption and fraud during some of these exams and so they don’t give the right picture of who has passed and I have continued to tell my principals that List A should not be the cut off point. Even in township areas they should interview even List B children. You will be surprised at how brilliant some of them could be. Among them you will find better students than some who have passed in List A. List A deceives people some times and presents a wrong picture of the pupils concerned.  Another problem that disturbs our education irrespective of whether it is the primary or secondary schools is this tendency for teachers not to complete their syllabuses. When this happens, the child suffers as he or she moves forward. So we have this carry over or this back lash of problems that we inherit at every given situation. The solution is doing your work well. When this is well done all problems are solved. That’s why you see children from a particular school doing well at all times. This is simply the result of working well.

A dominant segment of teachers in colleges in rural areas are PTA or temporal teachers. This group of teachers have a lot of problems which if not solved can affect the secondary school family significantly.

You know that the personnel of Secondary Education is an elitist kind of personnel. Somebody has gone to the University and maybe gone to the professional school after that. He expects to live within minimum comfort and when such a person is employed and sent to a village where there are no lights, water and good houses,That teacher will do every thing to leave that village within the shortest possible time  using all types of methods. Sometimes when a young married lady is posted to a remote area it usually seems unfair to separate such young couples. This repulsive nature of the working conditions in rural areas makes people to run away. There is also this problem of us having expanding a little bit too much. We bit more than can chew and so we have less teachers to manage so many schools and so the nature of expansion did not take account of feeder schools in some areas. As such there is usually a problem of population stagnation in many of these schools as well.

There is been a lot of talk about the competence based approach. The simple person out there may want to know what this means..

It is an approach of pedagogy that deals with the way teaching goes on. Competences are abilities so you teach the children in such a way that they see the use of what they are learning. They kind of appreciate the competences that they are supposed to use. in doing certain things. You get the children down to earth to practice what is thought. The children have so many competences and you will be able to create artists, thinkers, you name it. The goal here is to create creative people. Getting children to see the benefits of different competences and giving them an opportunity to learn as they see the use of these competences. It is simply teaching by competences and making teaching practical. A paper was done on this in the sector conference to try and demystify the concept. It is simply bringing down learning to the practical.

Do you have any message for the educational family?

We run a social service and you know what you feel like when you go to a hospital sick and you are poorly treated. It is the same way a parent or a student may feel if he came to a school and was not welcome or poorly treated. Therefore teachers should be very receptive to both students and parents and should make teaching and learning affordable   and interesting in such a way that both the student and the parent will feel like part of the educational community.

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