By Kef Dukulay
Last week’s incident at the Pentecostal School on Circular Road in central Freetown has left many bemused, wondering whether it is any longer safe to entrust kids in the hands of uncaring school authorities; and where safety of kids is not a priority.
Most often, Aunties, (the local title for nursery and primary school teachers), are more concerned with what they “collect” from the kids than the depth of care they are supposed to give to this vulnerable group.
Once they come in the morning, distribute their wares (yoghurt, fish balls, doughnuts, butter scotch etc) for compulsory sales to the kids, they assume less role in terms of supervision and pedagogy. Whether a child’s backpack is loaded with foodstuff for lunch is none of Auntie’s business. They also must munch her own stuff!
The worst moment comes after Lunch period. The widespread practice in nursery schools is that before lunch, the Auntie already hurriedly collects her monies from the children for the “wares” earlier distributed to them. This means that her business with them is nearly over as her preoccupation now shifts to counting her gains and making a new market-list for the house and to prepare fresh “wares” for the next day. For a brief moment, she would raise her head to casually ask: “how many people have finished their work?Put your hands up?” This is just to buy time because she has less to offer the kids now; and for some, the day normally ends with marking the books whilst others always keep the work for the next day as they rush to the market.
The incident last week of three toddlers getting suffocated in an abandoned vehicle within the school vicinity is unfathomable, and points to sheer negligence on the part of the care givers. This selfish behaviour by the “supposed” care giver has made Pentecostal School the epitome of the symbolism of negligence borne out of nepotism accentuated by ineptitude which is widespread in our society.
A brisk investigation conducted after the incident laid bare the school as a microcosm of a wider problem affecting the Sierra Leonean society at that level in our educational system.
The display of nepotism in these institutions is sometimes blatant and disgusting, to say the least. Such are the institutions that employ Aunties or those taking care of kids not based on formal training but because of their connection with the congregation and/ or the church organisation. In times of recruitment, the leader simply engages them; even as such people may not have passion for the job, not to talk of being qualified.
A care giver in nursery school should be a professional in early child education, not just a lettered member of a congregation or community.
It was ineptitude thay brought about the negligence of ignoring roll call after Lunch as a normal trend for teachers. This has also been laid bare at the Limba Pentecostal school.
Taking care of children is such a sensitive and delicate job. If the nursery teachers are really up to the task, they would have detected the absence of the kids as soon as classes settled after Break or Lunch through roll call. Rolls are called to ascertain which child has not returned from Break or Lunch. Or, simply monitoring their seating positions can do that for a caring teacher.
Last week’s incident will therefore, sound a wake-up call to parents and guardians to choose wisely and start looking for safer, professionally manned nursery outlets; not just ‘na mi church school’ when enrolling their kids at such tender ages .
It is pretty sure that this incident is a blemish to the institution but they will have nobody to blame if parents decide to withdraw their kids because of lack of supervision. Parents naturally rely on teachers to take great care of kids at kindergarten level so if you have Aunties who do not call rolls, and who leave the kids to themselves and rather attend to their personal dealings when they are supposed to be keeping eyes on the vulnerable children at play, then it is an unforgivable ineptitude and negligence.
