The growth of any business or organization depends not only on the management but also on the staff as well as the policies that govern that entire work setting.
The private school system has come to stay, and as long as every parent wants their child to have a solid education, the private school system is the answer to their needs.
It is not only that the private schools offer students a quality education; they also serve as a lifeline to the growing population of graduates being produced from the universities every year.
It comes to remedying the high unemployment rate in the society by offering jobless graduates an opportunity to kick-start their lives as academic and non-academic staff.
Having highlighted some benefits of a private school, I’m going to also talk about some unfavorable policies introduced by these private school proprietors that have become a major reason for grumbling among staff.
So without wasting any time, let’s dive in right away!
1. Insulting a teacher in the presence of a parent.
One of the major backdrops of the private school is the issuing of insulting and abusive comments by management, HODs, directors, and the proprietors or proprietresses of the private school on their staff, right in the presence of a parent.
A friend of mine works as a teacher in a private school in the northwestern part of Nigeria. And since he got the teaching job less than 3 months ago, he has recorded 12 cases of their superiors (the proprietor, the director of studies, and the HODs) insulting their staff.
He also told me of a scenario where the Director of Studies (D.O.S.) asked a female teacher to kneel down in front of a parent to apologize for the punishment he issued on the parent’s son, who is in second grade and has a tuck in his shirt.
After the incident, he came home moody and dull, trying to figure out why on earth a teacher would kneel down in front of a parent to apologize for punishing their son. So if a teacher should be suggested for this kind of punishment, then I think there is something that needs to be properly addressed concerning our private school system.
2. Prohibition on the use of phone at work.
We live in a dispensation where lack of information is one of the worst things that should happen to a man.
I tried to call a friend who works in a private school, but he was unable to pick up the call, so when he came back, I asked him what the reason was he didn’t pick up my calls, and he told me that the school has placed a ban on the use of mobile phones at work from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
It was gathered that no teacher is allowed to come to school with a phone. And if someone wants to communicate with you on the phone, there is a designated line assigned for that purpose, which is controlled by the management. That means there is no privacy at work for teachers in that school, and the content of your conversation with your caller must be made known to your superiors, who will file a query letter if you fail to disclose the content of your communication to them.
3. Removal of corporal punishment.
Gone are those days when a teacher could punish a student who failed to carry out a certain responsibility or misbehaved on school grounds without landing in jail.
The school system has changed completely, and no matter what a child does, the teacher does not have any permission to issue a punishment to that child. But the management has also failed to understand that such a child will grow up tomorrow with a nonchalant attitude and very disrespectful behavior. It should be noted that punishment has been part of the school system, and the removal of this restriction on punishment has not helped the students, especially those who come from a well-to-do background, to behave responsibly.
4. Apportioning all blame on the teacher for a child academic failure.
The teacher is responsible for teaching the children academically, morally, and other things. But one thing that should be noted is that the parent of such a child who did not perform well academically should also be questioned. And the reason being that a child learns how to deal with the morals given to him by his parents at home and also by his teacher.
If a teacher gives an assignment to a child to do at home, who should be responsible for guiding the child—the parent or the teacher who’s not with him or her in the house?
So the negligence of the parent of such a child also contributed to his academic failure, not just the teacher.
Conclusion
To conclude, I would like to say that some of these policies should be reviewed by the Ministry of Education as well as the staff and management of the private school sector so as to create a level playing field for both student teachers and management as well as with the broader society in terms of education morals and much more.
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