The back-to-school buzz has hit hard both parents and learners. Many things have happened in the nine months when schools closed.
Learners have acquired myriad skills like welding, carpentry, masonry, sewing, animal husbandry, farming, cosmetology, plumbing, motor bike riding, photography and fine arts.
The new calendar for school opening has not sunk yet into their minds neither has it knee-jerked them into class mode. The allure of profit is making it difficult to break the attachments built over time.
Teachers must gird their loins to guide learners to a classroom mentality and make them continue with school. Equally important, the Ministry of Education should ratify a policy that will ensure that technical skills learnt during the pandemic are not lost. The government can do the following.
Firstly, it is high time as a nation we re-looked at subjects taught in our schools and ascertain relevance vis-à-vis the prevailing job market. For instance, some learners have acquired skills that have little correlation with subjects in the syllabus.
Secondly, skills acquired are very relevant to institutions of higher learning and learners can practice them to pay school fees in kind.
During the holidays, learners can be attached to technical institutions to polish these skills since Covid-19 has proved that 85 percent of people with functional skills continued working.
By sustaining these skills, the government will have solved the unemployment dilemma as these individuals will only need startup capital to become productive. This is the silver lining in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thirdly, the ministry should collate data on which technical skills were acquired in large numbers in order to plan for them in the future. This will cascade well with the curriculum offered in technical training institutions.
Lastly, it will be counterproductive if learners are not supported or offered a chance to utilise skills learnt during the Covid-19 pandemic. Teachers should appreciate that, though learners may not be academically gifted, they are better-skilled elsewhere.
Raxy Ngure Wainaina, 13, is a Standard Eight pupil at Newlight Junior Academy, Komarock in Nairobi
