No Holiday Home Work

Holidays are meant for fun, relaxation and enjoyment. It would be the  responsibility of schools to provide recreation to their students by taking them out on excursions for fun or arranging some programmes so that they can get some rest from their hectic routine.

However, since schools are failing to do this, they provide vacations not only to the children but also to the department. But they don’t simply let the students be free. Maybe to show that the school is a responsible one, they give various assignments to the students who are going home on holiday. I seriously don’t find any use for such stupid assignments. Making an abacus or Napier’s bones would probably be an assignment for computer class during a long vacation. Again, for younger children, collecting pictures of World Heritage Sites in Nepal would be the most probable home assignment. Regarding vacation assignments for science class, collecting leaves of 25 different plants would be a common project.

To whom do primary schools assign this homework? I sometimes wonder. Every time I go to my relative’s home during vacation time, I see them being more worried about their children’s homework than the children themselves. Instead of teaching or guiding the children how to do these assignments, they give the most attention to the deadline. The children start their vacations from tomorrow, the assignments are handed to them today and the so-called super teachers are on leave! And as a result, the parents are stressed. They cannot make use of their extra working hours because they are kept busy by their children’s homework. Every Saturday when I go to their home, I see them busy googling pictures and they would like to pass on their children’s homework to me! Oh! Isn’t that something stupid?

I remember my school teacher giving me a home assignment to make Napier’s bones. I didn’t have a clue what they were. After all, I was just 12 then. However, I managed to make them using chart paper. I was humiliated when a friend made it by using plywood and they looked really impressive. I did not dare show my homework, and I stood in the line among those friends who had not done their assignments. I later found out through his sister that a carpenter had actually made them for him. Teachers and school administrations must understand that vacations must provide rejuvenation, not a burden, to their students. They are not paid to stress out the parents. How can an eight-year-old child collect 25 pictures and print them? They should either be taught to google or they should not be assigned to do such things. And when judging the assignment and grading it, the teacher should be able to do it fairly. A carpenter’s work and a student’s work has to be identified and respected!

Published in The Kathmandu Post dated 8th October, 2014.