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Yes, school kids must not be distracted by politicians
2006-03-30 07:31:07
By Editor
President Kikwete last weekend put to an end what was viewed as an age-old tradition by banning the use of primary school pupils in garlanding and entertaining politicians at public functions.
Speaking in Tabora, the President said he did not understand why the task of handing out bouquets and scarves to politicians and senior government officials should be left exclusively to schoolchildren who were supposed to be at school, not at public functions glorifying and singing the praises of politicians. We couldn’t agree more.
The use of schoolchildren in political functions dates back to the single-party era when almost everything was politicised and it is high time the practice was stopped, bearing in mind that it is now 14 years since Tanzania embraced political pluralism which ended the ’’The Party is Supreme’’ dogma.
Those were the days when primary school kids, then affectionately known as ’’young pioneers’’, were forced to miss classes for anything up to eight weeks to attend gruelling military parade drills ahead of commemorations such as the Union Day and Uhuru Day.
They were forced to skip their lessons for eight solid weeks to prepare to march past well-fed and prosperous looking Party and government dignitaries in a parade lasting not more than 30 minutes.
We also recall schoolchildren being herded onto streets ahead of the arrival of a foreign leader.
The kids, some as young as six years of age, were kept waiting for hours on end under the scorching sun, singing and waving miniature flags of Tanzania and the country led by the visiting head of state.
Whenever a foreign leader arrived in Dar es Salaam, it meant a full learning day was lost for the vast majority of the city’s schoolchildren.
There was an unwritten rule which had teachers falling over themselves to line up their pupils by the roadside to await the arrival of the leader of a ’’friendly’’ country.
Little wonder that education levels had tumbled to appalling levels.
We note with contentment that the ’’young pioneers’’ thing died a natural death with the advent of multi-party politics, but it seems that some undesirable customs from a bygone era have survived to this day.
It is these customs that we should all strive to uproot and it is heartening to note that none other than the President himself has shown the way with his pronouncement in Tabora last weekend.
We reiterate that schoolchildren must be allowed to concentrate on their studies without any distractions.
Tanzania cannot succeed in raising education standards if schoolchildren continue to be involved in activities which have nothing to do with their studies.
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