By Ebele Orakpo, Amaka Abayomi, Tare Youdeowei & Elizabeth

The long holiday is almost here but sadly, students don’t know it’s holiday as they have to attend summer school, which deprives them of the joys of travelling to fun places or spending the holidays with families and loved ones.

Children

Over the years, the essence of school holidays has evolved in Nigeria; from a time when children rested their brains, played among themselves, helped with chores at home or even went farming, to a time when they go home to more bookwork, holiday lessons and summer coaching barely a week after schools officially close.

Some say holiday lessons are for the well-to-do. Others say it is to support academically staggering students. The majority say it is to keep the children busy while they work, seeing that trustworthy house helps are in short supply and relatives are not readily available. The students on the other hand have mixed feelings.

Vanguard Learning presents a collage of feelings and reactions to the holiday.

Two children in their early teens were the first respondents. While Nonso Nwachukwu lamented; “I like holiday because of cartoon but I don’t really like summer coaching. My mummy says it’s for my good but I am tired, I don’t like going.” Chidiebere Okoye, on the other hand said; “Summer lesson is good because I get to see my friends and we play. Adults are boring and they don’t allow us play as we like at home.”

A parent and teacher, Mrs Precious Okaka, supports Nonso thus; “Holiday is a time free from work and school to rest and have a good time with family and friends. In this part of the world, people see the holiday period as a time to make extra income or a time for the children to continue their studies. This has made most children not to appreciate the holiday period any more. This holiday, I plan to have fun with my children, take them out for sight-seeing, cinema, children’s recreational centres and just enjoy the moments with them before my summer classes begin.”

Why holiday lessons?

Mrs Okaka said although she does not really believe in summer classes “but because of my job, I have to do it and that will push me to enrol my children for summer classes too. Our summer classes are less book work and more of extracurricular activities like swimming, baking, bead-making, art and craft, learning the computer and so on.”

Mrs. Amaka Obika, whose pre-school daughter is about to be enrolled for summer lesson, says she decided to register her daughter so as to create a balance between her academics and play life and also allow her go to work.

She said “I know she’s still too young to be bothered about lessons but I can’t just allow her spend the whole holiday playing as it will negatively affect her academics. Her dad has already bought her books on letters, figures, colours, shapes and rhymes but we still want her to know how to write 1 to 100, which will definitely set her ahead of her peers. Also, her going to lesson is because I have to go to work as my family needs the extra income ”

Mr Frank Asemota, a parent in his late 40s, said: “The economy is tougher, women also need better paying jobs that are usually more time- consuming, to support their husbands. As such, these after- school lessons and summer coaching came up. The teachers themselves have families to feed and the coaching brings in more money. So it is sort of a co-sustenance system.

“Even though I think it is wearing out the children, there is really nothing I can do about it. The world is changing; house- helps are no longer reliable, even relatives aren’t available, everybody is looking to be something better, and I completely understand.”

Holidays in our time

“As a child, there was nothing like holiday classes. We visited families and friends. We were exposed to lots of places I know today. I could still remember my Dad taking us to the river for fishing and we brought home a very big fish. It was very exciting and fun-filled. I also think that because of the poor security situation in the country today, parents are very cautious about letting their children explore more and learn more from the environment and society,” noted Okaka.

Asemota said; “In my time, these lessons never existed but then, we had our mothers, aunties and uncles around to supervise us while our dads went to work. My mum was a teacher so when we were on holiday, she was on holiday too. We helped in house chores though.”

Esther Ajao, a lady in her mid 20s, said; “I went to school during the beginning of these lessons in my neighbourhood, then as a pupil I felt those that were doing after- school lesson were not bright and their parents didn’t love them that is why they don’t want them at home. It didn’t make sense to me. My Aunt complained that my school was not good so my school was changed. In the new school, lesson was by force, but my dad protested, of course I was victimised as a result. By that time, I was in primary five, it was 1999.

“The victimisation was basically that they would teach some things during the lesson then set it as class work during normal classes. Of course, they didn’t teach it in normal classes so I ended up failing. I told my father and he said I shouldn’t worry about it as just one topic or two wouldn’t make me fail common entrance. Truly, I passed common entrance.

“I am not in support of lessons. Holidays should be just that, holidays; they should be used to travel and see new places, interact with family. When I get married, I hope to find a way around it, schools use it to extort from parents as far as I am concerned.”

Engaging the children

Speaking on how parents should engage their children during the holidays, Ibiwoye Samson Oluwasegun, an educationist, and President of The Legends-End Time Impact Makers, a non-governmental organisation that focuses on youth leadership training, said long vacation gives great opportunities for the children to learn vocational skills that would enable them think outside the box. “Personally, I will advocate that kids learn vocational skills, no matter how long or short the holiday might be. Skills such as computer training, bead-making, confectioneries, event decoration, etc. will make the children see the world in a different light and enable them to think outside the box.”

He added that holiday lessons would have been another avenue to get children active during breaks, but, they will still have to relearn what they had learnt during the holidays.

“Students are advised to attend  lessons during summer break, in order to get a glimpse of what the next classes hold for them. However, since most of these topics would still be taught when schools resume, the reason for coaching is being undermined.

“For Mrs Monsurat Aiyegusi, a mother of one and a teacher, holiday periods, especially the long vacation should be a time children spend lots of time with their parents and if possible, enrol the children for holiday lessons.

The teacher who frowned at parents that send their children to  relatives for vocation, said experience has shown that when they are made to go for holiday in a relative’s house, they are not always reminded to study the way they would have done in their parent’s place.

Citing an example of her growing years, Aiyegusi said that when she was young, she and her siblings were sent to an Aunt that reside on Island who maltreated them by sending them all forms of errands which made them not to study their books.

“We were once asked to spend the long vacation at an aunt place on the Island, and She never told us to carry our books to read. Instead we were always doing one house chore or the other . In fact she injured me on the left ear when I refused to eat a left over meal that had gotten sour. This made our mum stop us from going out to any holiday.”

Also speaking on best way to spend the third term break, a lecturer, Mr Suliemon Hassan Biodun of School of Mass Communication, Lagos State University, Ojuelegba Campus, said holiday period is meant for parents to assess their wards and see how to mould them better in other areas aside schooling and engage them in other areas.

The communicator scholar added that children, naturally endowed with three domain of knowledge in cognitive, affective and pyschomotor needed to be engaged in community service like Cleaning the drainage, planting of trees, training in horticulture, career talk, Choreography, drumming session, dancing and piano session, cake and pastries, swimming workshop, skipping and kinetics training. His words,” Children especially adolescent are naturally endowed with raw energy and life. They are always inquisitive to looking forward to ways and opportunities to dissipate their raw potentials.”

Mrs Onyinyechi Ukazu, a mother, said she is happy that the children will be on holidays soon as that will afford her some time to rest.

“No more waking up very early to prepare them for school. They will rest for a month and then go for holiday classes before they resume. At least, we will be able to raise some money for school fees and books before they resume. The good thing is that as children play, they also learn. It must not be in the classroom alone.