Students in class
In recent years we have observed a growing down ward trend of
education achievement in Tanzaania, including students who complete
Standard Seven without mastering reading and writing skills. This
challenge does not only face students at basic education level but also
other levels of education including secondary education as well as
tertiary education level. Most of teachers and lecturers complain of
receiving assignment from their students with poor grammar structural
arrangement, flow of ideas as well as presentation of arguments both in
English and Kiswahili. In fact it is said that even those students who
are able to speak fluently English or Kiswahili, may not be able to
present a well written essay.
This article is going to discuss on importance of writing skills in
supporting education achievement of students throughout their education
life and beyond.
In recognizing weakness in writing skills and its importance in
supporting education achievement for secondary school students, Shule
Direct is orgranising a ‘Back To School Essay Competition’, which is an
annual essay writing competition for Form Two to Four students in
registered Secondary Schools in Tanzania. This year’s call for
submission of essay entries was announced from 10th February 2014 to 24
March 2014.
According to Shule Direct Communications Director, Iku Lazaro,
advertisements for this essay competition in form of posters were sent
to 100 schools in ten selected regions. These advertisements were
distributed in collaboration with Reida Education through their
bookshops. All advertisements were confirmed to reach 100 schools in all
ten regions. It was expected that at least 1,000 essay entries would
have been received through post office or internet. However, they were
able to receive only 195 entries.
The Founder and CEO of Shule Direct, Faraja Kotta-Nyalandu, further
explain that the received 195 entries went through three levels of
rigorous process, whereby the first level was to sift all entries and
ensure they have observed all set guidelines and criteria, whereby a
total of 90 entries were found not to meet set criteria, and therefore
were not qualified to go for a second round of evaluation.
It was further explained that a total of 105 qualified entries were
distributed to a total of seven judges, who were also screened to
obtain highly qualified judges. The names and biography of all judges
were posted on Shule Direct portal.
After judges went through the submitted entries independently, they
convened for a joint final evaluation of entries to obtain the best 25
essays.
According to Faraja Kotta-Nyalandu, during evaluation process there
were a number of issues which were observed we need to take high note
on them, such as follows:
(a) Criteria
and guidelines were not observed. She cited an example of some three
essays whose content was excellent but did not observe a number of
criteria such as exceeding number of words, not providing students
information and such relevant information;
(b) Some
essays had very high level of content, language and modality of
presentation fit for a university student, which rose a doubt that some
students did not personally write essays but obtained support from other
people;
(c) There
were more entries from private secondary schools than public secondary
school, though both public and private secondary schools obtained same
information. This may be due to lack of motivation to students from
their school administration and teachers to participate in such extra
curricula events;
(d) Many
essays could not link between their interesting topic they have written
to its application in solving problems in their communities;
(e) Many
students copied notes and could not present ideas which show that think
beyond the obvious by presenting their own imagination and arguments;
(f) There
were no essays on topics related to Mathematics and only one on
Languages (literature), the rest of topics related to life skills, waste
disposal, human rights, water management, financial management
(banking), mercantilism, Archimedes principal, nationalism just to
mention a few; and
(g) Some essays have many grammatical errors and mistakes such that it took a lot of energy to evaluate them fairly.
My take is that the above mentioned challenges may be a
manifestation of weakness in our education system, whereby students and
teachers lack a drive or motivation toward improvement of their skills
and knowledge. Moreover, inability to connect between what they have
learnt in school (theory) and its application in solving problems
(practical) in their communities may manifest that our education has
disconnected students from their communities.
I have written previously that our current education mode of
delivery aims at helping students to pass examinations, but not to
obtain skills and knowledge for application in their lives. Many
graduates from basic to tertiary levels of education in Tanzania are not
able to translate theories and knowledge they obtained in education
institutions into practice. They cannot use their education in
indentifying opportunities in their communities and take advantage of
them by creating their own employment instead of dreaming of obtaining
‘white collar jobs’
Let me discuss about importance of written skills. According to
Global Post news site, written expression is a crucial part of
communication and critical thinking. For students, developing strong
writing skills not only helps their school grades but also prepares them
for their academic and professional futures. Whether writing essays,
taking notes or applying for scholarships, high school students must
learn to develop their ideas and proofread their written work before
sharing it.
Clarity in writing is crucial to how the reader receives the text.
Therefore, high school students must employ proper grammar and
punctuation in their writing. A student will write an essay assignment
differently than an e-mail to a friend because the audience for each
text is distinct. Understanding audience and learning to adjust to the
needs of the reader is an important aspect of written expression. To
create professional and mature writing, students must learn to proofread
their work before submitting it, whether in the classroom or for
scholarship or job applications.
Students should learn to expand, explain and develop their ideas
through their writing. Marquette University states that "writing
stimulates you to extend a line of thought beyond your first impressions
or gut responses." This process can deepen students' critical thinking
skills, challenge their assumptions and strengthen their overall
writing. Examples of written development include providing specific
examples, identifying the relationship between two seemingly unrelated
ideas or events, and analyzing the causes and effects of an issue.
For many ordinary and high school students, strengthening their
writing skills prepares them to apply for and succeed in college and
university courses. For example, students must write an essay for the
Final National exams, and they must compose a personal statement as a
part of their college applications. The better they do on the written
portions, the higher their chances of admission to a good college or
university. Once in college, students will have to employ their written
expression skills on assignments ranging from lab reports to research
papers. Therefore, creating a strong foundation of writing skills in
high school prepares them for success after graduation.
According to The Founder and CEO of Shule Direct, Faraja
Kotta-Nyalandu, the evaluation process of essays submitted for the ‘Back
to School Essay Competition 2014’ organized by Shule Direct was
completed over the weekend and today they are going to announce winners.
I hope that if you did not make it this year get prepared for next year’s competition.
Moreover, I call upon teachers and heads of secondary schools to
encourage and support their students to participate in such events to
help them improve their skills as a process of building a strong
foundation for advanced levels of learning and job market.
The writer is a specialist in Economics of Education, Planning and
Policy studies. He is reached through: masozi.nyirenda@gmail.com or
+255754304181
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
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