Establish science clubs in all schools

By Editor

Editorial

The country is in the midst of addressing a major challenge in its education system – acute shortage of science teachers.

It is a problem whose genesis is historical, made worse by years of neglect.
That science teaching may not have received the priority it should have during and after colonialism is acknowledged by many people who follow the country’s education trends.


Education during colonial times more or less prepared a few people for white collar jobs as administrative assistants, clerks in government offices or teachers in schools. Even then not many were groomed to teach science, as this was not a priority area.

Little emphasis was thus placed in the teaching of science subjects in these schools. Indeed very few students liked science subjects at all, considering them a risk to their advance into lucrative civil service jobs.

At independence the country could hardly find engineers or doctors to run the various institutions needing those skills.

Feeling the pinch in qualified manpower, the government has over the years put in place measures to increase the output of scientists, but the gap is still being felt, more so in the supply of science teachers, who are expected to nurture future scientists.

The demand for this cadre of teachers has skyrocketed following the implementation of ward secondary schools.

Ward secondary schools face many challenges, among them the shortage of science teachers. Sadly this is where they are most needed, for it is at this level that pupils start learning science subjects in earnest.

One reason for such a shortage is that not enough students took science subjects in secondary schools in the first place.

Therefore as efforts continue to train more science teachers, it is crucial to create an environment that is conducive to making more schoolchildren fall in love with science subjects.

Unfortunately a major hurdle to encouraging more school children to study science is the mentality that the subjects are tough and only a few can tackle them.

Yet anybody who has observed children as they grow up will not fail to notice their insatiable curiosity and ‘natural’ ability to manipulate seemingly complicated gadgetry. These talents if properly nurtured, can end the phobia for anything science and entice many more children into the field.

The call by Arusha-based science stakeholders for schools to start more science clubs as a way of improving the performance of students in science subjects is a timely input in popularising science.

This novel idea could go a long way in improving the performance of students in science subjects including physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics.
For it is at these clubs that the students interact and hold discussions on a number of topics they have learnt in class. And, because not all students have the same capacity to grasp a subject, the slow ones will be able to learn from their bright colleagues through discussions.

Such science clubs should be encouraged, not only in ward schools, but in all secondary schools in the country.

The clubs are the seeds of future scientists in the country and must therefore be nurtured and supported in every possible way. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN