Al-Madina newspaper

I WENT out of the stationery store in extreme anger because the salesman called Hanifa had spoiled my child’s project for the “young inventor” program.

I had spent a lot of time brainstorming on the project idea and visited a number of stationery stores before handing over the idea to Hanifa.

I was impressed with his work and liked the models he had prepared. I gave him my idea and paid his fee believing that he would do the work perfectly well. But when I came back to collect the work I was disappointed as Hanifa did not live up to my expectations.

All project works given to my son by his schoolteacher are usually done by me, but when a Class II student of the primary school was asked to make a mathematical chart, it was even beyond my capacity and this was the reason I approached the stationery man. Every day, the teacher asks his students to decorate the language book with drawings and he praises the students for their good work. There’s no doubt that it would strengthen our children’s creativity.

I used to do the drawings and colorings for my son because he would not get time for such works due to other assignments such as reading, memorizing the Qur’an and rhymes, and learning complex lessons from science and mathematics.

The mother and father exert a lot of efforts, often beyond their capacity, to teach their children and their lives are revolves around the school schedule, exams, and school activities. Students of elementary school will not be able to shoulder their responsibilities based on the current curriculum, which seems to be meant for impressing parents and putting an extra burden on them.

Parents are tired of teaching children, not because the teachers do not do their duty, but because the subjects are too difficult for the young children to grasp.

What are the benefits the ministry aims to bring about by increasing the content of the curriculum and making children tired and angry and by creating a kind of aversion in them toward education? The participation of parents in teaching their children has exceeded reasonable limits and they are often forced to send their children to private tuition.

The task of parents, in my belief, is to follow-up education of their children, observe them and provide them with necessary guidance. They are not supposed to give them explanation, simplify their lessons, support them for memorization, and engage in drawing and conceiving projects.

We must face this issue with courage and acknowledge that the educational aids are supplied by stationery stores and they write the students’ names on project works because parents have paid for them. The school then accepts that work, praises the level of proficiency of the child and gives marks accordingly, but the work has nothing to do with the student’s abilities and talent.

If the school is indeed in need of distinctive artworks to decorate its walls and corridors, why don’t they preserve them instead of throwing them in the trash and asking others to bring new project works every year? If the school is obliged to instruct students to bring project works on the ministry’s directive and the ministry appoints officials to visit schools and inspect such activities, then the blame goes to the ministry, which on the one hand instructs not to assign students any projects that do not come under their academic duties and ask its officials to inspect such works on the other.

Aren’t we perturbed by this kind of rampant cheating common among our students? Doesn’t our society’s pervasive obsession with pseudo-educational titles and certificates bother us? The problem begins at the school where every project is presented as the student’s work when everybody knows that it is the work of the work of a parent or the stationery man.

A child rejoices when his or her name is written on such school works even when they know it was not done by them. This way they will be proud of accomplishments in which they had no role. Moreover, such students will always depend on others to execute their works and demand reward for the work of others, and attribute the success of others to their name. It also teaches them such thefts are lawful, lying is permissible and climbing on the shoulders of others is an act of cleverness.