A child writes her homework. PHOTO/ FIREFLY-GENERATED.
Success is a thread that binds learners, parents, teachers and all those involved in the academic journey. Learners who make top grades make it to the front pages of the dailies and headline major bulletins on national television or radio.
This is why teachers deploy instructional methods to enable learners to ace their examinations. Out of the several methods, the major ones are homework and holiday packages which are routinely dished out to the learners. But, how frequent and big should such assignments be?
Ms Elizabeth Akello, a parent of two children in lower primary at Global Junior School in Mukono District, says whereas the approach is pivotal in the learning process, she opines that most schools issue academic tasks in excess to be completed in a short time.
"I do not understand why primary school children in day school are given daily homework of more than two subjects after spending the whole day at school," Akello wonders.
She quickly adds: "I do not mean that homework is bad, but children wake up very early and sleep late. And that is because they spend a lot of time in traffic as they go and return from school."
Key for learning
Teachers say homework is vital in every learner's process.
Mr John Bosco Mutebi, the head teacher of Silver Spoon School, says homework is an assessment tool that teachers use to assess if learners understood the topics learned in class.
“When I teach today, to be sure that children understood, I give them an activity they can do on their own, then when they give it to me the next day. I mark it, it will give me an idea of whether they understood or not,” Mutebiexplains.
Mr Mutebi also notes that homework is also used as a revision tool because learners don’t get time to revise during school time and that homework makes them interact with their previous work.
However, he shares that homework becomes bad when the learners are given a heavy workload.
Mutebi advises that learners should be given homework which they are able to complete in 30 to 40 minutes and should not go beyond one page to allow learners time to rest and engage in other activities as children.
“Homework is a good practice but the problem is the amount of homework that schools give. This is because you cannot give homework which a child will take two hours to write. You need to give homework which a child can do in 30 to 40 minutes,” Mr Mutebi says.
He adds that; “Some teachers give very complicated homework which requires a learner to do a lot of research. That is not good because you must basically give what you have taught.”
Mr Steven Ssemanda, whose daughter attends Mbuya Parents Pre and Primary School in Kampala, says his work schedule denies him sufficient time with his daughter to jointly complete her homework.
Mr Ssemanda who operates a retail shop in Kikuubo, downtown Kampala only drops off his daughter to school in the morning and entrusts his cousin in the boda boda business to pick her up, thereby making it hard for him to interface with his daughter during the weekdays.
Like Mr Ssemanda, Ms Isabella Nakanwagi who has had to care of her nephew (since his mother got transferred and deployed to another duty station in Gulu) who is now in Primary Seven at Landmark Junior School in Mukono, only interacts with the nephew at the weekend.
"He has to be ready by 5.45am to catch the school van which [later] drops him off at home at around 7pm, depending on the traffic flow," Ms Nakanwagi says, adding: "I return home when he is already asleep and that means the house-help supports him most times, including completing his homework."
She goes on to disclose that the house help has been pivotal on such assignments.
"At first they would call and we talk on phone as my daughter (now in Senior Three) did her homework but I had to devise a method. The phone that was used during Covid-19 classes is what my house-help uses to check for hard answers to complete home," Ms Nakanwagi says.
"And because I return home late after he has slept, I only review the homework answers and sign as required."
Mr Mutebi, however, advises against parents doing the work for the learners but rather guide them because the work is obtained from what they have learnt and the learners can always refer to the work.
Whereas some parents want this instructional method revised, some teachers feel pressured to get issues with the homework.
Mr Mutebi said schools suffer pressure from parents saying some take the extra mile to call schools to ask why children are not given homework meaning that if schools stop giving homework parents would not take them seriously.
“No single parent will believe or even accept when you do not give a child homework. They will not take the school seriously,” Mr Mutebi says.
Purpose of homework failed?
The program manager violence against children (VAC) department at Raising Voices – Uganda, Ms Tabitha Suubi, opines that the strict demands issued by some teachers as they give the homework frustrates the main objective of issuing assignments.
Ms Suubi, whose office advocates for the well-being of children, says “homework is not bad as long as it is just proportional to the age and size of the child.” This is something many schools hardly consider as teachers use it to test compliance instead of learners’ comprehension abilities.
“It is mostly good for compliance, but comprehension could be at zero. Learners are doing it for the sake of skipping punishment. They can even copy from each other because they are trying to run away from what could happen if they do not do it,” Ms Suubi says.
“Failure to do that work by the start of the following, these teachers will subject the learners to corporal punishments. Sometimes, they wake up too early to complete the task not because they are acting responsibly but because they are fearful of what will happen when they have not done the homework,” she adds.
Mental effect
Mr Muzamiru Kaibo, a mental health specialist at Mental Health-Uganda (MHU), warns against excessive academic work on learners reasoning that it leads to mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, and even depression.
“When students spend too much time on academic work, they often miss out on social activities, exercise and sleep, which are crucial for mental well-being,” Mr Kaibo says.
He also notes that such “continuous excessive studying without adequate breaks can lead to burnout” because the “state of physical and mental exhaustion can severely impact a student’s ability to learn and retain information since their brain is still growing.”
Ms Suubi says throughout her work time and interaction with children, their observations at Raising Voices have discovered that “there is some bit of corporal punishments that are always involved in this homework, especially when learners seem less compliant.” It is through such punishments that learners tend to detest the instructional or teaching approach thereby developing hatred for school programmes.
Remedy
Mr Muzamiru Kaibo, a mental health specialist at Mental Health-Uganda (MHU), therefore recommends that “the amount of homework should be balanced to ensure students have time for rest, extracurricular activities, and family time.”
He also advises that schools “use interactive and engaging teaching methods to make learning more enjoyable and less stressful. It helps maintain students’ interest and reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed.
