Prime
A kindergarten in every neighborhood could clear some of the traffic on our roads
Author, Benjamin Rukwengye. PHOTO/FILE.
What you need to know:
There is a reason why in advanced societies, kindergartens are primarily neighborhood schools.
Does anybody know why “middle-class” parents who live in the same neighborhood don’t pool funds and start kindergartens for their children? Easier than the crazy early morning mad rush through traffic, and would cost half or less the amount you’re paying right now.”
That’s a question I asked on Twitter early this week, prompted by the moaning over rush-hour traffic now that schools are back in play. An average of 4-5 hours is wasted on the roads every day, to an unproductive and sedentary existence. At worst, it manifests in all sorts of bad driving manners, making you wonder what kind of bad-mannered adults will come out of the bad-mannered upbringing they are witnessing on the roads as they get picked up or dropped.
In answering the question, some people reasoned that the best schools aren’t always in the neighborhood; or that it’s hard to set up one or even be interested in the labors of it; others attributed it to the prestige accruing from which school one’s child goes to; while others referenced the apathy that afflicts societies as they go up the socioeconomic chain, making it nearly impossible to work together at anything.
Quality education at whatever level is not Rocket Science. It is complex but not in the way that solving a Rubik’s Cube is; but more like figuring out a puzzle. You must start with the basics – Kindergarten – not Primary school.
There is a reason why in advanced societies, kindergartens are primarily neighborhood schools. It is the understanding that the level is preparatory and its purpose is to ease the child into the most basic social and academic skills required to prepare them to transition to proper school.
Staying within their neighborhood eases that transition, ensuring that they are in familiar territory and aren’t enduring shock therapy at such an early stage. In that regard, waking three-year-olds up at 5 or even 6 am to zoom them through traffic across the city to a “good kindergarten” is counter to the essence of it.
To the best of my knowledge, the government doesn’t run nursery schools, which places the responsibility on the parents, the passionate, and the sharks. The same parents who it can be assumed are infuriated by the number of hours wasted in traffic every day, to make school drop-offs. How much traffic for example would we get off the road if people who wanted to, within every 3-kilometer radius, set up their own kindergarten space?
But even away from the need to deal with traffic, the same can be applied to how we can have and guarantee more functional learning outcomes for children at this basic foundational level. The argument still holds. Safe space learning space? Check? A couple of quality teachers and administrators? Check. Appropriate learning and play aids? Check. Great class and playroom ratio? Check. Verifiable catering? Check. On-spot monitoring and inspection? Check. Not that complicated, right?
What happens when you move to a new location or your child advances to Primary school? That’s why you have legalities to cover these sorts of eventualities right? So why wouldn’t something like this happen? It is possible that those who argue for prestige and optics aren’t off the mark. The school your child goes to and how much you pay for it are some sort of status symbol – unfortunately.
Worse is the apathy. The more money we make, the more inward-looking we become. We figure out ways to insulate ourselves from communal problems because it is easier that way. Insecurity in the area? How about a high-rise fence and security systems instead of a community system? Poor road networks, bad drainage, and garbage disposal? Let’s buy an SUV and pay for air conditioning instead of Bulungi Bwansi.
It gets worse at the Primary School level, where some of Kampala’s best and most prestigious Primary schools are also the major causes of traffic because everyone is beholden to them. On a macro scale, it is a pointer to how shabby our urban planning is. Social services very rarely take the same route as the people which is why everyone on the road is mad.
Do you now see why we aren’t able to engage constructively in any civic organizing as a collective even if we are all pained by the same things? How, when we can’t even get our kindergarten schooling right?!
Mr Rukwengye is the founder, Boundless Minds. @Rukwengye
