Any school can easily teach their students how to read and pass an examination without teaching them what is beyond the walls of their classroom. Everyday, most people walk pass a drainage that has been blocked, trash poured on the roadside, neighbour struggling with a load, then it is easier for us to complain that the whole area is becoming uncomfortable for us.
Personally, I support that each schools should have community service embedded into their curriculum and it should be part of secondary school education. Students can shuffle between cleaning the public spaces maybe once a week, visit care homes, read with younger students, plant three because our world is becoming shortage of trees, and they might even take part in health campaign. During this will expose them to meet new people whose life is so different from theirs. A student helping to plant trees will think twice before cutting off those trees in the future. A student helping clear the surrounding will think twice before throwing dirt on the street.
But out of this, what I will not support is that student who did not complete the service graduation should be withhold. That action could hurt such student beyond their control. Because some of these students are struggling with disabilities, cannot afford basic needs, taking care of their relatives, and some live far from when their help might be needed. So, punishing students like that is totally unfair because most schools might failed to organise the opportunity.
And looking at this, another condition we might likely have is that once this service has become mandatory for collecting a certificate, most students might only focus in getting a signature rather that getting to know what the community service entails. We could end up with numbers of students sweeping the road as evidence, while the same street becomes dirty again the following days. And this only proves one thing, perrotmavymot selflessness.
Secondary schools can make community service a supported part of learning. Students should not be forced, they should be allowed to choose a project they want to work with, work with trusted community organisations and give reports of what they have noticed. And each schools must make available all the materials each student will be needing, they should be monitored closely and those who have challenged should be given alternative things to work on. All these things should not just be for show off because all the numbers of hours they put into it should count in a productive way.
Public places often become everybody's concern only after they become nobody's responsibility. And throwing in community service into their curriculum, that habit will be challenged, but this can only happen if also the adult participates in what they are teaching. And I feel secondary school students should not be sent to an area to clean the place if the people there are responsible for keeping it safe do not care about the safety of the street.
Afar I will support if for students too leave the school knowing fully that the community is not somewhere they merely live. But something that they kept alive.
Thank you for reading.
