The day is overcast and drizzly. Towards lunchtime, the rain gathers momentum and it rains all afternoon and into the evening. I pick up Ellie from school and we go home and have a cosy afternoon of reading, writing and making forts. Ellie used to stay every single afternoon at school until 5pm, but now she has learnt not to sign up for too many things. Ironically, school has killed her interest in sports she was quite good at, like swimming, because they were too competitive and, to use Ellie's words, 'full of screaming teachers' trying to get the best out of the children.
Zimbabwean schools take sport very seriously. To a large extent, it has always been that way, but the situation is exacerbated by parents who want value for money. If their child is at school the entire day, then their money has been well spent. Playing, reading, leisure time in general, is no longer valued. In fact, it is almost feared. 'Go and study.' 'Stop playing around.' 'You are a naughty child who just wants to mess around. Go and sit in your room and read through your books.' One of the girls I teach told me of a friend of hers whose mother gets him up at three o'clock in the morning and sits next to him whilst he studies.
Sitting at your desk, staring at books, does not, unfortunately, make you a learner. You can, perhaps, learn to recite a few things off pat, but chances are the information will not stick. It is hard to explain to many parents, but playing, rolling around in the mud and climbing trees is probably the best thing for your child to be doing. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is nothing. Lie on the grass under a tree and watch the way the shadows fall. How do you explain this to parents who are hoping their children will one day become a doctor and provide them with a one-ticket out of Zimbabwe?
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