Are School Holidays Time For Resting or Studying?

The long holidays for primary and secondary schools students, commonly called long vacation, is here again. Usually, parents and guardians, especially the busy ones among them, are confused and are wondering how to keep them busy. The confusion emanates from the realization that young minds ought to be kept busy failure of which their idle minds may become the devil’s workshop.

During the last few weeks, immediately before the vacation, parents must have had nightmares about how to effectively engage their children during the period. The specter of the long holidays haunted their days. Now it is over, and the seeming relief it has brought them has become something else, not a nightmare this time, but a problem.

How indeed will the children spend the long, long vacation? Send them for holiday classes, skill acquisition or keep them at home?

Mrs. Juliet Ochonma, a parent and seamstress, who resides in Port Harcourt, says long vacation is a period when school children should not engage in anything, but rather should completely rest their brains from the stress they had been through the term and a stressful school year. According to her, it will be too tasking to enroll them in vacation classes. Such over-indulgence in academics, she says, has some side effects on the children.

“I am not of the school of thought that says children should be made to attend regular classes during the holiday because I feel that their brains should be allowed to rest during the period particularly from anything academics. So when one of my friends recently introduced me to a skill acquisition centre for children, I rejected the idea because, as I said earlier, holiday is meant for the children to rest. I don’t want to bother my children with anything studies during the period. Let them just rest and prepare for the next academic session”, says Ochonma.

A home economist and confectioner, Mrs. Catherine Ibianga, disagrees with the views expressed by Ochonma. She said though the long vacation must not be used for academic classes, it could be utilized for skill acquisition. She says many children are ignorant of the invaluableness of skills and added that skills would enable them utilize their hands effectively and create an awareness as well as stir a passion in them for handicraft which might lead to lucrative businesses.

“I feel sad that some students actually do nothing during vacation. They will drink the cup of idleness. They do nothing but lazy about, loiter and lounge. For them life has suddenly come to a standstill. They are nobody’s slave. They get up when they like and go to bed when they please. Others spend their time in careless gossip or profitless studies. They indulge in laziness and enjoy its luxury like a pampered prince”, Ibianga declares.

Mr. Abobo Briggs, managing director of a creativity centre in Port Harcourt, agrees that students should use their time effectively during the vacation to avoid being used to promote negative activities. According to him, it has been proved that some of the crimes committed in Port Harcourt during long holiday periods are perpetrated by idle students. This, he says, underscores the need for students to be engaged effectively particularly in skill acquisition, sporting events or even travelling and in other viable areas. For him, anything short of this will expose them to negative activities.

“In my creativity centre I teach a lot of young talents at little cost. There is money in skill. I just never believed that I could make money from the talent that I have had for years. But now my eyes are open and I look forward to doing further research into how I can make money from handicraft.

“It has been fun for me all the way. I never believed that one could have so much fun and money from doing what one really loves. I have been in this business for some years and it has been an enlightening time for me. So I am asking holidaying students through this medium to come to me and acquire skills that might take them through life”, Briggs claims.

Developing his point further, Briggs says life is not about making quick money. There is joy and excitement derived from seeing one being able to work with one’s hands. Going down memory lane of how it all began, the handicraft expert says he was a restless child full of so much energy.

“I was always doing things. I could cook, I could sew, I could make beads, I could bake, I could make hair, I could knit and so I had a lot of skills I was not even sure of what to do with. I love teaching young people, especially students how to acquire skills. Education is not all about books, books and books.

“Of course even if one is not good with the hands, as far as one has the passion, one can learn a skill. My mentor who advised me to go into skill acquisition is not skilled in all these areas. But she brought together a few people who could do one or few of these things and started a skill training centre”, concludes Briggs.

The question is, must skill acquisition by students be limited to long vacation periods only? Shouldn’t our education planners incorporate it in our education curriculum at all levels, so that when on vacation, the students could practice what they have been taught at school?

Mr. Emmanuel Addo, a tailor, at 34 Accra Street, Port Harcourt, articulates his views accordingly:

“In Ghana where I come from, every student is taught basic handicraft skills. In the end, the person decides whether to further with handicraft training or not. Some of them take to skill related-businesses after their university training, particularly when they realize that it pays to be self-employed”.

However, some parents who spoke with The Tide opined that travelling within or outside the country for the vacation seems to be the answer. For these parents, travelling for vacation will enable students showcase their exploits on social media sites to the admiration of real and imagined friends.

While engaging students during holidays is important for their health and well-being, a balance needs to be struck with one’s financial goals and convenience. So, how do you want your child or ward to spend the current long vacation? Travel out? Rest at home? Enroll in skill acquisition? The choice is entirely yours.