By Elizabeth Tungaraza
Following
the poor performance in last year’s Form Four national examinations,
some stakeholders have linked the mass failure to poor teaching skills.
Students from Mwandege Boys Secondary School discuss whether anything
will change if students evaluate their teachers.
OPPOSERS
Adam Mhoka:
It
will not be fair on teachers. They should be evaluated by experts and
not students. Education inspectors should develop a system that
evaluates teachers on regular basis. If given the go ahead, students
will not be objective in judging their teachers. But the best way to
help teachers is to tell them their weakness so that they can resolve
their problems.
Adrian Thomas:
This
would indirectly give the students authority over teachers and they can
use the opportunity to blackmail them. Moreover, students are not
qualified for this job. I think it will be a source of misunderstanding
between teachers and students.
Jesse Xibona:
By
evaluating teachers’ performance, students will not make any
difference. We are talking about professionals who have gone through
training and are qualified. Students have no knowledge in assessing
teachers and if allowed, they may become personal instead of being
professional. Evaluation and assessment of teachers is the job of
education experts and not students.
PROPOSERS
Abdi Idd:
By
evaluating teachers, the standards of teaching are bound to go high
because some of the teachers work for the sake of it and not for the
benefit of students. Poor performing teachers will be challenged to
improve as the good performers get even better. There are teachers who
are good at one subject and not the other.
Bernard Paul:
It
is a good idea for students to evaluate their teachers because we know
when our teachers are feeding us with the right material or not. This
would be an excellent way to get feedback. Teachers are evaluated by
principals, head teachers and education inspectors. We should also be in
this list.
Shabani Seleman:
If
students grade the performance of their teachers, then the teachers are
likely to improve. This evaluation shouldn’t be bases on teaching only
but also personality. Students should be able to voice their opinion in
order to help the teachers improve their skills.
