FEATURE: Hurray! The holidays are here!!

To many students, Friday seemed a very far off date. They couldn’t wait to get back home for end of term hols. The last four days must have seemed like an eternity. After three months of strict school time, one can not blame the students for being home sick. Holiday is a time to watch those series like ‘Prison Break’ (yeah, for some) and many other movies. It’s also a time to visit other countries or even relatives in our very own Provinces. Who wouldn’t want to do that? It’s said that that who loves a child more than its parents is more likely interested in ‘eating’ it! So, it’s obvious that many parents look towards receiving their children with almost the same sense of anxiety, regardless of the fact that they sent these children to school themselves. However, with the increased demands of work and other commitments, children may sometimes find themselves with a lot of time on their hands and little parental guidance. Therefore, apart from the increase on the home budget as far as meals are concerned, parents among other duties are meant to check and streamline the many ways through which their children enjoy spending the holidays. According to the Headmaster of Lycee de Kigali, Martin M. Masabo, a holiday is a break where students have a change of activities. They can engage in a variety of activities in their homes, but they have to bear in mind that a holiday does not restrict them from reading their books. “It is the time when they should involve themselves in doing things that are constructive and developmental to both their parents and their education career. Serious students must take this time seriously by looking back at what the challenges have been. This will help them to read and overcome such hardship when they resume studies.” He said that end of term is not end of school, therefore they (students) have to consider next term as they spend their holidays. “Comparing what you learn from school to what others learn will help students maintain, improve and develop confidence in their teacher. This is based on realizing that there is no difference from what they are taught in their schools,” he advised. He added that depending on how students perform, it is important to keep in place strategies of both maintaining and improving, therefore when those who performed well relax so much; their next term’s performance could deteriorate. However, he pointed out that children can easily improve their performance with backing from their parents the same way teachers encourage them during school time. “Although some students being day scholars spend most of their time at home, when they are at school, as teachers we try as much as possible to shape them the right way required. It’s therefore important for their parents to guide them, especially those from boarding schools.” He explained that other students are only performers when teachers enforce the required strategies. Therefore when parents temporarily take-up the task in directing them on what they should do, they could as well abide with decisions and regulations from them. He also said that students should also take their holidays as a time to help out their parents or guardians in other chores at home. “This will create a difference between their presence and absence at home. They should not dedicate all the time to just having fun,” he noted. With such a balance that calls for proper allocation of time during the holidays, both parents and der to keep the holiday beneficial and pleasant. Lydia Nkabire, a parent of three, advised that parents should take part in making their children enjoy and benefit from the holiday. She said that although parents are busy, they should take note about their importance in the up-bringing of children. She cited that children can easily adopt bad habits from fellow holiday makers. “The holiday is a short period of time to ensure that our children are spending it in the right way that benefits them both academically and morally.” Nkabire noted that parents work hard in order to have a reasonable family which comprises educated members that can carry on the family lineage. She said that it would be vain for a parent to raise a child who will amount to nothing because of a lack of balance in the formal and informal education. “It’s during the holidays that parents can as well check on the behaviour of their children. It’s less costly for parents to attend to their children other than taking them for granted only to realise the effects when it’s too late,” she advised. She explained that school holidays may appear too short to affect the students but that given the bad company they may move out with, it is possible for them to change towards it gradually. “This might lead to a life long negative impact later on,” she said. Lamenting on how students enjoy visiting relatives, the mother commended the idea but with some reservations. She said that it’s good for children to visit their relative’s families so that they come-up knowing each other. She however advised against letting a child visit any family, especially those who have no immediate relation with your own. “A student may decide to visit a schoolmate for two or three days. That’s not proper in a sense that students do not own homes where they can invite friends for days. Even the period which they visit these renowned families should be limited so that they (students) have time with their parents,” she said. She had some advice on how students should spend their holidays.“Watching movies, listening to music, playing different games among others are some of the ways our children enjoy spending their free time at home. But parents should be aware of which kind of music, movies and other games their children engage in,” she said, explaining, “This is to prevent them from acquiring behaviour that is not accepted within our society from some movies.” She explained that occasionally, the music and movies children watch is a product from the Western world’s entertainment which may be acceptable in their (Western) societies’ morals. “Entertainment indeed has a remarkable impact on the lives of the youth. Therefore if such entertainment has a negative impact to the society of Rwanda, students can easily be affected.” Alice Umutoni, student at A.P.E Rugunga senior secondary school, said that holidays have a lot of meaning to students, although each student interprets it in his or her own way. She says that as a student, that’s the time when she uses her free time to do what she can so long as she does not offend others or work outside the boundaries of being a student. “I am aware that some students can misuse the holidays, but it’s not all of us. I believe that given the focus a student has, it’s the time to judge on how he or she can excel,” Umutoni. She however admitted that watching movies and listening to music is perfect for some students based on how Rwanda’s entertainment industry is growing. “Although not all students enjoy watching movies and listening to music, I personally enjoy and I have many friends who enjoy doing so like me. But I am always selective based on my choice about the movies to watch and the music I listen to,” she said. Bosco Manzi of Kagarama secondary school in Kicukiro, admitted that some students misuse their holidays by spending them on just games and sports. He argues that although sports is also important, helping parents in doing some work at home as well as reading some books is equally important. He therefore called upon parents’ involvement in advising children on how useful it is to appropriately allocate time. Among other factors, students enjoy holiday time based on their end of term school performance which may also bring joy to the parents. It is no doubt that the good performance by students at the end of the term is an effort from both the students and teachers during school time. It is also in return important for the parents to work hand in hand with children to maintain that spirit so that teachers become happy as well when students perform better in their tests at school. The most relevant point to note is that students should realize the basics of education to their lives. They should be made to learn from an early stage that a good education is one of the factors that will contribute to their success when they finally leave school and their parents’ homes. The outstanding means to the top is to avoid misusing time, even holiday time, and concentrate towards achieving their set ambitions. But on day one or two, give them some slack to watch those series and comedies…it’s holiday after all. Nice holidays girls and boys…and parents. Email:mugoyag@yahoo.com