Study tours can be great teaching aids

Recently Rwandair purchased a state-of-the-art Boeing aircraft. The aircraft’s interior was described with an assortment of positive superlatives. The hype around the new aircraft brought back some old memories. I relate these memories with the study tours that I loved so much while still in school. During my primary education in Uganda, my first study trip was to Entebbe town. We got to visit the national zoo where we were excited to see some wild animals because most of us had only seen these animals on TV or simply in books. The other exciting part was visiting the international airport. Here we got to see (although from a distance) some of the airplanes that had landed at that time. This sighting of the aircrafts back in the day is something I wish school children in Rwanda could also experience—I mean those who have never seen one at close eye range. Primary school was such an adventure. I got to visit factories in Jinja town where we saw how cloth is made from cotton, how tea is processed from the garden to cup, how bread is made and how sugar is made from sugarcanes. We also visited a beer factory to see how beers are made. All the above tours happened while I was in primary school and should not be confused with the rather mandatory geography field work trips in secondary school that often aimed at making Geography students pass examinations. It was so good to see and listen to explanations from different factory workers or technicians at such an early age. No note books or exams to worry about—it was fun for the young and inquisitive minds. The impact of such tours on the young impressionable minds of children cannot be over emphasised. Children develop love for professional fields like engineering or sciences in general during such trips. A young boy seeing a man operating a huge machine is likely to be inspired to pursue the same career. School tours also help to erase what I would call ‘modern ignorance.’ For example, if students toured a bread factory they would learn that bread does not come from supermarkets! They would know that what they are wearing was once simply cotton in the field waiting to be picked. A child who stays very far from the airport may never comprehend the idea of 200 people entering an aircraft that would travel thousands of miles in air without ‘falling down.’ Such hard to explain concepts are made simpler for the teacher and the students once they get to visit various sites and places. Other destinations like the National Museums of Rwanda and of course the Genocide Memorial sites, offer unique learning opportunities on the culture and history of this country. I know many students may have visited some of the genocide memorial sites but how many know about the National Museum in Huye District? Do they know how products like Akabanga or Agashya are produced? How about the technology that allows people to make phone calls? Is it not time they sought permission to visit, Nyirangarama’s farm, MTN Centre in Nyarutarama or Inyange industries? Those with TV sets at home would cherish a visit to the offices of ORINFOR to see how programmes are produced for television or radio. A visit to Sulfo Industries can also be very educative. Touring Kabuye Sugar Factory should be enough to clear the mystery surrounding the sugar they see at home. We should strive to clear mysteries among our children. Instead parents and schools should desire to help open the minds of children. Learning does not only happen in class, it happens all around us. ssenyonga@gmail.com