What makes a great school?

After the release of the PLE and ‘O’ level national examinations, attention has now shifted from the merry cheers of the great achievers to the gnashing teeth of the low achievers in school selections. The overriding factor in the selection of schools on the part of benefactors is good discipline in the desired schools. Those moving around looking for good schools should be ready to be part and parcel of the efforts in making the schools good.For a school to be good, it has to score well; possess good and well qualified administration and teaching staff, possess quality academic programmes that accommodate varied student needs and stress free social environment that nurtures students’ emotional and psychological development.More importantly, there has to be a well established system of students’ evaluation that helps the learners, teachers and parents to get regular feedback about learners’ academic achievement. Regular feedback necessitates early corrective measures that often benefit all the stake holders.Supportive school administration, teachers, students and parents make a good school.Perhaps this peculiar question can be asked to parents or students looking for a good school; are you ready to selflessly give out all you can to sustain the goodness of a school?Often, those who are not always ready to support good academic and non academic programmes that distinguish good schools from the rest are never good ambassadors of quality education and good education institutions.When it comes to discipline, both academic and social, the most can only be attained when there is good communication and coordination between school administration, teaching staff, students and parents. There has to be cordial support between all the stake holders discipline standards are highest.This is why it becomes very ironical to want to be part of the good that you cannot participate in.Of course, as it is, good educational infrastructure, a serene learning environment and superb student mentoring programmes cannot be ignored in any talk about a good education institution. However, these cannot be the only yard stick that we use in measuring the quality of a school. It is not always that magnificent schools are the best.Even locally, very few schools that are flamboyant in appearance excel just the same as those that are not too showy.The user of a colorful table should not forget that somebody somewhere was rained on while planting a tree that later grew to be cut into timber. Neither should the porter who carried the timber to the truck nor the carpenter who conceptualized the design of the table and made it real be ignored.

Education

What makes a great school?