BACK TO SCHOOL

"Starting from today! In all homes of this country! Homework done! Mother gets hoarse. Child gets deaf! Neighbours have learned everything by heart and the dog has retold it!.."

This is a well-known joke that many of us use to describe the start of school year. 

On the one hand, we rejoice at sending our kid to school for a new portion of knowledge. On the other, we are upset that the carefree summer days have run out for our children and for ourselves, too. 

On 15 September, we leave behind the pre-school fever of buying school supplies, new school uniform, textbooks and other things. Yet the nine-month marathon is just at its start and so times of troubles and concerns are still ahead of us. 

Parents are concerned that the country's education system currently being under reform lacks stability and every new school year comes with new "surprises". Some people welcome them while others do not know what to expect of them. 

Recover lost days

At the suggestion of the Education Ministry, the Cabinet of Ministers extended the school year till 14 July this year. In addition, the usual duration of holidays has been reduced. The holidays will last five days both in autumn (16-20 November) and in winter (27-31 January). In return, not only first form pupils but the entire primary school will have extra holidays in spring (1-5 May).

It is no secret that parents' reactions to school year extension were mixed. Many of them believe that children are under the pressure of tremendous study load today. It is not that they have not enough time to do their homework after school. The thing is that this move has absolutely no effect on work with private tutors and, correspondingly, the money spent on their services… 

Meanwhile Education Ministry officials maintain that school year extension is an objective reality aimed at reducing the workload on children, rather than increasing it. Traditionally, all school curricula and plans are made for 34-35 school weeks, or about 171 school days. In this country though, since the school year came to start on 15 September, the number of school days has diminished to 163. All in all, the children have 100-plus days of rest during the year. This is why teachers often have not enough time to go through their material within the allotted period and have to compress it covering two or three topics in one lesson. Usually, when the first half-year is over in February or so, classroom "progress" becomes clear. So, in order to catch up on their plans, the teachers begin to overload the children.

According to education expert Rufat Aliyev, extending the school year is the first step in this process aimed to recover the "lost" days. It should also be kept in mind that we used to have six-day school weeks and the teachers were able to keep up with the curriculum working on Saturdays. Now we have five-day school weeks, so there is really an objective need to extend the school year. "School year extension enables us to take a more flexible approach to the teaching process and curriculum," Rufat Aliyev said.

Help school students

It is clear today that we should primarily think of how to help organize the child's day to make it as efficient as possible and not too intense despite the increased workloads, the great amount of homework and difficulties in adaptation to the learning process. 

According to neurologist Karima Karimova, sleep occupies a crucial position in the day regimen of a school age child. The quantity and quality of sleep have direct impact on the child's learning productivity and health. "Lack of sleep most often hits the so-called 'rapid eye movement phase' which is in charge of assimilation of new material. It is important to have enough sleep, advisably one hour more than usual, at especially intense moments of learning, such as exams, tests and the like. The performance of children who have not had enough sleep is almost one-third below those who have had a good sleep. In general, healthy sleep tips for schoolchildren do not differ much from those for all age groups: go to bed at about the same time, avoid noisy and exciting activities after seven o'clock in the evening, practice useful bedtime habits and rituals (a bath, a walk and others) and fresh air," the neurologist advises. 

There are certain requirements to the workplace of a school student. Their desk should be placed in such a way that light from a window or an electric lamp would fall from the left (or from the right if the child is left-handed). The desk must be arranged so as to fit the child's height lest it harms their posture. 

Speaking about posture, heavy school backpacks jam-packed with quite weighty textbooks, workbooks and other school supplies may have more than merely an adverse effect on the child's posture and are fraught with scoliosis, flat feet and even stunted growth. And if the backpack is a burden beyond the child's strength and the child has to lean forward to cope with the weight, it may impair the child's visual organs, cardiovascular system and internal organs. 

According to all international standards, the weight of a schoolbag or a backpack with its load inside should not exceed 10 per cent of the child's weight; the bag itself should weigh within the range of 700-900 grammes.

Some children are certainly helped by their parents but when in school, they have to get along on their own. So it is necessary to take into account the fact that, starting from middle school, classes in each subject are held in a specialized room and often on different floors. This is why the doctor advises revising the content of the bag, take out the least important things that are not directly related to learning, to buy a second set of textbooks specially for school and agree with the desk mate that each will bring a specified set of books. However, as far as we know, some schools do not allow this. 

The choice between a travel backpack and a school backpack should be made in favour of the latter as it has a stiffer body. Its hard back protects both the child and the bag content. 

Daylong school

No matter how hard a school day may be, it will last only half a day. Then the time of well-known difficulties comes. Given that quite a high percentage of parents work fulltime, the problem arises of the child's further "settlement". Lucky are those who have one of the parents unoccupied or have grannies, granddads, available elder siblings or nannies, or who are independent enough to get back home alone (sometimes even from another end of the city). Evening time which is supposed to be used for relaxation, most often passes in "battles" over homework involving all disengaged members of the family. 

In Soviet times, there was quite a positive practice to keep extended day centres where children could have meals, relax and do their homework until their parents came from work. Regrettably, this good practice has been lost today. However, a number of "elite" schools in towns offer something of this kind for a fee. These "services" include a school lunch, doing homework and interest clubs. Unfortunately, by far not all schools have this practice. 

Today we need a school working all day long, Rufat Aliyev commented. It is not only because most parents cannot collect their child in the middle of the workday. "It would be ideal for a child to learn during the first half of the day and do homework in the second, certainly under a teacher's supervision, working in interest clubs and developing culturally, visiting theatres and cinemas. We are speaking about extended day centres. In addition, it is very important to take into account development opportunities not only during but also after classes. As we know, it is at school that most of the child's social and communicative skills are formed," the expert said. 

Another home?

Meanwhile the first question for us to find an answer to should be: is school a second home for the child today? Is it a home where they could feel calm, unconstrained, free and easy? Is it a well-maintained home to which they would like to return and learn not under duress? Hand on heart, we parents cannot answer this question in the affirmative, being aware that, in our objective evolution, we have not yet grown enough to have a school like this. 

At first glance it seems that reforming the education system is a piece of cake. But sensible people are aware that it is not so. It takes years to set up an effective education system. However, it is also quite clear that there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Operating systems have already been created. They have been functioning for more than one generation and it is a sin not to make use of them. 

Thus for instance, the Finnish education system has for a long time steadily occupied top positions in all kinds of rankings. According to a survey conducted by the prestigious Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Finnish students showed the world's highest level of knowledge. They also became the world's most reading children and placed second in natural sciences and fifth in maths. But even this is not the thing that delights the global educational community so much. 

It is incredible that, given such high results, Finish students spend the least time studying while the state spends quite moderate funds, compared to many other countries, on high-quality and free education. All in all, there is some secret that educationists in different states are trying to solve. 

I wish to add here that the Finnish school is based on the seven main principles: equality, free-of-charge basis, individuality, practicality, trust, voluntariness and autonomy. The mere enumeration of these principles reveals their loftiness and deep meaning. A detailed explanation for each of them can be found in the vast expanses of the Internet. 

Hopefully, the day is not far off for Azerbaijan as well when parents will be seeing their kid to school as to their second home where the child will feel comfortable and where every condition will be provided for getting knowledge and healthy socialization.