William Nlanjerbor Jalulah, the Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), has criticized the concept of Career Day celebrations in schools, arguing that it places an undue financial burden on parents and lacks educational value for young children.
Career Day, a popular event where children dress in various uniforms representing different professions, is meant to help students envision potential future careers.
However, Jalulah contends that children between the ages of 5 and 7 are not mature enough to make informed decisions about their future careers. Moreover, he believes the financial strain it imposes on parents is unnecessary and unjustifiable.
“I don’t get the sense of what they do,” Jalulah stated. “Children of five, six, seven years, and you say that the child should tell the profession they want to pursue, and parents will have to buy uniforms or dresses to match the profession. It doesn’t make sense.”
Mr. Jalulah, who was speaking on Dreamz FM, highlighted the financial burden on parents, sharing an anecdote of a single mother who had to spend 500 Ghana cedis to prepare her children for Career Day. He criticized schools for profiting from this event by requiring parents to purchase these uniforms, often through the schools themselves.
“Parents are spending hugely on these things. If my child were in any of those schools, I would have removed the child. It doesn’t make sense. Parents should begin to raise concerns about this and stop it,” he lamented.
He argued that the essence of Career Day could be achieved through more cost-effective and meaningful activities, such as organizing forums where professionals from various fields come to speak to the children about their careers.
This approach, he suggested, would be more educational and less financially burdensome for parents.
The Upper East GJA Chairman also questioned the effectiveness of Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meetings in addressing such issues, noting that decisions are often made unilaterally by school administrations without adequate input from parents.
“In some private schools, PTA meetings are just a platform to announce new fees, new uniforms, and other decisions without parental input,” he said. “If such schools undertook a survey to ask parents randomly how many of them want to continue Career Day, they wouldn’t get any parents that would want to encourage it.”
He urged schools to reconsider the current format of Career Day and adopt more sensible and inclusive approaches to career education for young children. His remarks resonated with many parents who are going through the ‘extortionate’ nature of some proprietors in Ghana but cannot voice their concerns because they may be victimized.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah|Bolgatanga|Ghana
