Instead of career days for children between the ages of five and seven, the Upper East Regional Chairman for Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), William Nlanjerbor Jalulah, has proposed the organisation of such events for Junior High School (JHS) pupils.
He said this on the Daybreak Upper East show on A1 Radio, arguing that such events at very early stages might not be meaningful at such a young age.
He pointed out that children in this age group often change their career aspirations frequently, which could undermine the purpose of a career day, noting that the event often requires uniforms, which impose financial burden on parents.
Proposing a more pragmatic approach, Mr. Jalulah suggested focusing career day efforts on pupils in JHS, particularly those in their final year. He reasoned that this older age group could better understand and benefit from the experience, potentially justifying any financial contributions required from parents.
“The first external examination for our students in our educational system is the B.E.C.E. That’s the first external examination. Now when they get to their third year, probably the second semester or second term of their third year, you can organize a career day.”
He suggested inviting professionals from various fields to interact with students and educate them about different career paths to enable them to make career choices that they really understand.
“This is what you can do: Look for careers, as many as possible, and have an organized program where you can bring people in those careers together, to come and speak to those children about their respective careers. So if I’m coming to speak to them as a farmer, ‘I’m a successful farmer, this is what I do, this is how I started farming,” he said.
This, he said, would help the pupils make better course choices when they get to senior high school.
Source: A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|Gifty Eyram Kudiabor|Bolgatanga|
Career Day Celebration is a laudable initiative by schools but as already said, age, should be a critical factor to consider so that it doesn’t look like it is just a funfare for pupils while putting financial strain on parents. I think restricting the celebration to the upper classes n beyond will be more meaningful.