Both boys and girls have jobs to do in the classroom that I am in charge of as class educator for the grade. Motivated by the Teacher’s articles and resources on gender, I sat down with my learners to sort out some problems we were having pertaining to jobs in the classroom. Mainly the problem was that girls were doing most of the classroom duties.
I spoke to my class very passionately about the issue of gender equity. As a result, we started distributing jobs equally — and with pleasure — to both boys and girls.
One of the jobs that was distributed to the boys was that of cleaning the windows on Fridays. A monitor in the class drew up a timetable and put it up on the class notice board, dividing the responsibility between different groups.
It took a little while for all the groups to adapt to this new structure. But one Friday came a lovely surprise: the boys took the desks and chairs out of the class while the girls swept the floor. Without any pressure on them, the boys then began cleaning the windows thoroughly with soft clothes. I started to praise them, and since that day everyone knows his/her job in the classroom. My learners have become so responsible with sharing the cleaning duties.
I would like to encourage teachers not to limit the ability of learners by allocating all jobs in the classroom either to only the boys or only the girls.
Everyone must take equal responsibility so that tomorrow we will have responsible citizens.
Teachers must also remember when they teach rights to learners that they must also teach about responsibilities, both in school and in the community.
I would like to thank the editor of the Teacher for including articles and resources on gender.
Nobathwa Makamba
Maluti