Administering schools through social media

It would seem the best way to get the attention of the hierarchy of the Ministry of Education is to have a sensational video clip involving students make the social media circuit.

This would immediately cause the minister to instruct the officials occupying the top echelons of the ministry to drop the very important work they are doing and form a high-powered delegation to visit the school which the students attend.

With the minister at the helm and a circus of media personnel, they descend on the school to immediately attend to the problems affecting the school.

Never mind the age of the video clip or its authenticity, the response is swift and targeted with clinical precision. The “experts” arrive on the scene to right all the wrongs at the school.

Never mind the mountain of paperwork that school officials would have forwarded to the ministry over the years, via the appropriate channels of bureaucracy, defining the issues from infancy, without as much as an acknowledgement; it would seem that the high officials are hearing about the myriad of problems at the school for the very first time.

They are even prepared to discipline the school principal for not bringing the problem to their attention sooner. Suddenly, the resources the principal was clamouring for becomes available and the necessary interventions are mounted to the reporting fanfare of the media.

For these few days this is the story the media will theatrically stretch until the public is hypnotised into boredom while the authorities look good and responsible.

The sound bites from the minister and chief education officer must show they are on top of the issue and the ministry is running as a well-oiled efficient and effective machine. The media circus drives the process from the appearance of the reality television video on social media to the swift response of the high officials visiting the school for several days.

During this time blame is apportioned, quick fixes are applied, and after a week the school is lost on the radar of the media until another sensational video appears on social media to divert attention to another unsuspecting school.

It’s all about high officials looking good and nothing to do with truly attending to the problems affecting schools in a timely manner. School officials are constrained to bring issues and concerns to the attention of the hierarchy of the ministry through established channels of communication.

This process often yields non-responses and school officials are forced to contend with their challenges on their own until the issues explode into a media circus. Throughout the process of so-called “interventions” no apologies are given to the school officials for ignoring their cries for help.

Parents have realised that this is the best way to get the attention of the high officials of the ministry and resort to sensationalising school problems through pickets and protest action.

Partisan politics often determines the degree of sensationalism employed by the parents and the response of the minister.

Unfortunately, teachers and school administrators cannot resort to such drastic measures and must rely on the inefficiency of layers of reporting which ensure that no one owns up to the problem or assumes responsibility for solving it. This is our state of education administration. It’s a vicious cycle of reactive management that has nothing to do with what is good for education.

While schools languish for resources and support systems to deal with the social problems associated with underachieving children, decision-makers must still look good. The helplessness and frustration felt by school officials abound while we pretend all is well.

A weekly column by TTUTA.