Parents Narrate Ordeal Over Children’s School Assignments 

Ogbu Blessing, a legal practitioner, resides in Karu, but works at Maitama, in Abuja. He leaves home early and comes back late due to traffic gridlock encountered daily on the Abuja-Karu road.

As a busy lawyer who tries to balance work with being a good father, anytime he comes back home, he creates time for his only daughter in Junior Secondary School. She always comes home with school assignments (homework).  

Despite the stress of his own job, he would always take time to listen to his daughter about what happened in her school and help her with the assignments.

Blessing, who spoke to THE WHISTLER, explained that in doing the homework, he would not only solve the problems, but also teaches his daughter how he arrives at solutions obtained from solving the problems. 

However, he said such devotion to his child comes at a price.

“It means I sleep late whether I bring work home from the office, or not. At the end of the day, it comes down to adjusting my own schedule to accommodate my daughter’s daily assignments, sometimes staying late in the night” he said, adding that his daughter always believed he could solve all her problems whether he knew them or not, including Quantitative Reasoning which he was not taught during his time in school. 

His wife too shares in the school chores; she handles mathematics assignments and related subjects.

Mrs Samson, a dental practitioner who works at Wuse, 2 but lives in Gwarinpa narrated similar challenges. She told THE WHISTLER that she usually leaves the office daily by 4pm in order to beat the rush hour traffic and have enough time to attend to her children’s homework. 

Narrating her experience doing the lessons, she said,  “When I come back from work, I’m tired but I have  two kids, and still have to do the homework one at a time. Sometimes we don’t get to finish them because they’re too tired.

“So, I will say ‘Ok, pack up till tomorrow morning’, and that’s how they’ll go back to school with homework not completed.”

According to her, she initially employed the services of a lesson teacher to assist in doing both lessons and homework for her kids, but was forced to start doing them herself when the lesson teacher became pregnant. 

The medical doctor said she’s now her children’s lesson teacher and discovered some of the challenges.

She said, “Most of their homework is bulky, it’s too much. Sometimes they come home with 3, 4 or 5 homework. I don’t even know whether we are sharing responsibilities with teachers now in school or not. After paying school fees we will be going through this bulky homework.  

“Honestly it’s exhausting. It’s not been easy, but I know I really need to give them my attention. I am not ready to get another lesson teacher. I want to do the homework this time around no matter how exhausting it is, because I want to see and know all their shortcomings.” 

Ebuka Daniel, an accountant, is unhappy about how his kids come home daily with bulky school assignments.

He said: “The assignments that are given to my children are usually much, and some of them are not taught what was given to them as assignments, and this is the reason why the children get help from their parents to do these assignments.  

“Last week, I was in the office when I got a message from home to provide solutions to some assignments given to my children. What this type of message does is to distract the parents from focusing on accomplishing the tasks at hand.” 

Many parents are finding school assignments for their children too tedious to cope with, and are seeking from other parents on social media, especially Facebook. Such parents post their children’s homework in order to get people to assist them do the assignments. 

“Admin, please approve, it’s urgent. Teachers in the house please help out with this quantitative,” Lizzy Martins, a mother,  posted on a Facebook group.

Another mother anonymously posted: “Compliments of the season, great mothers. Please help your sister to solve these remaining problems. Even on Christmas holiday, school won’t allow one rest from homework.” 

Rita Stephen, a young lady, posted her own experience: “My neighbour knocked on my door yesterday with her child’s homework of basic 3 and it’s a quantitative reasoning assignment. Since I’m always at home, she knew I would be at home. 

“She said she has tried to figure out the answers to that quantitative reasoning but she can’t and doesn’t want to do a guessing game like a day before, because her child scored zero (0) in the previous assignment. 

“I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. How can you do an assignment for your child of basic 3 and she scored zero? I collected the assignment from her. I looked at it and the assignment looked at me. My brain just went blank.

“I would practically say that these teachers in school are giving the parents assignments with style ooo. I’m just imagining the laugh on their faces when a child gets zero in their assignment. They would be like in their minds, your parents are olodo.” 

Another Facebook user, Emerem Emerem, similarly posted: “Most schools now give parents homework through their children.” 

Nachamada Dzarma, a young man living in Yola, the Adamawa state capital, said it is not unusual to see kids walk up to you when you visit a residence and ask you to help them with their homework.

He explained that most kids do this because “some of the parents don’t have enough time to properly attend to them. And some may not have the knowledge.”   

THE WHISTLER spoke with Mrs Maxwell Bukola, Head Teacher, Fuitage Academy, Gwagwalada on why they give “too much homework” to pupils.  

She said her school ensures that it doesn’t overwhelm pupils with homework, adding that teachers give “only three homework daily to pupils”while making Wednesdays homework free day to give room for pupils’ brains to relax. 

She admitted that most parents don’t really have time to guide their children in homework, and this seems to affect their performance. 

“But the truth is that we as parents no matter how busy we are, no matter the busy schedule, we have a part to play,” she said. 

She revealed that teachers also find some of the homeworks challenging, especially Quantitative Reasoning, but suggested that schools should have a format that makes it easier for both pupils and parents.

“The school should get a format for students to follow so that when they get home it will also help in teaching the parents. This way parents can also come in and assist,” she advised.

Bukola said teachers must ensure they don’t give pupils homework that they do not understand or cannot solve on their own. 

Nonye Ishan, an Abuja-based educationist, advised that homework should be given on a daily basis in the pre-school and primary section for children. 

 “This is because constant practice engenders perfection, and any lapse in this area will mirror out later as the child advances in studies. In the secondary section, assignments should be given based on the subjects taught,” she advised.