According to SIL International website, writing
is the productive skill in the written mode.
It, too, is more complicated than it seems at
first, and often seems to be the hardest of
the skills, even for native speakers of a
language, since it involves not just a graphic
representation of speech, but the
development and presentation of thoughts in
a structured way.
In recent years we have observed a growing
down ward trend of education achievement in
Tanzaania, including students who complete
Standard Seven without mastering reading
and writing skills. This challenge does not
only face students at basic education level but
also other levels of education including
secondary education as well as tertiary
education level. Most of teachers and
lecturers complain of receiving assignment
from their students with poor grammar
structural arrangement, flow of ideas as well
as presentation of arguments both in English
and Kiswahili. In fact it is said that even
those students who are able to speak fluently
English or Kiswahili, may not be able to
present a well written essay.
This article is going to discuss on importance
of writing skills in supporting education
achievement of students throughout their
education life and beyond.
In recognizing weakness in writing skills and
its importance in supporting education
achievement for secondary school students,
Shule Direct is orgranising a ‘Back To School
Essay Competition’, which is an annual essay
writing competition for Form Two to Four
students in registered Secondary Schools in
Tanzania. This year’s call for submission of
essay entries was announced from 10th
February 2014 to 24 March 2014.
According to Shule Direct Communications
Director, Iku Lazaro, advertisements for this
essay competition in form of posters were
sent to 100 schools in ten selected regions.
These advertisements were distributed in
collaboration with Reida Education through
their bookshops. All advertisements were
confirmed to reach 100 schools in all ten
regions. It was expected that at least 1,000
essay entries would have been received
through post office or internet. However,
they were able to receive only 195 entries.
The Founder and CEO of Shule Direct, Faraja
Kotta-Nyalandu, further explain that the
received 195 entries went through three
levels of rigorous process, whereby the first
level was to sift all entries and ensure they
have observed all set guidelines and criteria,
whereby a total of 90 entries were found not
to meet set criteria, and therefore were not
qualified to go for a second round of
evaluation.
It was further explained that a total of 105
qualified entries were distributed to a total
of seven judges, who were also screened to
obtain highly qualified judges. The names and
biography of all judges were posted on Shule
Direct portal.
After judges went through the submitted
entries independently, they convened for a
joint final evaluation of entries to obtain the
best 25 essays.
According to Faraja Kotta-Nyalandu, during
evaluation process there were a number of
issues which were observed we need to take
high note on them, such as follows:
(a) Criteria and guidelines were not
observed. She cited an example of some
three essays whose content was excellent but
did not observe a number of criteria such as
exceeding number of words, not providing
students information and such relevant
information;
(b) Some essays had very high level of
content, language and modality of
presentation fit for a university student,
which rose a doubt that some students did
not personally write essays but obtained
support from other people;
(c) There were more entries from
private secondary schools than public
secondary school, though both public and
private secondary schools obtained same
information. This may be due to lack of
motivation to students from their school
administration and teachers to participate in
such extra curricula events;
(d) Many essays could not link
between their interesting topic they have
written to its application in solving problems
in their communities;
(e) Many students copied notes and
could not present ideas which show that think
beyond the obvious by presenting their own
imagination and arguments;
(f) There were no essays on topics
related to Mathematics and only one on
Languages (literature), the rest of topics
related to life skills, waste disposal, human
rights, water management, financial
management (banking), mercantilism,
Archimedes principal, nationalism just to
mention a few; and
(g) Some essays have many
grammatical errors and mistakes such that it
took a lot of energy to evaluate them fairly.
My take is that the above mentioned
challenges may be a manifestation of
weakness in our education system, whereby
students and teachers lack a drive or
motivation toward improvement of their skills
and knowledge. Moreover, inability to
connect between what they have learnt in
school (theory) and its application in solving
problems (practical) in their communities
may manifest that our education has
disconnected students from their
communities.
I have written previously that our current
education mode of delivery aims at helping
students to pass examinations, but not to
obtain skills and knowledge for application in
their lives. Many graduates from basic to
tertiary levels of education in Tanzania are
not able to translate theories and knowledge
they obtained in education institutions into
practice. They cannot use their education in
indentifying opportunities in their
communities and take advantage of them by
creating their own employment instead of
dreaming of obtaining ‘white collar jobs’
Let me discuss about importance of written
skills. According to Global Post news site,
written expression is a crucial part of
communication and critical thinking. For
students, developing strong writing skills not
only helps their school grades but also
prepares them for their academic and
professional futures. Whether writing essays,
taking notes or applying for scholarships, high
school students must learn to develop their
ideas and proofread their written work
before sharing it.
Clarity in writing is crucial to how the reader
receives the text. Therefore, high school
students must employ proper grammar and
punctuation in their writing. A student will
write an essay assignment differently than an
e-mail to a friend because the audience for
each text is distinct. Understanding audience
and learning to adjust to the needs of the
reader is an important aspect of written
expression. To create professional and
mature writing, students must learn to
proofread their work before submitting it,
whether in the classroom or for scholarship
or job applications.
Students should learn to expand, explain and
develop their ideas through their writing.
Marquette University states that "writing
stimulates you to extend a line of thought
beyond your first impressions or gut
responses." This process can deepen
students' critical thinking skills, challenge
their assumptions and strengthen their
overall writing. Examples of written
development include providing specific
examples, identifying the relationship
between two seemingly unrelated ideas or
events, and analyzing the causes and effects
of an issue.
For many ordinary and high school students,
strengthening their writing skills prepares
them to apply for and succeed in college and
university courses. For example, students
must write an essay for the Final National
exams, and they must compose a personal
statement as a part of their college
applications. The better they do on the
written portions, the higher their chances of
admission to a good college or university.
Once in college, students will have to employ
their written expression skills on assignments
ranging from lab reports to research papers.
Therefore, creating a strong foundation of
writing skills in high school prepares them for
success after graduation.
According to The Founder and CEO of Shule
Direct, Faraja Kotta-Nyalandu, the evaluation
process of essays submitted for the ‘Back to
School Essay Competition 2014’ organized by
Shule Direct was completed over the
weekend and today they are going to
announce winners.
I hope that if you did not make it this year
get prepared for next year’s competition.
Moreover, I call upon teachers and heads of
secondary schools to encourage and support
their students to participate in such events to
help them improve their skills as a process of
building a strong foundation for advanced
levels of learning and job market.
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