Why mentorship matters in schools

NAIROBI, KENYA: Parents and teachers have been advised to explore mentorship as a solution to students’ unrest in schools. Alfred Polo, the founder of Alfred Polo Foundation says lack of functional mentorship culture in schools has contributed to decreasing performance, increasing poor staff relationships, tensions and reduced productivity. “You could find that most of the fire incidences in our schools are instigated by poor performing students who don’t want their determined colleagues to succeed,” he says. “Schools can promote mentorship culture working with various professionals in different disciplines to help our students have diversified thinking which is not only narrowed to class work,” he added. He says mentorship programmes in fields such as sports for instance diffuses the classroom tension and brings students and teachers together to embrace each other in different ways. In an interview he says his organisation is currently working with schools in various parts of the country to mentor them on areas such as sports, environmental conservation and agriculture. In the sports discipline, the organisation organizes competition targeting inter-dormitory or interclub where the students compete for assorted prizes. He says that in between there are motivational talks from professionals to inspire students on competitive sporting. “Through this we have opened minds of students to a new kind of thinking aimed at making all have renewed hope in life,” he says. “But we also engage in farming to help communities discover their talent in agriculture,” he adds. “We are grateful to our generous partners who support our efforts and mission of championing for strong campaigns on discipline and nurturing of leadership skills among the teens and youths especially in schools around East Africa and their surrounding communities.”