By Victor Ochiengโ
Vochieng.90@gmail.com
Dear reader(s), permit me to begin with a simple story I read in a book titled Yo๐ ๐ช๐๐ ๐พ๐๐ by Shiv Khera. A certain Indian sage was teaching his disciples the art of archery. He perched a wooden bird on a twig as the target, then asked them to aim at the eye of the bird.
The first disciple was asked to describe what he saw. He said in substance, “I see the trees, the branches, the leaves, the sky, the bird and its eyes.” The sagacious sage asked this disciple to shoot the eye of the bird. When he did it, he missed it. Then, the sage asked the second disciple the same question, and he replied, “I only see the eye of the bird.” The sage said, “Very good, then shoot.” The arrow went straight and hit the eye of the bird.
What is moral of this anecdote? In life, in every sphere, it is important to have a set target. Know the main aim. Target it. Hit it. As you cruise the car of life, fix your mortal eyes on the target. Focus on the donut, not upon the hole. You should have a laser-like focus, picture-perfect precision and clock-like accuracy. With a set target, you can touch your dreams. That is, if you choose to remain firmly focused.
Apostle Paul of Tarsus writes in Philippians 3:13-14: โBrothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.โ
In the whole scheme of things, you should avoid sideshows at all cost. Never accept to be distracted by trivial things that are not essential. Major on the major, not on the minor. As you do all this, never forget that there is no target difficult to achieve.
In the book titled ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐ช๐บ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, Paul Wanyonyi explores stupendous strategies that can help students become the KCSE champions they are destined to be. Chapter 17 dotes on the essence of setting smart targets. For that is how schools ravenous for good grades change their dreams to reality.
In that book, I have mentioned, the author contends that academic teams should set school targets and help the caboodle of candidates set individual targets. Targets set by candidates shall be anchored on the Form Three Promotion Exam. The process of Target Setting should be preceded by an in-depth Data Analysis to help concerned parties to point out glaring gaps. This is what will inform action to be taken and activities to be adopted to actualise attainment of set targets.
As part of ๐๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐บ๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ (๐๐๐ฃ), school target should be determined by individual targets of students. The release of every exam done in the course of the journey, should be followed by a comprehensive analysis of each studentโs target. This will help institutions see and seal gaping gaps. It will help in the formulation of new academic episodes.
At this juncture, in the calendar of secondary schools, it is clear like crystal, as spelt out by the top brass at the Ministry of Education; Form Fours are poised to sit for KCSE in December 2022. It means that schools should strive to come up with smart strategies to help them use the short stint to cover the syllabus, revise and prepare to sit for the final exams. Setting smart targets is one of those things that must be done, or else peak performance will just be a pipe dream, or a wild goose chase.
Moreover, apart from ๐ฆ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ, these are the types of targets that ought to be set in schools once there is a candidate class: (๐ฎ) ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ผ๐ผ๐น ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, (๐ฏ) ๐๐๐ฏ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐, (๐ฐ) ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฝ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐, (๐ฑ) ๐ป๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฝ ๐’๐, (๐ฒ) ๐ป๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฟ๐, (๐ณ) ๐ป๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐, (๐ด) ๐ป๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐พ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ โ ๐+ (๐ฝ๐น๐๐) ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ฒ, (๐ต) ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ด๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐ โ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ผ๐ผ๐น ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐น๐, ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐น๐, ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐, ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฏ-๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐?
Lastly, as schools become busy like bees setting realistic targets, they should put premium on cutting or reducing the size of the tail as they fatten the head to touch the acme of academic excellence. For if the tail is fat and long, it will dent or affect the whole performance of the school. Using the analogy of a venomous snake, if you want to kill it, you hit the head hard. But if you want to ascertain whether this subtle creature is dead like a dodo, you touch the tail. Now, the tail also happens to be the hub of poison.
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๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ช๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐บ๐ถ๐ฐ ๐๐บ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ง๐ฎ๐น๐ธ๐. ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐.
