At the beginning of each year, education authorities promise that learning and teaching will start in earnest from the first day.

At the beginning of each year, education authorities promise that learning and teaching will start in earnest from the first day.

Of course we don't always believe them. Not because we are a cynical bunch but because we know that there are always too many issues that are beyond the teachers' authority to do anything about, such as whether stationery has arrived on time or parents deciding to register their children on what was supposed to be the first school day.

This being an election year, the disruption of learning and teaching is now led by politicians who will no doubt say they had good intentions.

While it is understandable why the Minister of Education and her provincial counterparts would want to be part of the first days of schools, it sets a terrible precedent when individuals who do not hold any elected public office, especially one that is not linked to education, think that they can drop in at any school and spread their message.

If we start tolerating it with some individuals, we might just open the door for any political outfit to think that it too is entitled to go to schools to show how much it cares about the education of our children. It will open doors to political charlatans to exploit the innocence of our children.